Producers who are in the development stage on new documentary and factual entertainment projects can now engage Janson Media to raise finance via both pre-sales and co-production investments.  Please read about our Executive Production agreement.  We are currently accepting a limited number of new projects to pitch at MIPCOM 2010 in Cannes, France, in early October. Please use our Submissions Form.

Insanely early, we know.

But it is the middle of June, MIPTV 2010 was two long months ago, and we will soon all disappear for the summer on our vacations and and holidays, only to return in September with barely a month to prepare for our semi-annual rite of doing business in Cannes.

And so, yes, our MIPCOM 2010 appointment book is now officially open.  Please visit this page to suggest several days and times for meetings at our “home away from home,” in Cannes: Stand #R30.18, in the Riviera Hall of the Palais des Festivals. We look forward to seeing all of our good friends and colleagues once again in April on the sunny Cote d’Azur, and pray that Eyjafjallajokull will not awaken again to wreak havoc with our travel plans.

The Janson Media MIPTV 2010 Catalog is now available for download, at “screen” (72dpi) quality.

Yes, we’re starting early this year.  Our MIPTV 2010 appointment book is now officially open.  Please visit this page to suggest several days and times for meetings at our “home away from home,” in Cannes: Stand #R30.18, in the Riviera Hall of the Palais des Festivals. We look forward to seeing all of our good friends and colleagues once again in April on the sunny Cote d’Azur.

Worldscreen’s Mansha Daswari reported yesterday that Scripps Networks Interactive has “triumphed in the bidding war for Travel Channel, acquiring a 65-percent stake in a deal that values that lifestyle cable network at $975 million.”  This is probably good news for the Travel Channel brand, since Scripps knows how to build a great brand. They know how to reach the highly-prized 18-35 demographic, too. But this is probably bad news for independent producers and content suppliers, because the Scripps model is to retain copyrights and worldwide distribution rights to all media and all platforms for themselves.  That is to say, if you want to do a work-for-hire for the Travel Channel, call them.  But if you want a co-production partner or someone to acquire something you have already produced, you can go ahead and remove them from your rolodex.

Our Corporate Profile is available as a PDF file.

Download the 72dpi screen version here or the 300dpi print version here.

Our MIPCOM 2009 Catalog is now available.

Download the 72dpi screen version here or the 300dpi print version here.

Besides being a Tai Chi Master, a professional magician, a published author and musician, the host of the PBS television series Tai Chi Innerwave, and the founder of eight Tai Chi Innerwave schools in Canada and Florida, Joey Bond is just an incredibly nice guy, one of the most balanced and centered people we know, and has been a favorite here at Janson Media ever since we first discovered him about 14 years ago.  In a recent phone conversation, Joey had some really positive things to say about Janson Media and how it had grown through the years, so we asked him to put his thoughts to paper.  Here is what he wrote…

“The Janson Media profile moves beyond the quotable “professional” model.  Janson Media reveals itself as a finely tuned, high profile organization that offers premium programming available to the film-buff enthusiast and motion picture aficionado.

“A hand-picked lineup of superior content takes the viewer into the multifarious and exciting world of the motion picture industry, running its excellent course of superlative content from the cultural to the documentary, moving substantially from the political to the historical, and includes probing social issues which concern all of us.

“It’s all here, comprehensively prepared for your viewing pleasure.”

As of this writing, we have 1,240 subscribers to the JansonMedia Channel on YouTube. Our channel itself has been viewed over 53,000 times, and our programs and trailers (over 300 titles at present) have achieved over five million views collectively.

Trailers of our programs are available on the channel. So are the programs themselves. Some of our producers wonder why we are showing our full programs. Their logic seems to be that if a full program is available on the web, then no one will buy the DVD.  We disagree. When programs air on traditional linear television channels (cable, satellite or broadcast), DVD sales only increase.  Why would the same not be true of programs “airing” on the web?

The next technology format, or platform, always causes fear and trepidation among content owners. When VCRs first appeared, the initial theory was that since consumers could tape programs “off the air,” they would never again need to buy them on VHS. This may have been the case for some Disney movies, but it was never the case for documentaries or special-interest content.  In fact, the opposite was true, because the television broadcasts quickly became a promotional platform for the packaged, pre-recorded content. Whether the television network or channel paid to license a program or acquired it for free, the effect was the same — additional publicity and awareness for the program. The same is true of the internet.

Viewers of online streaming (not downloadable) content are very different from traditional linear television viewers. And neither lean-back linear TV viewers or lean-forward web viewers watch what they watch instead of buying DVDs. If the consumer who watches internet video is not a DVD consumer, the program has attracted another view, just as if it had aired on a linear TV channel. If that web viewer is also DVD consumer, he or she now knows about the program and they can surf over to our website or to amazon.com to buy it.

Q. Why do we ask our producers or program suppliers to contribute a Co-op Marketing Fee during the first year of distribution?

A. Because we want them to have skin in the game.

The expression comes from legendary investor Warren Buffett, who coined the term to refer to a situation in which high-ranking insiders use their own money to buy stock in the company they are running. For us, it simply means we want our producers and program suppliers to have a stake in the business relationship with us. We want them to be invested along with us, in the distribution of their content.

If not, it’s just too easy for them to sign an agreement and then leave us hanging without the necessary tools to do the job. Too often, we have signed distribution agreements only to have the producers fail to deliver transcripts, music cues, or even the high-rez images we need to design promotional materials for their content. Too often we have signed distribution agreements only to have producers fail to deliver acceptable broadcast-quality videotape masters when we need them to service a deal.

With skin in the game, our producers become true partners. We don’t ask for much. We still make the majority investment in promotion and marketing. But we no longer offer distribution for free. The content distribution business has become too expensive in recent years, the rights issues too complex. Too many independent distributors and producers have folded up their tents and gone home. It has been a buyer’s market for a decade, and it’s fast becoming a commodity business. We need great content to survive, and we need a lot of it, but more than that we need producers and content suppliers who are willing to be true partners.

Like anything in life, you get what you pay for.

One of the truest aphorisms around, but a lot of folks go through life thinking otherwise.

International program distribution is no different.

A lot of producers think they can do it all themselves, and keep the 30% commission for themselves. They think the distribution game is easy. How hard can it be compared to producing? It’s just sales, right?

So our story begins with that guy, a talented and enterprising Producer with a really terrific new [special/series/documentary]. We would like to handle the distribution for him and make some money for us both, but he decides he can do it all by himself.  So he spends a few hundred dollars to design and print a snazzy flyer, buys a round-trip plane ticket to Nice, France, and registers as a Participant for MIPTV or MIPCOM. He shows up with a Participant’s Badge and a MacBook and a shoulder bag full of four-color flyers and DVD screeners, ready to set the world on fire.  He schedules a few meetings in the Participants’ Club or the Buyer’s Lounge and hey, what do you know, our Producer is doing business in Cannes!  On the Riviera!  How cool is this!

Our Producer scatters his flyers around the Palais des Festivals in all the right places and hopes they’re seen by the executives who have budgets to spend. He even spends a few hours putting the flyers in all the buyers’ mailboxes in the Buyer’s Lounge (not realizing that the buyers don’t even know they have mailboxes in the Buyer’s Lounge and wouldn’t go there to check them if they did know).  Because maybe by now our Producer realizes that Sellers at MIPTV and MIPCOM need a Stand to sell from (complete with tables to sit at and a chairs to sit on).  That the Buyers roam the hallways of the Palais and cannot be found at their own network’s stands (because that is where their own network’s Sellers spend their days). Maybe our Producer even realizes by now that the Buyers don’t really want to meet with Producers… in fact, nobody does. The Buyers want to meet with Distributors they know and trust, and the Distributors want to meet with the Buyers they know have budgets and checkbooks, so as to make their obscenely expensive investment in renting a Stand at MIPTV or MIPCOM pay off.

