VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / December 13, 2018 / The Wonderfilm Media Corporation (TSX-V: WNDR), (OTC PINK: WDRFF), (FRA: 25Y), ("Wonderfilm" or "Company"), today announced that Chief Executive Officer, Kirk Shaw, has issued the following letter to shareholders.
Dear Wonderfilm Shareholders,
While the dust settles after announcing our significant acquisitions in recent weeks, I want to provide a corporate update to our investors as well as prospective investors, which will help provide clarity and understanding to the direction we are moving in.
As a publicly traded company, we are experiencing progress and change on many fronts as we look to be a trailblazer in the entertainment and media space, and it is imperative for us to be able to communicate our strategy to investors with complete transparency, so they can make an informed investment decision.
In the months ahead, Wonderfilm will incrementally unveil a coordinated strategy employing AI, advertisement, social media and fan interaction as we build a unique ecosystem able to monetize Wonderfilm content creation from initial concept to premier broadcast.The production budget slate for this original content is $90 million USD.It normally takes around 12 months to complete this production process, and I have a track record of hitting 5% EBITDA on total production budgets.
Leading the Way to the New Economy
The moment my producing partners, Dan Grodnik, Jeff Bowler, Bret Saxon and I joined with the Westshire CPC team to create a public company, Wonderfilm was conceived to forge a pathway into the future delivery of media content.Traditionally, producers and our team relied on a tried and true film-financing model, little changed in 50 years.That model has stagnated as the process of developing, financing and monetizing movies and series broadened and transformed.Wonderfilm was very much conceived as a Company to pioneer a sea-change.
Content creation provides endless opportunities for its monetization, with Wonderfilm leapfrogging over other independent producers leading the industry-wide evolution from an old economy to the new economy, which is propelled largely from widespread global technological advancements.
Cutting-edge AI and Emerging Technology
When we first began raising money for the completion of the transaction with Westshire, many investors expressed their desire for some form of Cannabis or Blockchain venture integration.Although we always carry the opinions and ideas of investors at heart, we must always remain true to our core competencies that make us money today, and continually add value by building functions that make more money, tomorrow.We have an incredible window of opportunity in the entertainment and media space, and we are leaders in propelling this high growth area forward through integrating the emerging technologies that spurred the opportunity in the first place.
Therefore, for strategic reasons, we undertook a great deal of planning and due diligence to create a business model that incorporates various emerging technologies that strengthen our profits and intensify our relationship with our movie and TV lovers.
As such, the vision to join arms with an AI-based data analytics and social outreach platform such as Grapevine, along with customizable and interactive "new TV" broadcast channels that incorporate reward points to allow us to become a direct-to-customer model, was born.
Maximizing fan interaction and customization includes the ability to give their voice power in the content that we create and distribute.The most effective way to do this is through creating a Wonderfilm eco-system that includes the use our own inclusive points and rewards system to not only expand fan interaction and engagement but add another monetization stream for the Company.
This objective has a natural affinity to incorporate emerging communication services with big data & artificial intelligence, so they work in tandem to further monetize Wonderfilm produced content.
Launching Digital Streaming Channels
Building on its emerging technology strategy, Wonderfilm entered a partnership to launch a new digital (SVOD – ad supported) Wonderfilm Movie Channel.This channel launches into over 100 million US homes early next year through an existing system operated by a major online retailer.
The Movie Channel becomes both a new revenue stream and distribution outlet for current, past and future Wonderfilm produced content.
For the time being, aspects of this truly game-changing vertical integration step must remain sealed as our strategic partners prepare a press campaign for the first quarter of 2019.
Core Production Business Pushes Forward
As strategic growth broadens Wonderfilm's revenue opportunities, it also expands the core business as the recent acquisitions and initiatives are predicated on burnishing the monetization of Wonderfilm productions.
The 2018/19 slate of 17 films continues to be prepped and shot on schedule, with seven movies already in the can for delivery to distributors by the June 30th 2019 year-end.Four of the films going to camera have sensational lead cast that unfortunately can only be announced once each officially moves into production.Two are genre flicks with A-Listers who could garner award recognition.
As mentioned, these 17 films have $90 million in combined production budgets that are "locked in".In active development behind these projects ("the pipeline") is a potential production slate that is significantly larger and growing very quickly.Not included in the $90 million production or the pipeline behind it, are the additional 25 scripts and packages set to be delivered in the recent acquisition from Wol Productions.We will be able to provide further information on these packages once the acquisition has closed.
Celebrity names that we have extensive working relationships with include John Cusack, Nicolas Cage, John Travolta, Bruce Willis, Charlize Theron, among many others.
I would also like to update shareholders on Merchant of Death, the high-profile TV series based on a book, is now in active development with top tier industry partners for production a year down the road.It is anticipated that the first season will have 8 episodes and be distributed through Liosgate.The total estimated production budget for the first season is $40 million USD, and we anticipate that it will be delivered for premier broadcast in 2020.
As mentioned in the Merchant of Death news release, this TV adaptation "also marks the return of Anthony Zuiker as he joins his first new
(PR-Inside.com)