By Mike Fleming Jr | Tuesday May 14, 2013 @ 10:44am PDT

EXCLUSIVE: WME has signed the screenwriting team of Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith and Karen McCullah, whose breakout came off the spec 10 Things I Hate About You and whose other credits include Legally Blonde, The Ugly Truth, The House Bunny and She’s The Man. They’ve established themselves as the go-to chicks for chick fare, and they are currently scripting The Expendabelles, the female spinoff of Millennium Films’ The Expendables franchise. They also scripted the romantic comedy The Panic Zone, which is out to cast. Smith has separately helmed two shorts sponsored by Glamour Magazine, both of which starred Anna Faris. She was also exec producer of Whip It! McCullah wrote and produced Crazy Kind Of Love, which opens May 31. Both are novelists. The scribes are leaving Paradigm as their longtime agent Lee Cohen becomes a consultant there. Jaret Entertainment’s Seth Jaret continues to manage them.

* This article first appeared in Deadline Hollywood and can be found here.

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The recent acquisition of YouTube channel AwesomenessTV by Dreamworks and new paid YouTube channels by Sesame Workshop, UFC, and Magnolia Pictures prove the industry sees money on the digital front. The paid subscription model applied (so far) across 30 YouTube channels is just one way content providers can monetize content. SSN spoke with a group of online experts, comprised of filmmakers, producers and network execs, who’ve risen to the challenge of adapting content to the digital space and crafting profitable financial models.

(from left to right) Tarika Khan, Jeremy Azevdeo, Matthew Arnold, Freddie Wong, and Seth Jaret

At the recent “Monetizing Content for New Media Platforms” panel by USC Women of Cinematic Arts, Seth Jaret, CEO of creative media studio Content Engine, discussed the plethora of platforms: “The rise of all these platforms … makes it accessible to be a content creator and to engage an audience. So [while] the barriers to Hollywood have never been higher, communicating to an audience, having an audience… has never been more accessible. They are free, they are pervasive. It’s just the knowledge that’s missing.”

Learn as You Go and Take the Long View

With the advent of YouTube, content creators have a free and easy distribution platform. But YouTube can be overwhelming for filmmakers and TV producers looking to stand out from the pack. Mike Tringe, co-founder of the online web series school, CreatorUp, says those from traditional media must bear in mind: “It’s a long play, it’s a long game… I think the answer is… know who your audience is and target, create, test and experiment. I used to work with Kristen Jones in creative development at Vuguru. One favorite line she’d throw out there to writers and directors who were coming on to do projects was, ‘There’s no movie jail here.’ If you make a bad movie, you’re in movie jail for three to four years, and you never get another directing deal. But if you’re working online, you experiment, you test, you play, you mess up, you listen.”

Still, Seth Jaret, who also produces the web series, Hollywood Drive & Talk, says successfully distributing content online isn’t as easy as it looks. “Digital requires as much thought as attacking the craft of screenwriting,” he admits. “You can’t just be a director. You have to know how to edit, engage people that follow you on Twitter, upload a video to YouTube, how to add annotations, what that means, how to cross-promote with other YouTube videos and engage with your fans. There’s a medley of skill sets, [and] the only way to acquire them is in the doing. Practice is really the teacher.”

The Magic Word: Consistency

The good news is that, unlike the Hollywood model wherein studios reap the greatest profits from their copious revenue streams while talent and filmmakers find their options limited to contracts and brand deals, the future is wide-open online. As Tarika Khan, director of talent production at Maker Studios, which produces numerous YouTube channels, remarked during the USC panel: “The exciting thing … is that you can make money in all kinds of different ways from YouTube videos: the ads that run, pre-rolls, brand integration, getting paid to tweet, etc. I have some talent that, because their content is family-friendly … their brand deals are huge. But I have other guys that, because their stuff is more crass or X-Rated, they sell interesting merch [merchandise].”

In television, brands market their products in shows that share the same tone, and so, they can sell to a sizable target audience on a consistent basis. The same dynamic can be true in the digital arena too, so long as your content remains fresh and engaging. Jeremy Azevdeo, senior director of original programming at Machinima, which provides video entertainment for gamers, identifies what advertisers look for in prospective online brand integrations: “If you’re not uploading with regularity, people will forget you’re there. You have to constantly remind them that you’re making content … that’s at least in the same universe of style and tone. An advertiser … [is] looking for consistency because they’re basically placing a bet on you. So for advertising revenue, start building your audience with volume and consistency that’s targeted.”

