Hukilau

The Idea Began... 

The Mission

Hukilau is a new platform to create, fund and distribute independent media. In the converging media landscape, we help digital media find it's audience. Creators can propose independent projects, get them funded, produced and distributed. Our goal is to spearhead the movement to new modes of distribution for media entertainment and education. We pledge to use the principles of co-opetition rather than competition. We promise to listen to our users for our feature ideas and we guarantee to put the community first when making decisions about the future of Hukilau.

The Story

The idea was conceived in a bowling alley restaurant in Santa Monica, California in the late summer of 2009. It started as a general spitball session regarding the old Pilotlite site and almost casually, the idea for Hukilau and the realization that the time was perfect for such an endeavor dawned on the founders. Within days, lists and wire frames were underway. Sorry to say, no napkins were defaced during the conception of this idea.

What's it all about? 

Three companies team up to develop the next generation in media studios.

DPRGRM/Pilotlite, Michael Mailer Films and ELC Technologies have partnered to launch a "crowdsource" style studio called "Hukilau". Hukilau will offer services to epub, film, video, audio and transmedia projects for crowdsource funding, staffing, matching funds, distribution and marketing services for aspiring and established creators and producers alike.

As Hukilau co-founder Michael Mailer says, "We are looking to revolutionize the way independent media content is produced, financed, and distributed utilizing 21st Century web technologies." Adding, "The barrier to entry for independent filmmaking is at an all time high and yet we are witnessing fewer and fewer productions getting off the ground. At some point in the near future there will be shortage of product to fill the myriad pipelines of traditional and digital distribution. We believe Hukilau will be uniquely poised to fill the gap of quality filmmaking while opening up the process for the next generation of talented filmmakers."

Crowdsourcing is a term used for the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing them to a public community, through an "open call" to a large group of people ( crowd) asking for contributions. The term has become popular with businesses, authors, and journalists as shorthand for the trend of leveraging the mass collaboration enabled by Web 2.0 technologies to achieve business goals. Hukilau will be applying this method to the funding and staffing of epub, video, audio, film and transmedia projects.

"Hukilau is a response to the current and future predicaments facing medium to low budget media projects. Namely, that funding for traditional sources (i.e. studios, networks and even angel investors) has become almost non-existent for such projects," says Hukilau co-founder, Joseph Matheny. He continues, "This predicament also spells a lack of choices for fans of those mediums. We propose to spearhead our solution with a site that functions as a portal for first time or established creators to propose projects to a community of enthusiasts and aspiring or established producers for crowdsource style funding with matching funds. It could also be used for a number of projects, like aspiring bands wanting to make a music video. "

In order to submit a project for consideration, a creator must present a finished treatment, a budget and a schedule. A finished script, storyboard or trailer is optional but helpful. Once a committee has approved the project, it is then placed in a "showroom" which allows aspiring and established producers and crew to contribute or volunteer. Once a project has reached its' funding goals, the funds are released on schedule. Creators are encouraged to use the Hukilau digital distribution channel for finished projects as well.

"Hukilau also functions as a viewing station for media enthusiasts to view, purchase, rate and interact with content, other enthusiasts and content creators. By providing cutting edge distribution techniques and channels, we propose to build a supply and demand chain for a market that is all but being abandoned by modern media studios and networks. I made the decision to include Alternate Reality Game style projects because I think the next generation of storytelling will happen in a transmedia environment. I'd like to help that discipline find its feet and grow into its potential. We had achieved great success with Pilotlite, including local and national news coverage, so we felt it was time to take it to the next level."

"The term "Hollywood Blockbuster" is a cliché and will soon be an oxymoron. The best filmmaking awards should be given to blockbuster trailer editors," says Hukilau co-founder, Jonathan Siegel. He continues, "When was the last time you were excited to go to the movies? It's been years--I have distant memories of seeing stupendous stories by passionate performers. Now I cringe when I purchase a Hollywood movie for background noise."

Purchase how? "I can buy Hollywood movies in my hotel room, from my Apple TV or online from my laptop. Hukilau solves my real-world problem--encouraging the production and availability of authentic entertainment. I watch movies to see stories. In the past, a movie with a specific actor meant a level of quality of the story. It is no longer true. At the same time and for the same reason Hollywood anchor actors have lost their ability to define a blockbuster."