So perhaps by now, a few thousand Euros later, our enterprising Producer with the really terrific new [series/special/documentary] has it figured out.  It wasn’t so easy after all… but no, wait, our Producer returns home to find a few emails in his inbox requesting screeners of his [series/special/documentary], and even an actual offer or two!  (“I can do it all by myself!”)

Well… in order to close those deals, our Producer realizes soon enough that he will need to spend $400 or $500 to talk to a professional consultant on the phone who will tell him if he is getting treated fairly or not (or he’ll spend hours on the web trying to figure it out on his own). He realizes he needs a lawyer at $600 an hour to evaluate the 20-page contracts (but he’ll try to do this himself too).  Then he realizes that he needs to spend a few thousand dollars to get music cue sheets and transcripts done (he’ll try to hire unpaid interns to do this too). Finally he realizes that he needs to bring back the editor and use the editing room again to get the textless material placed properly at the end of his texted masters, and maybe his audio tracks aren’t configured the right way, and oh yeah, he need to spend thousands more to get all of his episodes converted to PAL.  And what’s this about E&O insurance?

Our story ends here…

And so, this is why we do business the way we do.

This is why our fees are what they are, and why our contracts and our promotional and marketing expenses are structured the way they are. Because we have been doing this for two decades, and we know how to do it.

You can try the distribution game yourself.  Or you can probably find other distributors who will charge a lower commission than we do.  Some won’t charge you a Co-op Marketing Fee, and some won’t even recoup promotion and marketing expenses.  Many will never even ask you if you have all the deliverables they will need to service a deal.  Just remember…

You get what you pay for.

But if you don’t want to be that guy, and you believe your content deserves to be handled by a professional worldwide program distributor with two decades of experience, and one of the best in the business, please give us a call.

Joost is dead as an online ad-supported video streaming platform.  Read Joost CEO Mike Volpi’s blog post here, and the PC World article here.

Bloomberg reports that television shows such as “The Simpsons” and “CSI” now command higher advertising rates at websites like Hulu.com and TV.com than on prime-time broadcast networks.

Elena Mora and Anna Carugati have written a terrific report on the history of the Italian television market, published by Worldscreen, June 8, 2009. Well worth reading for producers and distributors doing business in Italy, or hoping to…

Television Business International (TBI) reports that Las Vegas television market NATPE will abandon its exhibition floor in January 2010, and instead make at least four more floors of standard exhibition suites available at THEHotel, as well as using ballrooms at the Mandalay Bay. The plan is a response to both declining attendance and the fact that major studios and distributors have opted for hotel suites instead of exhibition hall space in recent years.

Worldscreen’s Mansha Daswani summarized a new report from Microsoft, Europe Logs On: Internet Trends of Today & Tomorrow, which anticipates the Internet overtaking traditional TV as the most-consumed form of media throughout Europe by June 2010. Read the Worldscreen article here, and the complete Microsoft report here.

THE HOLLYWOOD COLLECTION
Spanish Versions available (15 x 60’); produced  by TNT and TCM Latin America:

Alan Ladd: The True Quiet Man
Anthony Quinn: An Original
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down
Cary Grant: The Leading Man Legend
Charlton Heston: A Man For All Seasons
Gary Cooper: The Face of a Hero
Grace Kelly: The American Princess
Horror of It All, The
Ingrid Bergman Remembered
Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
Roger Moore: A Matter of Class
Shirely MacLaine: Kicking Up Her Heels
Steve McQueen: Man On The Edge
Walter Matthau: Diamond in the Rough
Yul Brynner: The Man Who Was King

Our MIPTV 2009 Catalog is now available. You may download the 72dpi screen version here or the 300dpi print version here.

According to Reed-Midem’s MIPDOC 2009 pre-market survey of 400 registered buyers, the most sought-after genre at this year’s documentary screening will be Current Affairs progamming, for the second year in a row. Nature & Wildlife is the second-ranking program category, and Science & Knowledge third. MIPDOC takes places March 28th and 29th at the Carlton Hotel on the Croisette in Cannes, kicking off the following week’s MIPTV market.

The Gabriel Awards has issued a call for entries, and has extended its 2009 deadline until March 30th. Entry fees have been reduced in recognition of “the economic challenges we are all facing.” The awards have been recognizing broadcasting excellence since 1965, and sponsored by the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals. The awards are designed to honor works of excellence in film, network and cable television and radio programs. These include, feature films and documentaries, entertainment and news programming, public service announcements, and stations which serve audiences through the positive, creative treatment of concerns to humankind. Visit their website for more information or to download an entry form.

The “Family Friendly Flights Act” was introduced in the U.S. Congress on September 25th, 2007. It is described by KidsSafeFilms.org as ” smart, common sense legislation which gives parents the ability to protect their kids while respecting the First Amendment.” The bill is co-authored by Congressman Heath Shuler (D, NC) and Congressman Walter Jones (R, NC).  Consider supporting the grassroots organization KidsSafeFilms if you are concerned about the disgusting level of violent images to which our children are routinely exposed on inflight movies.  Feature films are supposed to be “edited for family viewing” on publicly-viewable screens for inflight airline exhibition. Clearly, these editors don’t have children of their own.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting projects a possible $418 million drop in revenue in 2009, reports Current, the newspaper about public television and radio.  Member giving, corporate underwriting, state and local government aid — all are forecast to decline at record rates this year.

Giant Screen Film Collection > Rights Availabilities for U.S. Television

This is a marvelous collection of big-budget Giant Screen Films originally produced for IMAX™ theaters. Please contact our office for information about licensing opportunities.

3D Sun
From Earth we cannot look at the Sun with our human eyes. This 3D Sun odyssey gives audiences a chance to see the Sun up close in startling 3D; stand above the arctic circle and witness the most brilliant auroras on Earth; take a ride on a solar blast from Sun’s surface to Earth’s magnetosphere and come to a deeper understanding of what this vast sea of fire means to life here on Earth.

Year: 2007
Produced By: Melrae Pictures
Director: Melissa Butts, Barry Kim
Formats: 2K Digital
Executive Producer: K2 Communications

Adrenaline Rush: The Science of Risk
A journey into the multidimensional world of risk from the soaring and breathtaking cliffs of Norway to the calm and inspiring immensity of the Mojave Desert. Starring world champion skydiver Adrian Nicholas.

Year: 2002
Produced By: Sky High Entertainment / Carl Samson
Director: Marc Fafard
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Adventures in Wild California
Join some of California’s most unique residents, and experience the wonders of this amazing state’s farthest edges as few ever have. From sky surfing over San Diego, to snowboarding in Tahoe, to excavating the heart of a 30-story tall giant sequoia tree, saving stranded baby sea otters, and surfing giant waves at “Mavericks” in Half Moon Bay there’s something for everyone. Music from Lindsay Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac.

Year: 2000
Produced By: MacGillivray Freeman Films / Greg MacGillivray and Mark Krenzien
Director: Greg MacGillivray
Length: 42 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
Narrated By: Jimmy Smits

Africa: The Serengeti
Chronicles a spectacle that few humans have ever witnessed, the Great Migration, taking viewers on a journey with over 1.5 million animals as they travel more than 500 miles across the Serengeti plains in Tanzania and Kenya.

Year: 1994
Produced By: Graphic Films / George Casey and Paul Novros
Director: George Casey
Length: 38 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
U.S. Box Office: Over $90 million
Narrated By: James Earl Jones

Alaska: Spirit of the Wild
Academy Award nominee
Witness a poetic story of survival in the harsh conditions of Alaska.

Year: 1997
Produced By: Graphic Films / Paul Novros and George Casey
Director: George Casey
Length: 39 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
U.S. Box Office: Over $57 million
Narrated By: Charlton Heston

Alien Adventure
An alien spacecraft lands in the middle of “Adventure Planet,” a hi-tech amusement park that is not yet open to the public. To determine if they should establish a permanent base on this newfound planet, the aliens sample a few of the attractions from underwater and underground rides to fast paced rollercoasters.

