Market season!
After three content markets and two festivals in a row, it is great being able to take some time off to summarize our latest experiences.
Sitting in the buyers lounge during the last day of Ventana Sur, one of the largest content markets in LATAM — and the most important in Argentina — we are waiting to change roles in some minutes turning ourselves into sellers of the products we have developed for the platform. We have sat on top of every possible role in the industry: as a platform, as producers, as buyers, as sellers. We promote a new monetization model — GVOD — and we have developed a state-of-the-art decentralized content delivery network. We’ve been speakers and we’ve been students, being enlightened by some of the greatest minds in the streaming and broadcasting ecosystem. And we have organized two events over the last two months, in Cannes and Buenos Aires, acting as hosts for Netflix, Amazon, Turner, HBO and many other key players. We can say, with the chest inflated with pride, that everyone in the media industry is aware of Flixxo.
Our latest journey started in Cannes, mid October. We followed the Argentinian delegation to MIPCOM in order to explore new networking opportunities. We had the chance of showcasing our first original series, ALT ESC, to a selected group of international buyers and producers. Variety magazine reported the experience:
“Alt Esc,” an interactive thriller pitched by Garelik, marks the first original series of Flixxo, the online peer-to-peer video distribution platform financed with cryptocurrencies.
Starring youtuber Dai Hernández, the short format series turns on a young man admitted into a rehab clinic for virtuality additions, where he meets weird people from different digital tribes (selfies, gamers, hackers) who will help him to investigate the dark secrets the center hides.
At Cannes we have also hosted the opening party, where more than 500 people enjoyed Argentinian alfajores!
We are still following up our conversations at the market, but the good news is that we are likely to integrate the GVOD model and our token FLIXX on top of other platforms. We have also confirmed more shows for Flixxo and managed to sell some of the content we have produced to territories we are not targeting at this stage (e.g India)
Following MIPCOM we traveled to two of our favorites short form series festivals: Marseille Webfest and Bilbao Seriesland. We sponsored the pitching competition at both festivals and granted awards to two amazing soon-to-be series, Strictly Beginners and Inner Lucy. On the other hand, San Martin’s head, winner of the Flixxo pitching competition in Buenos Aires, presented its teaser — shoot with the money they got from our prize — at Seriesland, and they won a place in the Marseille Webfest writing residence in 2020! This project is turning into a success case of how an idea can be turned into a series with a little help from Flixxo :)
More than 20 new series, many of which were awarded at the festivals, were committed to the platform.
Some weeks after MIPCOM, we were invited to MIP Cancun, in Mexico. MIP Cancun tends to be the place were we all close the conversations we have opened in MIP TV and followed up at MIPCOM. We were delighted to discover that the GVOD model is already known by the industry — an executive of one of the biggest Hollywood studios confessed he was a big fan of GVOD — We are really close of having a closed deal with some of the most renowned studios, and we expect to be announcing something on early 2020.
At MIP Cancun we also helped organizing the short form series category for the Produ Awards, where Gaston Armagno — director of some shows presented in our platform, including Flixxo’s Original Neptunia — was awarded as the best director for Hotel Romanov.
Later, our team was present at Buenos Aires’ Ventana Sur market. Being locals, it was key for us to have a strong presence in the event. We organized a cocktail after the pitching sessions at the Hard Rock Cafe, close to the market, where representatives of Amazon, Movistar, HBO, Viacom, Turner, A&E, Disney, Mediapro, Discovery and the authorities of the (Argentinian) National Institute for Cinema and Audiovisual Arts, had the opportunity of having some drinks as we introduced them to the universe of Flixxo and GVOD.
Also, on Ventana Sur, we had the chance of presenting the GVOD model, a model which is ideal for short form series, together with three of the shows we have produced: Alt Esc, Cinema in Real Life and the cult cartoon series Alejo y Valentina, followed by millions of fans. The panel was amazing and we spent more than one hour — until the organization of the event kicked everybody out — answering questions to a very curious audience.
Alejo y Valentina is a show that has captivated two generations of viewers, starting as a web series on 2002 — long before YouTube — , reaching the mainstream media with four season at MTV — 2004–2007 — , exploding on unofficial channels in YouTube for more than 12 years, reaching hundreds of millions of views and is now preparing two new seasons for Flixxo. It is known as the Latin American South Park. Its co-creator, Adrian Peralta, stated at Ventana Sur
MTV helped us reaching audiences and making Alejo y Valentina a popular show in Latin America, but they kept censoring the episodes and pushing them to be 24 minutes in length, even when some of the stories were originally told in 10 minutes. Working with Flixxo has been an incredible experience. Their model allowed us to be more creative, faithful with the concept and to tell the stories the way they deserved to be told.
We should definitely write a full post about the content we have produced. But now we offer you a sneak peek of Alejo y Valentina’s new season, a Flixxo’s Originals. More to come, stay tuned!