Subscription Vs. Kickstarter

Sizing up digital content’s ever-evolving revenue possibilities, Freddie Wong, co-creator of the FreddieW YouTube Channel and Video Game High School in which a single episode garnered more than 10 million views, sees potential in two very different models. “I think the subscription model is a weird thing. On one hand, you hear sometimes, ‘If only everyone who downloaded Wolverine paid one dollar for this!’ That’s just not how it works, people don’t think this way. But people subscribe to stuff all the time. I’m on Spotify, Netflix, I’m on Hulu Plus. I think there’s a weird mix right now of what Kickstarter represents, which is a one-time per project funding, and a sustained, over-time subscription type of model.”

Wong eyes opportunity in the near future for channels with a small, yet highly targeted audience, “[If] We only have 10,000 users, or a very small number of users, but because they’re paying, we’re doing better than some company with a million users. For us, instead of concentrating on this view battle … we want to capture the audience … in a way that’s meaningful … that can sustain and support what we do as filmmakers. That’s the direction that we’re going.”

Content creators can produce cheap, branded commercial videos online, but for people who want to release episodes or films, the digital space presents funding challenges to narrative content. At the USC event, Matthew Arnold, founder of the new media network RocketJump and co-creator of Video Game High School, doesn’t mince words: “Content is king. There’s a lot of good content online, but very few of it is great because it’s very tough to make great content right now. It’s very expensive to make content in a way filmmakers want to make content. But people want to support, and that’s what Kickstarter has shown.”

As one of RocketJump’s principles is to be transparent, Arnold outlines Video Game High School’s funding of season two. “We made about $808,000 on Kickstarter,” he says. “About 10% will go to giving gifts back, and we got about $750,000 on our deal from Dodge. That’s our entire budget for VGHS, season two. Because we’re transparent on our affiliate page and say, ‘Hey, you guys need to fund us by buying stuff on Amazon through our site,’ people want to support you. You have to find ways for them to be supportive.”

Whether you work in film, television or online, there remains one constant: Consistently great content is the key to consistently great revenue. Taking that content and marketing it to a targeted audience over time will open revenue opportunities in film, television and beyond. YouTube is just one of the many digital distribution avenues that exist for filmmakers eager for new ways to reach audiences. Cheap equipment, free distribution and funding options have opened the gates for filmmakers into the digital arena. Digital is growing, and its future is ripe for imaginative new models to win over audiences, advertisers and revenues.

* This article was originally published in Studio System News and can be found here.

Content Engine

Here’s the trailer for Crazy Kind of Love (retitled from Long Time Gone), which Seth Jaret executive produced.

Now available to stream on Netflix and other services. Adapted by Karen McCullah (Legally Blonde; The House Bunny). It’s a family dramedy featuring some fine acting talent: Graham Rogers (Revolution), Amanda Crew, Eva Longoria, Sam Trammel (True Blood), Anthony LaPaglia, Ali Milchalka, Virginia Madsen and more.

Here is the film’s description:

Depressed after getting dumped by her husband, a mother re-evaluates her life by way of observing her two sons as they come of age. When romance blossoms between one of her sons and the girl next door, she realizes the key to her happiness.

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Get Inspired. Be the Change. ContentEngine.tv

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Karen McCullah, Kirsten Smith enter ‘Panic Zone’

McCullahSmith

“Legally Blonde” scribes Karen McCullah and Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith have written a new original comedy script titled “Panic Zone” that has been optioned by Barnaby Thompson and his London-based Ealing Studios.

Thompson will produce the film with Marc Platt, Adam Siegel and the two scribes. James Spring of Ealing and Ben Latham-Jones of Londinium Films will exec produce.

“Karen and Kiwi wrote a hilarious modern comedy about the perils of being a woman over 35 trying to find love,” said Platt. “We’ve been looking to find the perfect project to collaborate on since ‘Legally Blonde,’ and when I read their script, I knew we’d found it.”

“‘Panic Zone’ is a perfect fit for Ealing and our long tradition of sophisticated screwball comedies built around iconic stars,” added Thompson.