Year: 1999
Produced By: nWave Pictures / Charlotte Huggins and Caroline Van Iseghem
Director: Ben Stassen
Length: 37 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Amazing Journeys
Experience the world’s greatest animal migrations from zebras in East Africa, to millions of red crabs on Christmas Island, to gray whales in Mexico’s beautiful lagoons and monarch butterflies in the Mexican highlands. Travel back in time among exotic tribes of Africa to explore the roots of human migration.

Year: 1999
Produced By: Graphic Films / George Casey and Paul Novros
Director: George Casey
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Amazon
Academy Award Nominee
Follow the breathtaking Amazon River from its source in the high Andes through the dense rain forest, and journey with two “medicine men” on a quest for new miracles.

Year: 1997
Produced By: Ogden Entertainment / Jonathan Stern and Kieth Merrill
Director: Kieth Merrill
Length: 38 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
Narrated By: Linda Hunt

Antarctica
For the first time in history the mysterious icy expanse of the highest, driest and coldest continent has been captured in the giant screen format. Experience the life and drama of Antarctica like never before.

Year: 1992
Produced By: John Weiley and David Flatman
Director: John Weiley
Length: 38 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
U.S. Box Office: $75 million

Australia: Land Beyond Time
Stunning inside look at a land more like another planet than another country. Includes a rare natural event that happens only once every hundred years: the formation of a giant inland ocean out of nowhere in the middle of the harshest desert outback.

Year: 2002
Produced By: David Flatman
Director: David Flatman
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Baraka
Enter a world beyond words, where riveting, crystal clear images transcend language — and provide an unparalleled window into the human soul. The acclaimed Ron Fricke classic examines human life on earth through stunning cinematography.

Year: 1992
Produced By: Mark Magidson
Director: Ron Fricke
Length: 96 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Bears
From black bears in Montana to polar bears in the arctic, Bears features a fresh view of these powerful, majestic and often misunderstood animals in the full glory of their natural habitat, and highlights the universal threats to bear populations.

Year: 2001
Produced By: Goulam Amarsy and James Marchbank
Director: David Lickley
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
Narrated By: Tyrone Benskin

Beavers
An acclaimed, intimate look at one beaver family and their aquatic habitat, which puts a remarkably human face on these amazing creatures’ emotions.

Year: 1988
Produced By: Stephen Low Productions
Director: Stephen Low
Length: 30 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
U.S. Box Office: $70 million

Bugs!
See the miniscule world of insects magnified and explore the miracle of their success. From metamorphosis to master, predator to prey, and community to concealment, Bugs! brings audiences face-to-face with this amazing universe of creatures.

Year: 2003
Produced By: Phil Streather and Alexandra Ferguson
Director: Mike Slee
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
U.S. Box Office: $25,000,000
Narrated By: Judi Dench

Chronos
The ground-breaking celebration of nature and art featuring time-lapse photography of locations around the world. A stunning visual odyssey that brought a new aesthetic dimension to the large-format genre. From Ron Fricke, the acclaimed director of Baraka and Koyaanisqatsi.

Year: 1985
Produced By: Jeffrey Kirsch and Mark Magidson
Director: Ron Fricke
Length: 42 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Cosmic Voyage
Academy Award Nominee
Cosmic Voyage mixes ground-breaking computer animation with cutting-edge science to give us a sweeping view of the universe. The film explores some of the greatest scientific theories, many of which have never before been visualized on film.

Year: 1996
Produced By: Jeffrey Marvin and Bayley Silleck
Director: Bayley Silleck
Length: 35 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
Narrated By: Morgan Freeman

Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia
If it weren’t for a series of cataclysmic events; a comet impact being first on the list, our planet could still be the domain of dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs fascinate us so much, that many people wish they were among us. Fortunately, Dinosaurs 3D will be the closest thing to actually being in the presence of these extraordinary creatures. Deeply rooted in science, the film carries the audience back in time to witness these amazing beasts come to life.

Meet the largest living animals to have ever walked the Earth: the titanesque plant-eating Argentinosaur, and its nemesis, the Giganotosaur, a bipedal carnivore, that could easily challenge the famous T-Rex!

Year: 2007
Produced By: Carl Samson
Director: Marc Fafard
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
Narrated by: Donald Sutherland
Trailer – QuickTime Hi

Dolphins
Academy Award Nominee
Examines the lives of dolphins in beautiful tropical locales, their remarkable intelligence, and their relationships with some unique humans who are close to them. Music by Sting.

Year: 2000
Produced By: MacGillivray Freeman Films / Greg MacGillivray and Alec Lorimore
Director: Greg MacGillivray
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
U.S. Box Office: $69.6 million
Narrated By: Pierce Brosnan

Encounter in the Third Dimension
Encounter in the Third Dimension is a groundbreaking venture into the realm of 3D filmmaking. Using CGI technology to its maximum potential, 3D sight gags abound in this thrilling presentation that integrates computer generated imagery and live action to explore the history of 3D photography and 3D motion pictures.

Year: 1999
Produced By: nWave Pictures / Charlotte Huggins and Ben Stassen
Director: Ben Stassen
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
U.S. Box Office: Over $37 million

Extreme
Extreme combines incredible extreme sport action with narration by the athletes and an eclectic, contemporary soundtrack. Extreme features 6 nature based sports; Big Wave Surfing, Ice Climbing, Skiing, Snowboarding, Windsurfing and Rock Climbing.

Year: 1999
Produced By: Neils de Jong Franken
Director: Jon Long
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag
Voted “Best of Festival” at the 2005 Large Format Cinema Association’s Conference
Climb into the cockpit with the world’s best pilots and reach speeds of 800 mph in the world’s most intense air war training exercise. Originally released in IMAX and other giant-screen theaters, this award-winning film follows a young American pilot as he makes his way through Red Flag air war training. Experience the intensity as U.S. and international pilots, ground crews, mechanics and rescue personnel are taken to the limits of their endurance.

Year: 2004
Director: Stephen Low
Length: 35 minutes
Formats: SD; HD

Flight of the Aquanaut
Flight of the Aquanaut is set against startling undersea vistas and tells a gripping tale of a diver’s voyage into danger. Equipped with a self-propelled, one-atmosphere “hard suit,” the aquanaut sweeps viewers along on a dramatic science adventure.

Year: 1992
Produced By: Pietro Serapiglia
Director: Stephen Low
Length: 35 minutes
Formats: SD; HD soon

Gold Fever
Gold Fever interweaves a modern prospector’s wilderness journey, the historical Klondike Gold Rush and an exciting African Royal Durba celebration and documents the cultural, economic and historical significance of gold.

Year: 1999
Produced By: David Lickley
Director: David Lickley
Length: 41 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Great North
The film reveals the Far North as you have never experienced it: the stories and music of the people, the Inuit and the Saami, who live on the roof of the world in Canada and Sweden. At the heart of their lives are the caribou and the reindeer whose remarkable journey reveals the majestic Arctic landscape.

Year: 2000
Produced By: Martin Dignard
Director: Martin Dignard and Bill Reeve
Length: 41 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Haunted Castle
Here you will join a young musician named Johnny as he takes possession of his mysterious new home — recently bequeathed to him by his deceased mother. Once inside, however, Johnny will quickly learn that all is not as it appears …

Year: 2001
Produced By: nWave Pictures / Charlotte Huggins and Ben Stassen
Director: Ben Stassen
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
U.S. Box Office: Over $21 million

India: Kingdom of the Tiger
Follow in the footsteps of Jim Corbett, the famed English hunter-naturalist, as he races to save an Indian village from the terror of a man-eating tiger. Along his journey he expresses his passion for tigers and explores the issues of tiger conservation. The film is also a historical epic depicting India from 1910 to the modern era. Starring critically acclaimed Indian actress Smriti Mishra and Christopher Heyerdahi.

