Each year, the Toronto International Film Festival brings the star power to our city but it also brings global industry decision makers together with directors and producers. It’s fitting that the newly minted Liquid Media Group, with a focus on supporting creators, made a big splash during this year’s festival.
The idea of the company came early to actor and producer Joshua Jackson (Dr. Death, Little Fires Everywhere, Dawson’s Creek, The Affair) when he noticed a disconnect between the amount of talent that’s out there and the ownership of content and understanding the true value of their work.
Jackson saw the media landscape shifting for independent content creators from when he started in the industry to what it is now. Today, we are living in a more digitized online world and with more options for audiences. Streaming platforms offer us more access to content than ever before and from anywhere. It’s also more affordable than ever before. Great for us consumers but what about the filmmakers?
He wanted to be involved in a company that allowed people to find not only an easier path for those who wanted to tell their story but to also retain the value of their work. He also wanted to find a way to help support filmmakers to survive to tell another story. This has always been an ongoing challenge inside the independent world and a message we’ve heard several times by filmmakers over the course of TIFF.
The challenge is something many of us may have first noticed in the music industry with streaming services, so how do you support the talent and ensure they can survive? We’ve learned that Liquid Media Group isn’t about taking control or just providing projects with funding — they look for ways to help creators survive and thrive to see projects through shoulder to shoulder.
The process has 4-stages to help independent producers that includes the use of technology. “We use big data analytics and modelling to figure out how something will perform and whether it will have an audience at the end of the day to make its money back and do it again and again, whether it’s a film or a TV series,” said Ron Thomson, CEO of Liquid Media Group Ltd in a company press release.
Jackson and Liquid Media Group were in Toronto during TIFF hosting a series of panel discussions and topped it all off with a glossy ‘Big Splash’ launch party at the Windsor Arms Hotel. Here are just a few snaps from the red carpet…
*all photos by Jason Lynch (@dewucme on instagram)
