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SWAGGER MAGAZINE
Drew Williams
Stephen Foster
Adrien McDonald-Ussery
Jared Leckie
Kristen Anzelc
Celina Benigno
As Disney+, Peacock and HBO Max joined the roster of premier streaming services, content spending reached $46 billion in 2020. The legacy of prominent streaming services is seen in the aftermath of the traditional cinema vs. streaming platform battle: theaters are closing across the country and both Amazon and Netflix are producing movies that attract A-list stars and Oscar nominations.
A benefit of this ongoing filmmaking revolution is the expanding space for independent producers; more streaming platforms provide greater opportunities for independent filmmakers to find distribution. Joshua Jackson, alum of Dawson’s Creek and The Affair, has dedicated himself toward supporting and collaborating with independent filmmakers in partnership with the multifaceted publicly traded company, Liquid Media Group, of which he is the Founder and Chairman.
Observing the inequity between those directly creating the work and those profiting most from it, the idea for his company was born.
"Liquid Media Group is a family of companies that have been brought together to empower independent storytellers, whether they be in film, television, or narrative entertainment," Jackson shared.
“We provide the tools to take their idea from inception all the way through its life cycle, out to their audience and to give them the analytics to identify and reach audiences who are hungry for their stories.”
The Dr. Death and Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere star had always noticed a “massive disconnect between the enormous amount of talent and the ownership of content” in regards to the creative production of films within the industry. Pointing out the hopeful evolution of film production, Jackson saw a significant shift from where he started in the early ‘90s to today’s digitized industry.
“The shift from traditional media distribution and production into an online and digitally distributed world happened in a year because of COVID,” Jackson discovered.
“All of a sudden everything was accelerated, and we took the time during COVID to reorganize and prepare ourselves for this moment, as both the world and the industry hopefully comes out of COVID and into a radically shifted media landscape.”
As Liquid's Chairman, he wants to make it easier for filmmakers to get their work in front of viewers by giving them ownership of their project, so that they "survive and tell another story."
“I’ve seen the variety of different ways in which the system doesn’t encourage or reward the people doing the hard work,” Jackson revealed. “(For a distributor) you’re just another piece of product that they’re putting out there in the world.” In addition to funding, Liquid Media Group seeks to offer filmmakers access to resources that established studios enjoy.
Liquid Media Group’s Big Splash event was the glowing centerpiece of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, facilitating dynamic discussions among notable names in the filmmaking industry.
Jackson explained how TIFF, a representation of the Canadian film industry for the rest of the world, was the perfect place to introduce Liquid Media Group: “It’s a place where actors, writers, directors, producers, fans, all come together to support and celebrate the artistry of storytelling. They do it not only for the Canadian audience, but also for the entire global audience; and that’s exactly the space that Liquid Media wants to be in. We’re a Canadian company born and bred, but we recognize that storytelling isn’t regional, so we want to be a player on the global stage.”
What’s next for Liquid Media Group is the exciting part. It involves “actually moving into the marketplace and empowering storytellers, whether it be from the inception of their idea, through the production of their idea, financing for their idea, and ultimately taking it out and distributing it into the world,” Jackson said. “We’ve been building, building, building, and now we get to go out into the world and do it.”
Joshua Jackson and Liquid Media Group are the architects of a new future in the film industry -- one that celebrates the creations of independent filmmakers and allows them to reap the financial rewards of their work. “We’re empowering them with the opportunity to have some control over their destiny,” Jackson said. As streaming services rewrite the definition of cinema, Jackson is hopeful that independent producers are included in the revision.
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