Year: 2002
Produced By: Afsana Amarsy and Goulam Amarsy
Director: Bruce Neibaur
Length: 42 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Journey Into Amazing Caves
Still in theaters

Follow two accomplished female cavers as they descend deep inside treacherous and beautiful ice caves in Greenland, underwater labyrinths in Mexico’s steamy Yucutan Peninsula and twisted caverns within the walls of the Grand Canyon. Music by Moody Blues.

Year: 2001
Produced By: MacGillivray Freeman Films / Greg MacGillivray and Stephen Judson
Director: Stephen Judson
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
U.S. Box Office: $30 million
Narrated By: Liam Neeson

Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa
Join a band of trekkers as they journey through rugged terrain and extreme conditions to look out from Africa’s highest point in David Breashears’ mountain adventure, Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa.

Year: 2002
Produced By: David Breashears and Arabella Cecil
Director: David Breashears
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Legend of Loch Lomond
Set on the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond in breathtaking Scotland, Legend of Loch Lomond is the dramatic ghost story of 18th century lovers cruelly separated by war, but reunited in the present day by a beautiful young singer who inadvertently becomes entangled in their tale.

Year: 2000
Produced By: Phil Streather and Alexandra Ferguson
Director: Mike Slee
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Lizard Kings
An educational, entertaining and fun program about how the documentary Dinosaurs 3D: Giants of Patagonia came to happen. The host guides you through the different stages of production that lead the film crew to bring Rodolfo Coria’s vision to life. Instructive but still full of the unbelievable images of dinosaurs, marine and flying reptiles that make Giants of Patagonia such a thrilling movie. Discover and enjoy at the same time!

Year: 2007
Produced By: Michel Beaudet
Director: Jack Hackel
Length: 43:22
Formats: HD and SD
Narrated by: Graham Cuthbertson

Lost Worlds: Life in the Balance
Lost Worlds takes viewers on a global exploration of the fascinating interconnectedness of all living things. Leap off the top of Angels Falls; the highest waterfall in the world, dive into active volcanoes and climb to the top of tropical rain forest to participate in the epic story of biodiversity and its profound importance to human life.

Year: 2001
Produced By: Goulam Amarsy and Jeffrey Marvin
Director: Bayley Silleck
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
Narrated by: Harrison Ford

Majestic White Horses
Using as its centerpiece both the world’s most famous horses, the Lippizans of Austria, and their home, the internationally famous Spanish Riding School of Vienna, Majestic White Horses will capture the heart and mystique of this great animal from the time of its youth to the crowning achievement of its entrance into the School. Music performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Year: 2001
Produced By: Andreas Kamm
Director: Kurt J. Mrkwicka
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
Narrated By: Stacy Keach

Mexico
Using text from Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes and ancient Aztec and Mayan poetry, Mexico leads viewers on a visual journey through this country’s rich and varied past and present. Stunning images and a dramatic musical score by Daniel Valdez create a vivid, insightful portrait of the Mexican people and their culture.

Year: 1997
Produced By: Lorena Parlee
Director: Lorena Parlee
Length: 43 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
Narrated By: Martin Sheen (Eng), Enrique Rocha (Span)

Momentum
A sweeping, moving tribute to Canada’s stunning geography and rich cultural heritage, Momentum leaps off your screen as you go head-to-head with an icebreaker, plunge down a twisting mountain gorge, and soar through the clouds in the nosecome of a jet.

Year: 1992
Produced By: Colin Neale and Mark Zannis
Director: Tony Ianzelo and Colin Low
Length: 19 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Mystery of the Maya
Told through a modern-day archaeologist and a young Mayan descendant who explore ruins and legends to unlock the secrets of the past, the film takes the audience through a breathtaking trip on Mayan culture and history.

Year: 1995
Produced By: Barrie Howells
Director: Barrie Howells and Roberto Rochin
Length: 37 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Mystic India
Home to the oldest civilization, India is our world’s largest democracy. For millenia, many have left their homes and set off across this spiritual land in search of its secrets, to share the meaning of life that would elevate the rest of humanity. Of all such journeys, none is greater than the true story of an 11-year-old child yogi, Neelkanth, who left his home on June 29, 1792, on a journey of awakening.

Year: 2005
Produced By: BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha / Kalpesh Bhatt and Brain Rogers
Director: Keith Melton
Length: 45 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
Narrated By: Peter O’Toole

Ocean Men: Extreme Dive
Follow world champions of freediving, Pipin Ferreras and Umberto Pelizzari as they attempt to do the impossible — descend to a depth of over 162 meters (531 feet) and return to the surface on just one breath of air.

Year: 2001
Produced By: Almut Saygin
Director: Bob Talbot
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
Trailer – Real Player Hi
Trailer – Real Player Lo

Ocean Oasis
Plunge into the wildly spectacular Sea of Cortes and join beautiful naturalist Iliana Ortega to swim with whales, dolphins, sharks and giant manta rays. Then venture into the boiling hot desert to see Baja’s drier side, and up snow capped mountains as you explore the peninsula’s wonderful balance of life. Winner of Best Theatrical Program at Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. Inspired Mexican President Vicente Fox to declare a new nature preserve.

Year: 2000
Produced By: Soames Summerhays and Don Steele
Director: Soames Summerhays
Length: 42 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Ocean Origins
(Formerly Origins of Life) 4 billion years in the ocean, from the very beginning of life up to the incredible moment when the first vertebrate emerged onto dry land and opened a path to the conquest of the continents, Origins of Life examines the fascinating sea-creatures that are still alive today.

Year: 2001
Produced By: Francoise Bellanger and Christian Oddos
Director: Gerald Calderon
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Ocean Wonderland
Shot on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and in the Bahamas, Ocean Wonderland 3D brings to you the amazing beauty of the many varieties of coral and the immense diversity of the marine life thriving there.

Year: 2003
Produced By: Francois Mantello
Director: Jean-Jacques Mantello
Length: 44 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Ring of Fire
Explore the great volcanoes that ring the Pacific Ocean and the cultures that coexist with them, including spectacular footage from Mt. St. Helens, Navidad in Chile, Sakurajima in Japan, and Mt. Merapi, Indonesia.

Year: 1991
Produced By: Graphic Films / George Casey and Paul Novros
Director: George Casey
Length: 38 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Search for the Great Sharks
From the coast of California to the remote reaches of South and Western Australia, this film pursues blue sharks, whale sharks, and the notorious great white to allow viewers an up-close experience.

Year: 1992
Produced By: Graphic Films / George Casey and Paul Novros
Director: George Casey
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Sedona: Spirit of Wonder
Viewers will travel back eons in time as the earth transformed into this fascinating region. See how the diverse cultures helped shape it and discover the historical magic of Sedona through vast, brilliant images.

Year: 1998
Produced By: Dave Swartwout
Director: Frances Grumman
Length: 34 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Sharks 3D
Presented by Jean-Michel Cousteau, Sharks 3D brings audiences face-to-face with a multitude of shark species, including the Great White, Hammerhead, and Whale Shark. Witness them as they really are: not wicked man-eating creatures, but wild, fascinating and endangered animals that have been in existence a million years before dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

Year: 2005
Produced By: 3D Entertainment & Gavin McKinney Productions
Director: Jean-Jacques Mantello
Length: 42 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Ski to the Max
Ski to the Max features powder skiing in the Himalayas, extreme skiing in Alaska, slope style in Aspen, Colorado, and paragliding in the Swiss Engadin. Pop star Pink and Canadian actor/extreme skier John Eaves lead audiences on a hair-raising adventure as creative geniuses on skis, snowboards, and high in the sky push the limits of their sports.