McCullah and Smith are currently writing a high-concept, female-driven feature comedy for Twentieth Century Fox and producer John Davis. In addition to “Legally Blonde,” McCullah and Smith have written the hit comedies “The Ugly Truth,” “The House Bunny,” “She’s The Man” and “10 Things I Hate About You.” Duo are repped by Paradigm and manager Seth Jaret.

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20th Century Fox has hired Karen McCullah & Kirsten Smith to adapt 29, the novel by Adena Halpern. John Davis is producing. The book is a high concept comedy about an elderly woman who wakes up in the body of her 29-year old self and finally has the chance to do things right. McCullah & Smith’s credits include Legally Blonde and The House Bunny. In addition to solo projects, they are scripting Love It Or Leave It for Chockstone Pictures, which they are producing with Seth Jaret and Steve Schwartz, Paula Mae Schwartz and Roger Schwartz. The scribes are repped by Paradigm and manager Seth Jaret.

Source: http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/fox-sets-scribe-team-mccullah-smith-for-29/

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AMC has announced the renewal of Hell on Wheels for a second season. The original series reigns as the second highest rated series on AMC, averaging 3.2 million viewers and 1.5 million Adults 25-54.* Season one’s finale is Sunday, January 15th at 10pm EST. Hell on Wheels is created and written by Joe and Tony Gayton, who also serve as executive producers. John Shiban, Jeremy Gold, Endemol’s SVP of scripted programming and David Von Ancken, who also directed the pilot, serve as executive producers. The series is executive produced by Endemol USA with Entertainment One serving as the studio. eOne’s Television CEO John Morayniss and EVP series television Michael Rosenberg oversee production in partnership with co-producers Mike Frislev and Chad Oakes at Nomadic Pictures.

Hell on Wheels tells the epic story of post-Civil War America, focusing on a Confederate soldier (Anson Mount) who sets out to exact revenge on the Union soldiers who have killed his wife. His journey takes him west to ‘Hell on Wheels,’ a dangerous, raucous, lawless melting pot of a town that travels with and services the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, an engineering feat unprecedented for its time. It examines the railroad’s institutionalized greed and corruption, the immigrant experience, and the plight of the newly emancipated African-Americans during reconstruction. Over time, Hell on Wheels chronicles this potent turning point in our nation’s history, and how uncivilized the business of civilization can be.

Hell on Wheels stars Anson Mount as Cullen Bohannon, a former soldier hell bent on avenging his wife’s death; Colm Meaney as Thomas “Doc” Durant, a greedy entrepreneur taking full advantage of the changing times; musician/actor Common as Elam Ferguson, an emancipated slave working to achieve true freedom in a world entrenched in prejudice; Dominique McElligott as Lily Bell, a newly widowed woman trying to survive in a man’s world; Tom Noonan as Reverend Cole; Ben Esler as Sean McGinnes and Philip Burke as Mickey McGinnes, two young brothers looking to find their fortune in the new West; and Eddie Spears as Joseph Black Moon, a Native American man torn between his culture and the changing world around him.

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The Los Angeles Times today makes its entry into the e-book marketplace with the release of “A Nightmare Made Real,” an expanded version of staff writer Christopher Goffard‘s gripping account of a man accused of unspeakable acts, facing a lifetime behind bars. The original two-part series was one of The Times most-read stories of the year.

“As a content company, we are enthusiastic about harnessing new mediums and business models that expand the reach of our unique storytelling,” said Times President Kathy Thomson. “The immediacy of e-book publishing allows us to easily adapt Times coverage to a convenient reader experience that’s being heavily embraced.”

Available today for Kindle, Nook and iBooks for 99 cents, “Nightmare” is the first of eight to 10 new digital titles The Times plans to release in the coming year. All will be accessible via latimes.com/bookstore, and readers can expect short- and long-form stories, topical e-singles, recipe compilations, photo-driven narratives and Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage.

“E-books offer an exciting opportunity to take The Times” world-class journalism and present it as a different reading experience,” said Times Editor Russ Stanton. “Be it an overview of a significant news event, a collection of Steve Lopez columns or a dip into our rich archives, we’re excited to release titles that span our areas of expertise and can be easily and conveniently accessed.”

