Dinner With Dames San Francisco #3 – With Olivia Humphrey (Recap)
Dinner with Dames Case File
Who: Olivia Humphrey, Founder & CEO of Kanopy, an on-demand streaming video platform for public libraries and educational institutions that offers viewers thought provoking and entertaining films and documentaries for free. Hosted by Cinefemme members Cameo Wood and Monica West, and sponsored by Charming Stranger Films.
Attendees included Izzy Chan, Veronica Moscoso, Molly Ratermann, Maggie VandenBerghe, Monica West, and myself, Vivian Kleiman.
What: Dinner with Dames is an engaging discussion on expanding the network of Bay Area women filmmakers, the role of agencies and management in partnership with artists, and the need for equal gender representation in the film industry.
When: Tuesday, August 28, 2018
I was particularly eager to attend Dinner with Dames this week and meet Olivia Humphrey, the force behind her groundbreaking distribution model Kanopy, because I have Produced and Executive Produced several documentaries that this unique streaming platform has acquired (among them First Person Plural and Maquilapolis). For those of you unfamiliar with Kanopy, they are an on-demand streaming video platform that’s available exclusively to public libraries and educational institutions. Users who are members of a subscribing educational institution or library can stream films on Kanopy for free.
The genesis of Kanopy is an inspiring story: A native Australian who graduated with a psychology degree identified a problem, envisioned a solution, and created a company that now celebrates its 10th anniversary. I was especially curious to hear how she challenged existing conventions of educational distribution and designed a streaming platform that is at once available gratis to the viewer and profitable for Kanopy. I also was interested in how her staff of 55 employees is making adjustments for today’s ever-shifting distribution landscape.
Olivia also arrived with several topics that she was eager to discuss. Since she sees her company as uniquely positioned to offer “thoughtful entertainment,” – Kanopy’s most viewed videos include World Cinema and award-winning indies as well as a stunning collection of festival documentaries – Olivia was interested in hearing about our indie projects. She was also curious to learn how our relationship to public libraries has changed over time. In addition, she asked about the streaming platforms we use and our thoughts on how to expand the audience for indie film.
As we went around the dinner table, it was clear that we all felt flooded by the plethora of streaming platforms. While many of these platforms have algorithms designed to suggest films we might like to watch, these can quickly be rendered useless, for example, when a babysitter or houseguest is holding the remote. Many of us feel the need for improved curators and consolidated formats. Most of us have Netflix. Maggie added that she gets immersed in watching YouTube as she’s introduced to all sorts of different kinds of videos. Izzy added Seed&Spark as a source of video watching. Many reported using Amazon Prime and several noted how they enjoy satellite channels like Hulu and Shorts TV (hugely popular in Eastern Europe, per Olivia.) At the same time, there was some disagreement about which platforms are best. Molly, for example, loves Amazon and is dissatisfied with iTunes, while Cameo curiously enough had the opposite response.
Olivia reminded us that the key concern for all of these platforms is how to get and keep subscribers. For her in particular, the question is even more challenging: How do we get audiences to watch indie films?
By way of background, in 2008, Olivia identified the chasm between the films that university libraries purchased and the films that students actually watched. She decided that the user should be driving acquisitions for the university media library, and created a simple model: The first 3 plays of any film are free. The 4th play triggers a 1-year contract for $150. [Note to self, Dear Reader: Kanopy’s most viewed subject areas concern issues of identity, immigrant stories, and mental health.] Recently, Kanopy launched Kanopy Kids, a rich and thoughtful viewing library for children.
Olivia emphasized that her aim for Kanopy’s catalogue is always to provide the platform’s viewers with films, television (theater and opera as well) that feel like food for the soul.
At the end of the evening, Olivia & I realized that we both are attending the IDA Getting Real Conference for documentary filmmakers next month, and made plans to meet up and schmooze more about the new world of streaming that she created.
Footage and Photography by Rachel Styer / Editing by Veronica Moscoso
About Vivian Kleiman:
Vivian Kleiman is a Peabody Award-winning producer and director with a background in independent films, television, and media. I have a lengthy track record as an Executive Producer, Consulting Producer, Writer, and Story Consultant on documentary films. My current roster of clients includes Mass Appeal (NY) and Barry Jenkins’ Strike Anywhere Films (LA).
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