Year: 2000
Produced By: Willy Bogner
Director: Willy Bogner
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Skydance
Follow Laura, a young journalist, and Alec, an ex-fighter pilot, as they journey the final leg of a prestigious aerial race across France. Go on a dizzying journey across France — over Normandy, Brittany, the river Loire, Dordogne, Burgundy, Provence — and it all begins and ends in Paris.

Year: 2002
Produced By: Marie-Christine Montbrial and Michel Frichet
Director: Eric Magnan
Length: 42 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Solarmax
Experience humankind’s struggle to understand the sun and the sun-earth relationship from the earliest times to the present day with visits to amazing locations around the earth, and the most incredible visuals of the sun ever captured, culminating in the violent solar maximum event of the year 2000/2001.

Year: 2000
Produced By: John Weiley and Robert Eather
Director: John Weiley
Length: 37 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

SOS Planet
Combining live-action footage, digital effects, and computer-generated sequences, SOS Planet raises some of the crucial environmental issues of our time while taking a serious look at the role of the mass media in the campaign to protect our planet from a slow but seemingly unavoidable destruction.

Year: 2002
Produced By: Charlotte Huggins
Director: Ben Stassen
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
Narrated By: Walter Cronkite

Speed
From the dawn of time to the farthest reaches of the conceivable future, get close to people who live and breathe speed. We are introduced to daredevils, racers, test pilots, and astronauts in pursuit of ever-faster velocities.

Year: 1984
Produced By: MacGillivray Freeman Films / Greg MacGillivray
Director: Greg MacGillivray
Length: 30 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
U.S. Box Office: $47 million

Stormchasers
Takes audiences on a journey around the planet to experience the most extreme storms — monsoons, hurricanes and tornadoes — and to witness the dramatic efforts of scientists in pursuit of understanding and predicting these weather events.

Year: 1996
Produced By: MacGillivray Freeman Films / Greg MacGillivray
Director: Greg MacGillivray
Length: 38 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Straight Up: Helicopters in Action
An exploration of the vital roles helicopters play in modern civil and military aviation around the world. Travel with helicopter crews as they respond to real-world needs, including a high-voltage live-wire repair, a high-sea rescue, scientific research, endangered species relocation, land-and-sea military maneuvers, and more.

Year: 2002
Produced By: Jonathan Barker and Diane Roberts
Director: David Douglas
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
Narrated By: Martin Sheen

Super Speedway
Catapults audiences into the heart of world championship auto racing action at mind-bending speeds in excess of 230 miles per hour. An inside look through the eyes of real-life racing legends Mario & Michael Andretti.

Year: 1997
Produced By: Pietro Serapiglia
Director: Stephen Low
Length: 48 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
U.S. Box Office: $40 million
Narrated By: Paul Newman

The Discoverers
From the earliest voyages that mapped the Earth to today’s launches into space, The Discoverers reverberates with the passion to explore our universe. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Dr. Daniel J. Boorstin.

Year: 1993
Produced By: MacGillivray Freeman Films / Greg MacGillivray and Adam Moos
Director: Greg MacGillivray
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

The First Emperor of China
The film tells the story of Ying Zheng, ruler of Qin, who conquered neighboring states and declared himself “Qin Shihuang,” First Emperor of China. Qin’s battles, achievements and tyranny are recounted with a cast of thousands in epic style, with historically accurate costumes and meticulous attention to detail.

Year: 1989
Produced By: Barrie Howells and Pan Han Ci
Director: Tony Ianzelo and Liu Hao Xue
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
Narrated By: Christopher Plummer

The Great American West
The story of the Settlement of the United States’ western frontier is told using the stories and words (from diaries and letters) of real life people while showing this astonishingly beautiful territory. The film chronicles the major events that contributed to the settlement of the western frontier beginning with the Louisiana purchase and ending when in 1890 the U.S. Census Bureau declared that there was no more frontier; it had been settled.

Year: 1995
Produced By: Reed Smoot and Scott Swofford
Director: Reed Smoot
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
Narrated By: Jason Robards

The Great Barrier Reef
Remastered in 1998, The Great Barrier Reef follows underwater adventurers as they explore the Reef, its awe-inspiring ecosystems, and the effect of people on this once perfectly pristine environment.

Year: 1981
Produced By: George Casey
Director: George Casey
Length: 37 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

The Greatest Places
Visit the most stunning and breathtaking locations on Earth, including Greenland, Madagascar, Namib, Okavango, Tibet, Iguazu and the Amazon.

Year: 1998
Produced By: Michael Cook
Director: Mal Wolfe
Length: 45 minutes
Formats: HD only

The Living Sea
Academy Award Nominee
From the tropical waters of Palau in the South Pacific, to the barreling waves of Oahu’s North Shore and Nova Scotia’s major tidal swings, The Living Sea celebrates the beauty, power and importance of the ocean. Music by Sting.

Year: 1995
Produced By: MacGillivray Freeman Films / Greg MacGillivray
Director: Greg MacGillivray
Length: 35 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
U.S. Box Office: $87.6 million
Narrated By: Meryl Streep
Trailer – Windows Media Hi
Trailer – Real Player Hi

The Magic of Flight
Experience the thrill of flying and soar through the history of flight, from the Wright brothers to the dramatic high-speed aerobatics of the world-renowned Blue Angels.

Year: 1996
Produced By: MacGillivray Freeman Films / Greg MacGillivray and Alec Lorimore
Director: Greg MacGillivray
Length: 39 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

To The Limit
Follow the spectacular feats performed by world class athletes including a rock climber, an Olympic skier and a prima ballerina from a unique IMAX perspective — and witness what happens when the human body is pushed to the limit.

Year: 1989
Produced By: MacGillivray Freeman Films / Greg MacGillivray
Director: Greg MacGillivray
Length: 38 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
U.S. Box Office: $69 million

Tropical Rainforest
Explores the evolution, biology and recent destruction of the rain forest of Australia, Costa Rica, French Guiana, and Malaysia. Music by Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Year: 1992
Produced By: Ben Shedd and Marian White
Director: Ben Shedd
Length: 39 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Ultimate G’s: Zac’s Flying Dream
A boy who dreams of flying grows up to make those dreams real, and tries to impress his childhood sweetheart by competing with a rival in an breathtaking aerial dogfight shot in the Grand Canyon. Pilots from the Air Combat Canada airshow team, and the world aerobatic champion enabled the filming of amazing aerial sequences. Year: 2000
Produced By: Sky High Entertainment / Carl Samson
Director: Keith Melton
Length: 37 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Vikings: Journey to New Worlds
They came from the North and soon the legend would say that they didn’t know fear. For hundreds of years, they were another name for “terror.” They were warriors, slavers, traders, explorers but also farmers, settlers, poets, loyal family members and skilled craftsmen. Vikings tells their story.

Year: 2004
Produced By: Sky High Entertainment / Carl Samson
Director: Marc Fafard
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: SD only

Volcanoes of the Deep Sea
Plunge into the ocean 12,000 feet deep for an unprecedented experience of this vast and little-explored dimension of our planet. The film follows a team of scientists as they dive to research mysterious hydrothermal vents on the mid-ocean ridge.

Year: 2003
Produced By: Pietro Serapiglia
Director: Stephen Low
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
Narrated By: Ed Harris

Wild Australia: The Edge
Rappel into a world of exotic creatures, beautiful and treacherous waterfalls, canyons, and underground rivers carved by streams as our modern bushwackers explore a natural wonderland as it was ninety million years ago.

Year: 1997
Produced By: John Weiley
Director: John Weiley
Length: 38 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Wolves
Wolves tells the remarkable story of one of the world’s most tenacious species and our closest fellow predator. The film follows these elusive subjects across remote landscapes in an effort to catch glimpses of a way of life known only to a handful of scientists.

