By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

SnagFilms ANNOUNCES FURTHER GROWTH CAPITAL FUNDING

Posted Friday, January 18th, 2013 - Comments Off on SnagFilms ANNOUNCES FURTHER GROWTH CAPITAL FUNDING
Be Sociable, Share!

Park City, UT – January 18, 2013 – SnagFilms, which now offers independent films in more places than any other film platform, announced today that it has closed a $6 million Series C financing round that involved the entire existing investment group and new shareholder CNF Investments, LLC, an affiliate of Clark Enterprises, Inc.

This funding will accelerate the record-breaking growth the company achieved in 2012 that included app launches on iPad, iPhone, Windows 8, and Xbox LIVE, as well as four nationwide theatrical releases, and will see its current 4000-film library reach 5000 by mid-year.

“SnagFilms has grown with investments in technology, content and marketing, applied to a 4000-title library that has grown 10-fold since our launch,” noted Ted Leonsis, SnagFilms’ founder and Chairman.  “With this new infusion, the company will accelerate into a record 2013, bringing more great films to a broader audience, everywhere they want to watch.  We appreciate the continued support of our exceptional investor group, and welcome our friends from Clark Enterprises – a company whose growth from a local start-up to a national powerhouse offers a strong model for our business.

All current investors participated in this round, including Leonsis, Revolution Ventures, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Comcast Ventures, and veteran media and internet executive Terry Semel.  CNF Investments, LLC joined the investor group, with Clark Enterprises Executive Vice President Robert J. Flanagan taking an observer seat on the Company’s Board.

SnagFilms is excited to announce this news while at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, and on the heels of the strong pre-release New York City run ofBeware of Mr. Baker, the 2012 SXSW Grand Jury Prize-winning documentary about legendary Cream drummer Ginger Baker.  Beware of Mr. Baker will open in theatres nationwide next week on Friday, January 25th.

“We return to Park City this year with a strong contingent from both our distribution and Indiewire teams,” said Rick Allen, SnagFilms’ CEO.  “With this round of investment, we are able to expand our commitment to helping filmmakers in every form of distribution and increase the services we offer, to delight even broader audiences.

The proceeds from this funding will allow SnagFilms to improve platform and product functionality; continue its industry-leading platform expansion across devices and third party partners; increase its investment in content; and strengthen marketing activities company-wide.

About SnagFilms

 

SnagFilms distributes 4,000 award-winning, fiction and non-fiction titles from some of the greatest names in film. SnagFilms’ curated collection is viewed on its own site and a digital network of more than 110,000 affiliated sites and webpages worldwide, including partners such as Comcast’s Xfinity, Hulu, the Starbucks Digital Network, IMDb, hundreds of non-profits, special interest sites and blogs — and via its applications for tablets, including Apple’s iPad (AirPlay-enabled), Amazon’s Kindle Fire, Blackberry Playbook and other Android-based tablets; Android smart phones; OTT platforms Roku, Boxee and Western Digital; connected TVs and Blu-ray players from Sony, Panasonic, LG and Vizio, and soon to launch on connected TVs and Blu-ray players from Samsung.   SnagFilms’ titles have been featured on more than 3.5 billion pageviews across its network.

 

SnagFilms has become a one-stop independent film distribution solution, with selected titles released on all major cable, telco and satellite pay-on-demand platforms; all top download platforms; and major subscription providers.  Certain of its films are released in theaters and licensed to TV.  SnagFilms was named one of the fastest growing technology companies in Washington, DC area. Gizmodo has named SnagFilms as a “Best iPad App,” OVGuide has twice named SnagFilms a Top Site, and MovieMaker Magazine named SnagFilms to its annual list of “50 Best Websites for Moviemakers.” The SnagFilms family also includes Indiewire, for more than 15 years the web’s top source of news, reviews and information about independent film – and winner of the 2012 Webby Award as the top film and movie site.

Be Sociable, Share!

Posted in Movie City News, Press Releases | Comments Off on SnagFilms ANNOUNCES FURTHER GROWTH CAPITAL FUNDING

Comments are closed.

Quote Unquotesee all »

It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon