The next iteration of internet architecture will liberate filmmakers, cut out middle men and pave the way for potentially lucrative “differentiated content”, attendees at the International Film Finance, Production And Distribution Conference in Los Angeles heard on Monday (5).

Paul Colichman, the media entrepreneur and CEO of Here Media, said in his keynote at the Goethe Institute that the internet had already begun to migrate from the commoditised, generic content model established by HTML 4 to an app model environment enabled by iOS that presented limited opportunities to distribute more individualised content.

However, Colichman noted the current climate still granted gatekeepers like iTunes and the cable and satellite operators a lot of control and the ability to charge hefty transactional fees.

When HTML 5 emerges in the next few years, the speaker said it would usher in unlimited differentiation. Open source architecture will allow content creators to exist within an adaptive design environment that will automatically format itself to whichever device the consumer uses.

When this happens, Colichman said, content creators will be able to more effectively reach customers directly and native apps, which is to say locally installed applications that only operate within the computer environment they inhabit, will become less valuable.

“People who do this right will have financiers beating a path to their door,” the executive said in closing.

In subsequent panels moderated by conference organiser Jeanette Buerling of Magnet Media and Leslie Sheldon of Forrest Capital Management, filmmaker attendees heard from agents, producers, attorneys, sales agents and bankers about the state of the independent space.

Unsurprisingly, the general consensus echoed what many in the sector have proclaimed for several years now: packaging begins with a good script, each case must be judged on its own merits and opportunities abound for the sharp-eyed operator.

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