Year: 1999
Produced By: Goulam Amarsy
Director: David Douglas
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD
Narrated By: Robbie Robertson

Zion Canyon: Treasure of the Gods
Zion Canyon: Treasure of the Gods makes it possible for viewers to explore the hidden recesses and dizzying heights of the canyon in breathtaking detail. The immense panoramas filling the screen make viewers part of the journey to discover the real Zion Canyon and its treasures, as well as the treasures of other beautiful canyons of the Southwest.

Year: 1996
Produced By: Scott Memmott and Kieth Merrill
Director: Kieth Merrill
Length: 40 minutes
Formats: HD and SD

Having your own web channel for internet streaming with us at JANSON.TV is easy. This is the process.

1. We approve your content, which should be a minimum of ten hours, preferably twenty or more. (If you just have a few trailers for projects in development, we will be happy to post them for free at http://janson.tv.)
2. The subdomain can be named anything you want (for example:  http://companyname.janson.tv or http://seriestitle.janson.tv or http://collectionname.janson.tv)
3. We sign an agreement that give us non-exclusive worldwide internet rights (for streaming, not downloading).
4. You deliver the content to us in the form of MP4 files, 640×480, 2 mbps data rate, via FTP or on a portable firewire hard drive (which will be returned to you).
5. We build the channel for you at no charge. In return we retain all revenue from embedded advertising, and we split with you the display ad space on the site itself (you get one 250 x 300 pixel display ad and we get the other). The display ads appear on every page of the site, so if a visitor clicks through to see multiple videos or trailers, they will always see your ad.  You can sell your ad or use it to promote your own company or films, projects etc. We will change your display ad once a month if you desire.

Your web channel becomes a valuable marketing and promotion tool. You can build your brand and company presence in the international community of media professionals. You can direct your clients and potential clients to the site to evaluate your content, and save on the cost of shipping DVDs around the world.

So contact us and let’s get started.

Current, the newspaper about public television and radio in the United States, publishes Pipeline, an annual survey of national programs in preparation for public television’s future seasons.  Take a look through Pipeline09 to get a sense of what’s coming down the pike in PBS-land.

Welcome to the new online home of Janson Media. We have redesigned our website with Web 2.0 in mind, and launched it officially on January 1, 2009.  Our new design will encourage interactivity throughout our website, in the hope of building a community of filmmakers, television producers, content creators, programmers, acquisition and co-production executives…  media professionals from around the world.

Please let us know what you think. Commenting is easy… anyone can do it!

A list of state film commissions in the United States with contact information and websites. We will update this information on a regular basis.

ALABAMA FILM OFFICE
401 Adams Avenue, Suite 616
Montgomery, AL 36104
Main Phone: (334) 242-4195
Fax: (334) 242-2077
www.alabamafilm.org

ALASKA FILM PROGRAM
PO Box 110804
Juneau, AK 99811
(907) 269-8190
www.alaskafilm.org

ARIZONA FILM COMMISSION
1700 W Washington St #600
Phoenix, AZ 85007
602-771-1100800-528-8421
www.azcommerce.com/film

ARKANSAS FILM OFFICE
1 Capitol Mall – Room 2C-200
Little Rock, AR 72201
(501) 682-7676
(501) 682-3456 Fax
www.arkansasedc.com

CALIFORNIA FILM COMMISSION
7080 Hollywood Blvd. #900
Hollywood, CA 90028
(800) 858-4749
(323) 860-2960
(323) 860-2972 Fax
www.film.ca.gov

COLORADO FILM COMMISSION
241 S. Cherokee St., Suite E
Denver, Colorado 80223
Phone: 303.592.4065
Fax: 303.722.1158
www.coloradofilm.org

CONNECTICUT FILM, VIDEO & MEDIA OFFICE
One Constitution Plaza, 2nd Floor
Hartford, Connecticut 06103
860-256-2800
860-256-2811 (fax)
www.ctfilm.com

DELAWARE FILM OFFICE
99 Kings Highway
Dover, DE 19901
(800) 441-8846
(302) 739-4271
(302) 739-5749 Fax
www.dedo.de.gov

WASHINGTON DC OFFICE OF MOTION PICTURE & TV DEVELOPMENT
441 4th Street NW #760
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 727-6608

http://film.dc.gov

FLORIDA FILM COMMISSION
Governor’s Office of Film and Entertainment
Executive Office of the Governor
The Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
Phone: (850) 410-4765
Toll Free: (877) FLA-FILM
Fax: (850) 410-4770
www.filminflorida.com

GEORGIA FILM & VIDEO TAPE OFFICE
75 Fifth Street NW, Suite 1200
Atlanta, GA 30308
(404) 962-4052
(404) 962-4053 Fax
www.georgia.org

HAWAII FILM OFFICE
1 Capital District Bldg
250 S Hotel St 5th Floor
Honolulu, HI 96813
(808) 586-2570
(808) 586-2572 Fax
www.hawaiifilmoffice.com

IDAHO FILM BUREAU
700 W. State Street
Boise, ID 83720
(800) 942-8338
(208) 334-2470
(208) 334-2631 Fax
www.filmidaho.com

ILLINOIS FILM OFFICE
100 W. Randolph St. 3rd Floor
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 814-3600
(312) 814-8874 Fax

http://www.illinoisbiz.biz/film/index.html

INDIANA FILM COMMISSION
One North Capitol Ave #700
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2288
(317)-232-8888
(317)-232-4146 Fax
www.filmindiana.com

IOWA FILM OFFICE
200 East Grand Ave.
Des Moines, IA 50309
(515) 242-4726
(515) 242-4795 Fax
www.filmiowa.com

KANSAS FILM COMMISSION
1000 S.W. Jackson Street Suite 100
Topeka, Kansas 66612-1354
Phone: (785) 296-2178
Fax: (785) 296-3490
www.filmkansas.com

KENTUCKY FILM OFFICE
500 Metro St.
2200 Capital Plaza Tower
Frankfort, KY 40601
(800) 345-6591
(502) 564-3456
(502) 564-7588 Fax
www.kyfilmoffice.com

LOUISIANA FILM AND TELEVISION DEVELOPMENT
1051 N. 3rd St.
Baton Rouge, LA 70802
(888) 665-0447
(225) 342-8150
(225) 342-5389 Fax
www.lafilm.org

MAINE FILM OFFICE
59 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
(207) 624-7631
www.filminmaine.com

MARYLAND FILM OFFICE
217 E. Redwood St., 9th floor
Baltimore, MD 21202
(800) 333-6632
(410) 767-6340
(410) 333-0044 Fax
www.marylandfilm.org

MASSACHUSETTS FILM OFFICE
31 St. James Avenue, Suite 260
Boston, Massachusetts, 02116
617.423.1155
617.423.1158 (fax)
www.massfilmbureau.com

MICHIGAN FILM OFFICE
300 N. Washington Sq., 4th Fl.
Lansing, MI 48913
(800) 477-3456
(517) 335-2693
(517) 241-0867 Fax
www.michigan.gov/filmoffice

MINNESOTA FILM and TV BOARD
401 N. 3rd St., Suite 440
Minneapolis, MN 55401
(651) 645-3600
(651) 645-7373 Fax
www.mnfilmtv.org

MISSISSIPPI FILM OFFICE
501 North West St 5th Floor
Jackson, MS 39201
(601) 359-3297
(601) 359-5048 Fax
www.filmmississippi.org

MISSOURI FILM OFFICE
301 West High Street, Suite 720
Jefferson City, MO 65101
573-522-1288
www.mofilm.org

MONTANA FILM OFFICE
301 S. Park Ave.
Helena, MT 59620
(800) 553-4563
(406) 841-2876
(406) 841-2877 Fax
www.montanafilm.com

NEBRASKA FILM OFFICE
P.O. Box 94666
Lincoln, NE 68509-4666
(402) 471-3746
(402) 471-3238 Fax
www.filmnebraska.org

