Turner’s first domestic SVOD service, FilmStruck, has launched. Developed and managed by Turner Classic Movies in collaboration with the Criterion Collection, FilmStruck features a streaming library targeting movie lovers. Jennifer Dorian, General Manager of TCM and FilmStruck, and Charlie Tabesh, Senior Vice President, Programming, of TCM and FilmStruck, talk content, curation and cannibalization.
Jennifer Dorian
Cynopsis: What made Turner decide to jump into SVOD in the U.S. now? Any lessons learned outside the U.S.?
Jennifer Dorian: Our research revealed that film fans use streaming services to watch movies, especially 25-44 year olds, and there’s demand for a service focused on “hard to find” films. Furthermore, it can take SVOD customers a while to find a movie they want to watch in existing offerings – so we’ve put together an incredibly comprehensive library of critically-acclaimed films from around the world and layered on curation with themes to aid in exploration, discovery and immersion. Our research shows film fans are very excited to have a service dedicated to their film-loving needs, and exclusive rights to Criterion as well as the new innovation, the Criterion Channel – a premium tier within our service – really drives strong interest. The Criterion Collection is a well-respected brand with a great reputation for its foreign film library and innovative bonus features.
Cynopsis: What is the business model? How did you determine subscription fees? 
Dorian: The FilmStruck service is priced to be competitive with the marketplace and yet premiumenough to support great content, production and curation for a niche audience. It’s a good value for the vast library of films you receive and the user experience is excellent.
Cynopsis: What do you anticipate demand to be? What made you realize there would be a demand for this kind of service?
Dorian: Based on the custom research we did with Frank N. Magid and Associates, we estimate that there are around 15 million adults in the US who consider themselves fans of the arthouse/independent/foreign film genre and who are interested in a streaming service dedicated to critically acclaimed films with curation. Our strategy is to target this audience and grow awareness for our new streaming service, and prompt sign up for the 14-day free trial. We are confident in strong retention because the service is unique and custom-built to please serious film fans.
Cynopsis: Is there any fear of cannibalization of the linear channel?
Dorian: No – FilmStruck is a new brand for a new audience to Turner. FilmStruck is a true departure from TCM – with a different library of art house, independent film, mostly from outside the Hollywood system, while TCM is dedicated to classic Hollywood. This service caters to streamers 25+ years old who love foreign and independent cinema, while TCM caters to linear fans who love commercial-free classic Hollywood movies and Hollywood stars. And the TCM TV everywhere app “Watch TCM” will continue to provide on demand and streaming Hollywood classics. There is very little overlap of the libraries and a modest amount of overlap in the audiences. It’s an additive growth opportunity for Turner.
Cynopsis: What will the programming look like at launch – how many movies? Focus on arthouse versus blockbuster?
Charles Tabesh
Charles Tabesh: The FilmStruck service will have over 500 films and there will be over 1500 titles available for those who subscribe to the Criterion Channel premium tier.
The focus is completely on arthouse movies, but that’s a fairly broad range of titles. Included will be “bigger” films like “Shakespeare in Love” or “Woodstock” but, while popular, those certainly fall into the arthouse category. At the same time, we will try to showcase more obscure films and themes that we hope will provide a range and depth of film selections for people who want to discover things they haven’t come across elsewhere.
Cynopsis: What will the movie fan find here that they won’t elsewhere?
Films like 1985’s My LIfe as a Dog will be featured
Tabesh: There will always be a significant selection of titles that are rare or hard to find. We’re working with several international distributors from places like Russia, Egypt, Mexico, and India for example, in an effort to bring our audience important, highly regarded films that aren’t seen much, if at all, in North America. Examples of themes that showcase some of these films are The Mark Donskoy Gorky Trilogy, Classic Bollywood, Palestinian Cinema, Early Independents from Ruth Orkin and Morris Engel, Directed by Youssef Chahine, Cinematography by Henri Alekan. Those are just a few examples of the approximately 70 themes we will be exploring at any given time and each of them containing some very rare films. In addition, we will have broader offerings like Neo Noir, The Beauty of Italy, Strokes of Genius (films about painters) and in-depth retrospectives of directors such as Akira Kurosawa, Chantal Akerman and Fritz Lang or stars such as Marcelo Mastroianni and Ingrid Bergman. Within those offerings we plan to provide a range of films from their better-known to the more obscure.
Watch for 1957’s Seventh Seal
Cynopsis: What is the curation process?
Tabesh: The process involves a combination of thinking about what areas of film history might be interesting to our audience, looking at what might be available to us at any given time, and trying to make sure there is the appropriate range of films from various eras, genres, countries, and level of obscurity, for example. In addition, we will be listening to our subscribers and their ideas about potential programming on the service. It’s important to note that every film that plays on FilmStruck will have a reason for being in the service – it will always be part of a broader theme that explores some aspect of film history, along with some explanation via hosted introduction, mini-documentary, bonus material, or articles, of why that theme was included. Not all themes or films will be “serious” but they should all be thoughtful and meaningful in some way to a film fan.
Cynopsis: For original programming, what kind of cooperation are you finding with filmmakers and artists?
Tabesh: The reaction so far has been fantastic. The filmmakers and artists that we have approached have all been very enthusiastic and almost universally expressed interest in working with us at least at some point. Since we haven’t even launched yet that’s been very gratifying but I think the reputations of both TCM and Criterion have really helped the credibility of the service from the outset.
The Cynsiders column is a platform for industry leaders to reach out to colleagues, followers, and the public at large. In their own words and in targeted Q&As, columnists address breaking news, issues of the day, and the larger changes going on in the ever-evolving world of television, video and digital. Cynsiders columns live on Cynopsis’ main page and are promoted across all daily newsletters. We welcome readers’ comments, queries, and column ideas at Lynn@Cynopsis.com.
