"The Hollywood distribution model doesn’t work for the 18 to 24 year old demographic," says Kim Garretson, a Minneapolis-based business development consultant for Blowtorch Entertainment, a new film production startup based in California.
"They want entertainment content here, there, and everywhere, in bite-sized portions. And they want it before they go to the theater."
This fickle demographic is looking to be entertained, and for authenticity, he says.
Does disruption sound like a big undertaking? Well, Blowtorch just announced $50 million in funding, so we can assume they’re serious. Garretson, a longtime Twin Cities startup veteran and business development whiz, left Best Buy last year, where he was a liaison to the venture capital community. Since then, he’s been quietly working in the Valley VC world, helping VCs vet deals and advising portfolio companies on distribution strategies. Garretson and a former business partner, Kelly Rodriques, went back into business together finding funding for early-stage deals. Then the Blowtorch deal came along. In addition to his involvement with the new company, Kim is currently finishing a business plan for a top Hollywood actor’s film company.
Rodrigues, who’s based in the Bay Area, recently became an entertainment and media industry venture partner for Seattle-based Ignition Partners. Last week, he announced the $50M first round for Blowtorch from Ignition and hedge funds, and now is well into launching the firm, where he’s taken on the CEO role. With his long background teaming with Garretson, he naturally turned to him as a business development adviser. "Blowtorch is disrupting the traditional Hollywood studio and distribution model for feature films targeting the college crowd," said Garretson. "Six feature films will be produced over the next 18 months, released as party-like events near the top 200 college campuses."
The company says its editorial vision is to "balance professional-grade
production with user participation to create a consistently engaging
experience." That will include full-length films,
professional-grade shorts, an online community, mobile offerings, and
live events. Blowtorch has assembled a diverse team of executives from
the entertainment, marketing, and technology industries with
expertise creating media for young adults. (This list is impressive — see the details here in the news release.)
The Secret Sauce: Getting Brands Involved
But the really interesting part of this whole thing, from a marketing standpoint, is how big advertisers will play in it. It should be no surprise that product placement and sponsorship by big brands is part of the plan here, especially when you look at the backgrounds of the management team and board. "We have set out to build a media company that delivers a consistently compelling experience that will lead to stronger engagement across all the channels our audience uses everyday," said CEO Rodrigues, "And we are confident we have found meaningful ways for marketers to be a part of this experience." Garretson’s role in business development, he tells me, will be going after some of those deals with big brands.
On the user-gen side of the equation, the company has announced a contest called "The Blowtorch Short Film Big Screen Challenge." 
Here are the rules, short and sweet: "Submit a video of your best short film idea. The theme can be anything at all related to “TECHNOLOGY.”
Internet dating, killer robot vacuums, used time machine salesmen…whatever. Remember, it’s all about the idea, not how you shoot it. So, a video camera
is great, but a web-cam works too.
Shoot it, pitch it, just get your idea out there. If yours wins, we’ll fly
you out to LA to produce it for real.
Submit as many as you like, just keep them under 3 minutes."
By the way, funding like Blowtorch’s gets you some good PR, too. Check out the coverage that just magically 🙂 popped up in The Washington Post, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter….oh, and couple other rags you may have heard of: TechCrunch and PaidContent. Amazing what real marketing budgets can do, isn’t it? And if you’re wondering what the budget will be to promote the films, I learned it’s $3 milllion — per film.
So, there you have it, gang. I keep telling you Twin Cities startup folks are into some interesting deals!
Just leave it to me, your trusty, intrepid bi-coastal reporter (left
coast and third coast), to fill you in on these Minnesota-California
connections (read: real money). I got more, too, so stay tuned….
UPDATE (12/29/07): I love the fact that I got to this story before Fortune Magazine did.
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