"The Hollywood model needs to change. The cost to produce a film is at an all-time low. Instead of fewer movies that cost more, I want to see many, many more movies that cost less. I want to support nascent filmmakers who have a fire in their belly. I want to encourage commercially successful filmmakers to rediscover their art and passion."

The ecosystem for movie birthing, funding, development, production and distribution is changing. It is changing faster than the major film studios can adapt - the new ecosystem will put the gatekeepers into a lesser role, as has happened for music labels. Hukilau is a vision for the new ecosystem.

Do you have a passion to tell a story in film? Come to Hukilau and find community support--from financing to teammates. Gain sophisticated online engagement tools for your fans and take feedback as you see fit. When you are ready--release your movie and keep the lion's share of your proceeds--or bring onboard a Hukilau partner to do the marketing and press thing for you. It's a completely new model that meets the market need with a vision to the future of the industry.

Hukilau is currently taking requests for beta testers at http://hukilau.us/coming.php it is currently in private beta. Aspiring and established creators are encouraged to apply for a beta invite and to ready projects for submission.

The Team 

Founders

Joseph Matheny (Founder/CTO/CMO)

http://www.linkedin.com/in/jmatheny
http://jmatheny.wordpress.com
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0558429/

Some of the things Joseph has achieved as an inventor, creator, marketer, product manager, CEO, CTO, writer and artist include: Playing a role in establishing and evangelizing standards and practices such as CD ROM, PDF, DVD, XML, RSS, Podcasting, ARG and digital video.

He has built private social networks for organizations like TED, Demo, Adobe, Google and others.

He is the inventor of of several matching and recommendation algorithms. He is a published author of screenplays, white papers, technology, sci-fi, marketing and gaming books. If you would like to see his complete resume, request a connection at LinkedIn.

He has been the executive producer of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Podcast , the executive producer/director of the Los Angles Film Festival podcast, the executive producer of Alterati, and a founder of Piltolite/Hukilau. He also produces and hosts two popular podcasts, Cup of TNB at TheNervousBreakdown.com and The GSpot at Alterati.com.

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Jonathan Siegel (Founder/Senior Advisor)

http://www.linkedin.com/in/jsiegel

Jonathan Siegel is the founder of ELC Technologies. ELC builds the products you love--from FunnyOrDie to ESPN and Nascar. As an entrepreneur, Jonathan has played a founding role in three Ruby on Rails product businesses: RightCart.com and RightScale.com and RightSignature.com. Jonathan negotiated the sale of RightCart.com to Buy.com in 2007 and sold RightScale to Index and Benchmark in 2009 after the company raised $18mn. Jonathan holds degrees in Physics and Computer Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

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Michael Mailer (Founder/CEO)

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/michael-mailer/8/456/b67
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0537550/

Micahel Mailer has been working extensively in the independent film business since graduating from Harvard University in 1987. He co-wrote and produced his first feature film, "A Fool And His Money", starring Sandra Bullock and George Plimpton in 1988. Since then, Mailer has produced over 17 feature films. Such films include the critically acclaimed "Two Girls and a Guy" starring Robert Downey, Jr., Heather Graham, and Natasha Gregson Wagner (20th Century Fox, 1998), “Black and White” starring Ben Stiller, Brooke Shields, Elijah Wood, and Mike Tyson (Sony Pictures, 1999), and “Empire” starring John Leguizamo, Denise Richards, and Peter Sarsgaard (Universal Studios, 2002). He also found success with films like “Lost Junction” with Neve Campbell (MGM, 2000), “The Last Producer” with Bert Reynolds, Lauren Holly, and Benjamin Bratt (Artisan, 2002), and “Harvard Man” starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Joey Lauren Adams, and Adrien Grenier (Blockbuster, 2002). His library also includes “Giving it Up” with Dabney Coleman, Mark Feuerstein, and Ali Larter (Lion’s Gate, 2003) and “The Money Shot” with Vincent Laresca and Tamara Tunie. In 2003, the company produced "Devour" starring a cast of Hollywood up-and-comers Jensen Ackles, Shannon Sossamon, and Dominique Swain (Columbia Tri-Star, 2004) and “Loverboy” with an all-star cast made up of Kyra Sedgwick, Kevin Bacon, Marisa Tomei, Oliver Platt, Sandra Bullock, Campbell Scott, and Matt Dillon (Millennium, 2004). “Loverboy” made its debut at Sundance in January of 2005 and was later released theatrically by Think Films. Michael Mailer Films was established in 2004 to focuses on both independent, character driven films and larger, concept-oriented studio pictures. Since it’s formation, MMF has produced four pictures: The romantic comedies, “Kettle of Fish”, starring Matthew Modine and Gina Gershon and “The Golden Boys” starring David Carradine, Rip Torn, and Bruce Dern. Additionally, Mailer recently had two films released through Sony, the mixed martial arts urban western, “Blood and Bone” as well as the Hitchcock remake and psychological thriller, “The Lodger.” Mailer’s latest film, “The Ledge,” a suspenseful drama, starring Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson, Terrence Howard and Charlie Hunnam, is currently in post-production.