“A Nightmare Made Real” tells the spellbinding story of Louis Gonzalez III, a Las Vegas banker accused of kidnapping, torturing and sexually assaulting the mother of his child. Evidence from the scene included clumps of her hair and a cord that was tied around her neck. “In 19 years of police work, this has to go down as one of the most brutal attacks I have ever seen,” a police spokesman said. Over the next several months, as Gonzalez sat behind bars, his defense attorney and a hired investigator would try to prove his innocence. The detective assigned to the case began to nurse suspicions that the facts were far from what they first appeared.

In addition to The Times original series, e-book readers can expect new material, including more detailed portraits of the investigating detective and the defense team, and a deeper look at the alleged “suicide note” that emerged at a pivotal moment in the case. In addition, Goffard provides an account of how the story started with an unlikely tip and grew into a narrative.

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/11/los-angeles-times-publishes-first-ebook-a-nightmare-made-real.html

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Via The Hollywood Reporter:

Westerns have continued to pay off for AMC.

Sunday’s premiere of its post-Civil War Western Hell on Wheels, directed by Content Creator, David Von Ancken, opened to a 3.1 household rating and 4.4 million viewers, becoming the network’s second-highest series premiere in history, following The Walking Dead.

Among key demographics, the Anson Mount starrer created by brothers Joe and Tony Gayton delivered 2.4 million viewers in adults 18-49, second to the Season 2 premiere of the network’s Robert Kirkman zombie drama. Among adults 25.54, Sunday’s Hell on Wheels premiere delivered 2.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

“I congratulate the entire cast and crew of Hell on Wheels for pulling off a project of this scope,” AMC president Charlie Collier said in a statement Monday.

“Bringing the grandeur of the Old West and the building of the railroad to life is no small feat and the Gaytons, with their team, have delivered a beautiful world of which we are all so proud,” he added. “We look forward to sharing the lives of these characters in the weeks and months to come.”

AMC’s 2006 Western miniseries Broken Trail — the network’s first original scripted effort — stands as its biggest commercial success and highest rated original project, collecting 9.8 million total viewers.

Meanwhile, the fourth episode of The Walking Dead rebounded from its third episode dip and provided a stellar lead-in to Hell on Wheels, drawing 6.3 million total viewers at 9 p.m. and a 4.2 household rating. In the demos, Dead drew 4.3 million viewers in 18-49 and 3.7 million among adults 25-54.

By Lesley Goldberg

Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-ratings-hell-wheels-opens-258303

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Via Variety:

Sam Trammell of “True Blood” has joined the cast of indie drama “Long Time Gone” opposite Virginia Madsen and Anthony LaPaglia.

Smokewood Entertainment is producing “Long Time Gone,” with co-founder and producer Sarah Siegel-Magness (“Precious”) making her directorial debut.

Production began Sept. 12 in Los Angeles. Trammell began work Monday.

“Long Time Gone” also stars Zach Gilford, Amanda Crew and newcomer Graham Rogers. Karen McCullah (“The Ugly Truth”) wrote the screenplay based upon April Stevens’ novel “Angel, Angel.”

The story follows a broken family who must cope when the husband (played by LaPaglia) leaves his wife, (played by Madsen) for another woman. Their sons have no idea what to do when their mother refuses to come out of her bedroom for days on end which turns into weeks.

Trammell plays an easy-going landscaper who hires one of the sons as a day laborer and befriends his distraught mother.

Bobbi Sue Luther, Gary Magness (“Precious”) and screenwriter McCullah are producing. Andrew Sugerman and Seth Jaret are executive producing.

Shooting will continue until Oct. 25.

By Dave McNary

Source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118043479?refCatId=13

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Via Virginia Madsen’s Blog:

New upcoming project for Virginia Madsen has been confirmed! She has joined the cast of of Smokewood Entertainment’s “Long Time Gone”. Virginia will star in Sarah Siegel-Magness’ drama film, joining the already announced cast of Amanda Crew, Aly Michalka, Madeline Zima and Zach Gilford.

“Precious” producer Sarah Siegel-Magness makes her directorial debut with the pic, which stars Virginia Madsen as Augusta, a woman who suffers a nervous breakdown after her cheating husband leaves her. Zach Gilford and Graham Rogers co-star as her two sons who, along with the latter’s live-in girlfriend (Amanda Crew), attempt to comfort Ryan in her time of need.

Long Time Gone is currently filming in Los Angeles.

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