NEVADA FILM OFFICE
555 E. Washington Ave. #5400
Las Vegas, NV 89101
(877) 638-3456
(702) 486-2711
(702) 486-2712 Fax
www.nevadafilm.com

NEW HAMPSHIRE FILM OFFICE
20 Park Street
Concord, NH 03301
(603) 271-2220
(603) 271-3163 Fax
www.nh.gov/film

NEW JERSEY MOTION PICTURES & FILM OFFICE
PO Box 47023
Newark, NJ 07102
(973) 648-6279
(973) 648-7350 Fax
www.njfilm.org

NEW MEXICO FILM OFFICE
418 Montezuma Ave.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
(800) 545-9871
(505) 476-5600
(505) 476-5601 Fax
www.nmfilm.com

NEW YORK STATE GOVERNOR’S FILM OFFICE
633 Third Ave. 33rd Fl
New York, NY 10017
(212) 803-2330
(212) 803-2339 Fax
www.nylovesfilm.com

THE NORTH CAROLINA FILM OFFICE
301 N. Wilmington St
Raleigh, NC 27601
(866) 468-2273
(919) 733-9900
(919) 715-0151 Fax
www.ncfilm.com

NORTH DAKOTA FILM COMMISSION
1600 E. Century Ave.
Bismarck, ND 58501
(701) 328-2525
(701) 328-4878 Fax
www.ndtourism.com

OHIO FILM COMMISSION
77 South High Street 29th Floor
Columbus, Oh 42316
(800) 230-3523
(614) 644-5156
(614) 466-6744 Fax
www.discoverohiofilm.com

OKLAHOMA FILM and MUSIC OFFICE
120 N Robinson Ave Suite 600
Oklahoma City, OK 73102
(800) 766-3456
(405) 230-8440
(405) 230-8640 Fax
www.oklahomafilm.org

OREGON FILM & VIDEO OFFICE
121 SW Salmon St. #1205
Portland, OR 97204
(503) 229-5832
(503) 229-6869 Fax
www.oregonfilm.org

PENNSYLVANIA FILM OFFICE
Commonwealth Keystone Bldg
400 North St 4th Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17120
(717) 783-3456
(717) 787-0687 Fax
www.filminpa.com

PUERTO RICO FILM COMMISSION
355 F.D. Roosevelt Ave. #106
Hato Rey, Puerto Rico 00918
(787) 758-4747
(787) 756-5706 Fax
www.puertoricofilm.com

RHODE ISLAND FILM & TV OFFICE
One Capital Hill
Providence, RI 02908
(401) 222-3456
(401) 222-3018 Fax
www.film.ri.gov

SOUTH CAROLINA FILM OFFICE
1205 Pendleton St., Rm. 529
Columbia, SC 29201
(803) 737-0490
(803) 737-3104 Fax
www.scfilmoffice.com

SOUTH DAKOTA FILM COMMISSION
711 East Wells Ave.
Pierre, SD 57501
(800) 952-3625
(605) 773-3301
(605) 773-3256 Fax
www.filmsd.com

TENNESSEE FILM COMMISSION
312 8th Ave. North, 9th Floor
Nashville, TN 37243
(877) 818-3456
(615) 741-3456
(615) 741-5554 Fax

http://www.state.tn.us/film/

TEXAS FILM COMMISSION
PO Box 13246
Austin, TX 78711
(512) 463-9200
(512) 463-4114 Fax
www.governor.state.tx.us/film/

UTAH FILM COMMISSION
300 N. State St.
Salt Lake City, UT 84114
(800) 453-8824
(801) 538-8740
(801) 538-1397 Fax
www.film.utah.gov

VERMONT FILM COMMISSION
10 Baldwin Street
Montpelier, VT 05601
(802) 828-3618
(802) 828-0607 Fax
www.vermontfilm.com

VIRGINIA FILM OFFICE
901 East Byrd Street
Richmond, VA 23219
(804) 545-5530 Phone
(800) 854-6233 Toll Free
(804) 545-5531 Fax
www.film.virginia.org

WASHINGTON STATE FILM OFFICE
2001 6th Ave. #2600
Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 256-6151
(206) 256-6154 Fax
www.filmwashington.com

WASHINGTON DC OFFICE OF MOTION PICTURE & TV DEVELOPMENT
441 4th Street NW #760
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 727-6608

http://film.dc.gov

WEST VIRGINIA FILM OFFICE
90 MacCorkle Ave. SW – #143
S. Charleston, WV 26303
(800) CALLWVA
(304) 558-2200
(304) 558-1662 Fax
www.wvfilm.com

WISCONSIN FILM OFFICE
648 N Plankinton #425
Milwaukee, WI 53203
(414) 287-6235
www.filmwisconsin.org

WYOMING FILM OFFICE
1520 Etchetape Cir.
Cheyenne, WY 82007
(800) 458-6657
(307) 777-3400
(307) 777-2877 Fax
www.filmwyoming.com

The relaunch of the Janson Media website will coincide with the launch of our new online, all-the-time Janson Media Screening Room, where our clients (and the whole wide world) can stream trailers, sample episodes, and even full programs of all of the content in our Rights Portfolio, at the time and place of their choosing.

Producers and content suppliers will want to make a careful comparison between the Deliverables for a Distribution Agreement and the Deliverables for a Content Management Agreement.

The Deliverables for a Distribution Agreement are described in another post. Read it here. They will require a substantial investment on the part of the content supplier.

For a Content Management Agreement, the supplier need only provide us with the following marketing and promotional tools:

• Copyable DVD-R of the entire Program (if a special), or of two representative episodes (if a series), or of the Rough Cut (if a projects in production).
• MPEG4 file of Program Trailer (or of a 5-minute “Show Open” if a trailer does not exist). The file should be encoded at a data rate of 2000KBPS (2MBPS) and a full window size (640 x 480).
• MPEG4 file of the completed program or three representative episodes (if a series). The file should be encoded at a data rate of 2000KBPS (2MBPS) and a full window size (640 x 480).
• 400-word description of the Program or Series.
• 50-word synopsis of the Program or Series.
• Episode List (if a series).
• List of awards and review quotes, if available.
• One JPEG image file (minimum 300 dpi, 5” x 7”) of your “Key Art” (eg. title treatment graphic). The file should be a Photoshop file with all layers intact.
• 8.5 x 11” flyer: 200 copies for market and followup distribution. Flyers must include our contact information and a Janson Media logo (available for download from our Pressroom). [Our graphic design team is available to design and print a flyer if none exists, at an additional cost.]

In time JANSON.TV will be home to countless web channels for entire television series, specials, short-form content, indie films, webisodes, you name it. If you want your film or TV show to be available when some linear television channel says it is, you can do that. But if you want it available anytime, all the time, and on your channel, then get in touch with us, and let’s talk about launching yourchannel.janson.tv/

So, let us know what you think. Drop us a comment or two…

Congratulations, President Obama.

Congratulations, America.

Tonight, let’s celebrate. Tomorrow, let’s get to work.

The Inauguration of Barack Obama.

Online, all-the-time? That’s right. 24/7/365.

We might need to endure an advertisement or two appearing briefly in the lower-thirds, but we’re okay with that, right? After all, we’re in the commercial television business. (We even know what “lower-thirds” means.) We have broadband connections. And we should soon say goodbye to the tedious process of shipping DVDs all around the world, worrying about customs, etc. Sorry, FedEx.

The Janson Media DVD Catalog is distributed into a wide range of markets, both traditional and non-traditional. The following list is by no means all-inclusive.