In addition to film, Mailer recently made his foray into television by selling a hunting/cooking show titled, “Wild Gourmet” to the History Channel, renamed “History Hunter”, and has been developing both scripted and non-scripted programming.

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Advisory Board

Chris Arkenberg (Senior Advisor)

Chris is a Visiting Researcher with the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, Ca. He uses scanning, scenario modeling, Delphi polling, STEEP, causal layered analysis, and other methodologies to deliver research & forecasts. He provided forecast & scenarios for carbon markets & global energy to the Ten Year Forecast 2010, and for brain-computer interface for Technology Horizons 2009. Ongoing contributions to various aspects of IFTF research & development.

He worked with Adobe Systems for 10 years. As Senior QE Manager for Acrobat 3D & Rich Media He helped develop and grow a new Acrobat 3D SKU from 1.0 to a $30M platform. He designed & managed all aspects of 3D quality testing, contributed regularly to project management, and helped navigate competitive platforms. Previously, He was QE manager & community researcher for the Atmosphere 3D project, helping deliver Adobe's first seed project to 1.0 release. He has regularly contributed to the strategic direction of the Acrobat 3D manufacturing feature set, CS4 & CS5 solutions, as well as mobile, SaaS, and collaborative workflows. He also regularly contributed to competitive intelligence analysis for Adobe & the broader digital technologies marketplace.

He is a co-founder of the Augmented Reality Development Camp (http://ardevcamp.org) and also one of the founders of Network Santa Cruz (http://networksantacruz.org) working to increase broadband coverage for the City of Santa Cruz. He’s been a web user since 1993, a regular blogger for several years, an early Twitter adopter, a web research power user, and has been involved in many forums and social nets.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisarkenberg

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Wade Inganamort (Creator Program Coordinator)

Wade is a screenwriter and longtime blogger & information liaison currently enjoying the small-town life in North Carolina. He is presently the Creator Program Coordinator for Hukilau.

He contributes a weekly online column to the Asheville-based Mountain Xpress and maintains a web and social media presence for several local clients.

Wade is also the founder and editor of Edge of Tomorrow, a futurism and emerging tech blog, and has contributed to the upcoming premier issue of Paleo-Future Magazine.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/wadeinganamort

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Lance White

Lance is a Senior Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager with UBS Financial Services, Inc. in New Albany Ohio. He has been in the financial services industry for 15 years and prior to UBS was a Senior Vice President and Wealth Advisor with Morgan Stanley. His team at UBS manages wealth for many families across the country.

He is an active angel investor in many technology companies with a focus on Internet, social media and green tech. He was involved in the first launch of Ohio TechAngels Fund, which has become the largest angel fund in the Mid West. He holds degrees in International Relations and Economics from The Ohio State University and received his Senior Consultant from The Wharton School of Business.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/lanceawhite

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Matt Kelland

Matt has been involved with technology startups for over 20 years, focused mainly on consumer entertainment. In the early 1990s, he co-founded UK Online, the first consumer ISP in Britain, and was responsible for managing all the online content. In the late 1990s, he co-founded nGame, where he designed and produced hundreds of games for mobile, interactive TV and Internet. In 2003, he co-founded Moviestorm, which produces a simple, low-budget animation tool aimed at directors and writers, and which allows people to make movies without having to know anything about 3D modelling or animations. He recently moved to Florida and founded Draco Felis, which promotes artists in a variety of media.

Matt believes that "many of the most creative people I've met have struggled to find an audience, not because their work isn't good enough, but because they haven't been able to afford the tools to work with or have been battling against corporate sales-driven media companies. With the advent of the Internet and new creative tools, more and more of those people are getting the chance to show us all what they can do, to find new audiences, and to contribute to our shared culture."

http://mattkelland.blogspot.com/

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Michael Dean

An anagram for "Michael Dean" is "Deal Machine," and that truly fits. Michael never sits on his laurels, and he's constantly touching the world in special places.

Michael directed the documentary films D.I.Y. Or Die: How To Survive as an Independent Artist and Hubert Selby Jr: It'll Be Better Tomorrow and the art DVD Living Through Steve Diet Goedde. Michael is the author of the books $30 Film School, $30 Music School, $30 Writing School, Starving in the Company of Beautiful Women, The Simple Pleasures of a Complex Girl, and DIY NOW! Digital Audio. Michael played guitar in the early 80s hardcore punk band band The Beef People. He sang and played bass in Baby Opaque and Bomb (Warner Brothers). He currently sings in the dangerous hardcore punk band Right Arm of Wyoming.

Michael W. Dean was a featured director and speaker at the 2005 Deauville Film Festival in France, and has toured Europe and America lecturing at colleges, museums and youth centers. He was a featured speaker at the Podcast and New Media Expo. Dean has been interviewed by NPR, BBC radio, and featured on NBC, VH1, and in Variety Magazine.

Michael contributed to O'Reilly's Digital Video Hacks book, edited O'Reilly's DV Filmmaking: From Start to Finish by Ian Aronson, and wrote "MAKE a Mailbox Movie" in MAKE Magazine Volume 3. He co-authored (with Alan Lastufka) a book for O'Reilly called YouTube: An Insider's Guide to Climbing the Charts (which features an interview with Joseph Matheny). Michael and his wife Debra Jean do a podcast called Radio Free Nestlandia: the Voice of a Two-Person Nation and Michael is a contributor to Greylodge.org.

Michael is fond of saying "I remember when sex was safe and music was dangerous" and "He who dies with his art on the most hard drives, wins." Michael stays up late, sleeps in late, and works at home as a writer and filmmaker. He recently moved from Los Angeles to Casper, Wyoming "to get away from it all."

Michael Dean on Wikipedia

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Nick Belardes

NICK BELARDES is illustrator of "West of Here" (2010). As an author he wrote "Random Obsessions" (2009), "Small Places" (2008-2010 [first literary Twitter novel]), and "Lords: Part One" (2005).

As a storyboard artist and creative writer he has written and collaborated on animated pieces such as "Swing Cat Blues," "The Motown Show" and "Sting" for the Fremont Street Experience. He has written numerous scripts for vocational youth-oriented TV shows and appeared regularly on TV for an ABC affiliate. He has collectively written thousands of online articles that have appeared in publications such as CNN.com, thenervousbreakdown.com, TurnTo23.com, KBAK.com, Bakotopia.com, FresnoFamous.com, Bakersfield.com, MasBakersfield.com and more.

He has been featured or mentioned as an innovative writer in the Christian Science Monitor, Mashable, NPR, U.K. Guardian, Folha (Brazil), Metroactive, FORA.TV, Alterati, Reuters, Knock Magazine, The Bohemian, FresnoFamous.com, Bakotopia.com, The Bakersfield Californian, on TV and radio throughout California's Great Central Valley and Bay Area, and more.

In the movie business, he has appeared in two indy films, as well as worked in scriptwriting and promotions for Hectic Films and Cinescope Media.

He currently works for Clear Channel Radio's online division in Las Vegas, NV and is on the advisory council for Hukilau. Facebook and Twitter.

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Brad Listi

Brad Listi is the author of the bestselling novel Attention. Deficit. Disorder. (Simon & Schuster, 2006), which the late Jim Carroll hailed as "a perfect book about what we and the world are becoming." In addition, Listi is the founder of The Nervous Breakdown , a popular online culture magazine and literary collective featuring the work of hundreds authors, poets, and other artists from around the world. The Nervous Breakdown has spawned its own live reading series called The Nervous Breakdown's Literary Experience, which now takes place in cities nationwide. As a journalist, Listi has contributed to a variety of publications, including Maxim, Stuff, and Blender magazines, and in 2008 he covered the Democratic National Convention for The Huffington Post and Complex magazine. He also writes for television and film. Listi received his B.F.A. In film studies from the University of Colorado at Boulder and his M.F.A. In creative writing from the University of Southern California.