EST (Electronic Sell-Through) Online Retailers

Amazon Video on Demand
Overdrive
Learn360
iTunes (Apple)
EZTakes.com
Clearvue (Discovery Communications)

Retail Chains

Barnes & Noble
Best Buy
Borders
Costco
Mediaplay

Wholesalers

Alliance Entertainment
Ambassador Book Services
Baker & Taylor
Beyda & Associates
The Book House
Book Wholesalers
Brodart Company
Clearvue Media
Crystal Productions
Filmic Archives
Follett Library Resources
Four Winds Trading Co.
Good Music Record Company
Landry’s Restaurants
Library Bound (Canada)
Library Video Company
Mackin Library Media
Nimco, Inc.
Quality Books
TNT Media Group

Internet Retailers

amazon.com
barnesandnoble.com
bestbuy.com
blockbuster.com
borders.com
buyindies.com
cduniverse.com
moviesunlimited.com
netflix.com
pbs.org
travelvideostore.com
wgbh.org

Mail Order Catalogs

Acorn Media
American Public Media Group
The AV Cafe
Catholic Video Catalog
Education 2000
EWTN Catalog
Facets Multimedia
Historic Sales
Ignatius Press
Instructional Video
Leaflet Missal Company
Midwest Tape
Monastery Greetings
Movies Unlimited
PBS HomeVideo
Reader’s Digest Canada
Robert Hale & Company
School Specialties
Social Studies School Services
Teachers’ Video
Vision Video
WGBH Enterprises

A Sampling of Direct Museum Accounts

Air Museum
American Airpower Museum
American Museum of Natural History
BDJ Ventures
Evergreen Aviation Museum
Hill Aerospace Museum
International Spy Museum
Kon-Tiki Museum
Queens Museum of Art
Museum of Flight
Pilgrim Hall Museum
Plimouth Plantation Museum
Smithsonian Institution Museum Shop
Tubman African American Museum

Producers or content creators who are only interested in having us release their title on DVD in North America, (and not entering into a distribution agreement for overall rights licensing) would sign an exclusive DVD License & Publishing Agreement with us. Our agreement is industry-standard.  We become the exclusive manufacturer of the DVD (we do not buy DVDs at wholesale). Our royalty rates are in the standard 10%-15% range. We report quarterly, and our license terms range from 5 to 7 years. We sometimes pay a conservative advance guarantee vs. royalties. We must have EST rights as well, as this sector (electronic downloads) is a growing part of our business.

To submit content to us only for a DVD License & Publishing Agreement, just get the ball rolling by dropping a comment on this page, and we will respond quickly. Download a sample agreement here.

There are, inevitably, some costs associated with the servicing of license agreements in the global content distribution business. Such as…

Videotape Master Duplication
Producers/suppliers must provide us with both NTSC and PAL masters for our Videotape Master Archive (see our Videotape Masters post). We always ask our clients  to pay for videotape dubs/clones, but we don’t always win the negotiation on this point. Sometimes they will contribute to the cost but not pay all of it. Therefore,  when we must pay for dubs/clones, these costs are then deducted from royalties. We will never ask our clients to pay for conversions — as a distributor, we are expected to have both NTSC and PAL masters in our archives from which to make dubs or clones.

Document Processing
More often than not, there are a variety of  international governmental withholding tax forms, consulate certifications, notarized copyright applications, and so on,which we need to complete when shipping masters into another country. We deduct $50 per hour plus fees paid, if any.

Shipping & Customs
Pricing for the international shipping of masters varies depending on destination, weight, shipping method, delivery time, etc. (Fortunately, transcripts, press kits, and music cues sheets are now usually delivered digitally via the internet.  Soon we hope program files will be delivered that way too.)

Licensors entering into distribution agreement with Janson Media must deliver the following videotape masters to us at the commencement of the term of the agreement. Along with the other deliverables, this is an investment that professional producers will make in their content if they expect to maximize their royalties, just as we will invest in the promotion and marketing of their content under the terms of a distribution agreement.

A first-generation protection master of the Program (or of every episode of the series) recorded on new Digibetacam videotape stock, properly labeled, and meeting the following specifications:

The master must be seamless (no commercials or commercial blacks). The master should be texted (including any “lower-third” text/graphics) and should include, at the end of the tape after thirty seconds of black, textless cover shots of any material that is texted. The masters should have international audio tracks with audio track assignments as follows:

1. Channel 1: Full audio mix (full mix stereo left)
2. Channel 2: Full audio mix (full mix stereo right)
3. Channel 3: Full Mix Minus Narration (all music, natural sound and sound effects including synch-sound on-camera dialogue/on-camera interviews (this track lacks only the off-camera narration and any voiceover translation of on-camera foreign language interviews).
4. Channel 4: Music & Effects Only (Clean M&E or True M&E). This track includes only music and sound effect audio elements. Effects include synchronous natural sound; nonsynchronous ambient audio recorded separately from video; and any other nonsynchronous contrived audio, either prerecorded, studio, or post sound effects, that is incorporated within the final full-mix track. M&E should be at Full Mix Levels and not Dip Mix Levels. There should be no additional voices mixed on this track.

The master(s) remain in our facility and will be used for duplication only, and remain(s) the property of the producer/supplier, and as such, will not leave our facility during the term of the distribution agreement.

Pursuant to signing a Distribution Agreement, producers/content partners must supply us with the following deliverables, in addition to broadcast-quality videotape masters. This is an investment that professional producers will make in their content if they expect to maximize their royalties, just as we will invest in the promotion and marketing of their content under the terms of a distribution agreement.

All items to be delivered either via FTP file transfer, or via a portable firewire hard drive (which will be returned). Smaller files can be delivered on discs, USB drives, or by e-mail.

• For specials (one-offs), 25 DVDs of the complete Program. (If the Program has already been packaged for DVD release, the DVD copies should be of the fully-packaged version.)  For a series, 50 DVDs of three representative episodes, with all 3 episodes on one DVD.
• A full-quality (640 x 480 pixel) MPEG4 file of the trailer of the Program, not longer than 5 minutes, at a minimum data rate of 2,000KBPS (or 2MBPS).
• Full-quality (640 x 480 pixel) MPEG4 file(s) of the complete Program (or all of the episodes in the series, if a series), at a minimum data rate of 2,000KBPS (or 2MBPS).
• One “Key Art” image — title graphic of the program (JPEG, 300 dpi approx. 5″ x 7″). (This can be the DVD front cover design if one exists; this is the one image that will be used again and again to promote the program). Photoshop files must have all separate layers.
• A selection of no less than five (5) and no more than ten (10) high-resolution JPEG images from the Program, and in minimum dimensions of 5” x 7,” and at minimum resolutions of 300 dpi, with captions, and with rights cleared for publicity use.
• A description of the Program, approximately 400 words.
• A synopsis of the Program, approximately 50 words.
• The designs and elements of any existing promotional materials. Photoshop files must have all separate layers intact.
• A music cue sheet, in customary form setting forth for each musical composition contained within the Program, the title, type of use, duration of use and the names of the composer, lyricist, publisher, copyright proprietor and performing rights society.
• The credit list, including all copyright information, and a list of all supered shots, lower third titles/identification and text graphics for the program.
• A complete time-coded transcript, including narration and dialogue on camera.
• A certificate naming Janson Media as an additional insured to your Errors & Omissions Insurance (E&O) policy. Additional certificates will need to be issued for our sublicensees, when requested by us.

An excellent music cue sheet template can be found here, on the PBS website. For more information about music cue sheets and reporting requirements, please visit the ASCAP or BMI websites. The ASCAP website has an excellent FAQ on the subject, called Cue & A.

Here are some important media industry websites…

• NATPE — National Association of Television Program Executives www.natpe.org
• NAB, National Association of Broadcasters www.nab.org
• IFTA — Independent Film & Television Alliance www.ifta-online.org
• IDA International Documentary Association www.documentary.org
• Center for Independent Documentary www.documentaries.org
• FACT, the UK’s leading organisation for the development, support and exhibition of film, video and new and emerging media. www.fact.co.uk
• The D-word, a worldwide community of documentary professionals www.d-word.com
• The Marketplace/The Media Programme www.marketplace-events.com