Fun Little Movies

May 07, 2005|Matea Gold | Times Staff Writer

Los Angeles Times

[...]

A new batch of entrepreneurs is hoping to find an answer.

Two years ago, Frank Chindamo, a short-form filmmaker in Los Angeles, grew frustrated at the difficulty in distributing his movies and started producing a series of short comedic skits for mobile phone viewing, hoping to cash in on the new medium. In August, a Sprint representative saw one of his pieces at USC, where Chindamo lectures as an adjunct professor. The carrier signed him up to produce an entire channel for Sprint TV.

Currently, Chindamo’s Fun Little Movies production company makes eight series and is preparing to churn out 40 shows a month. Carriers from Turkey, England and other countries have contacted him about airing his content, he said.

“Small screens mean small budgets,” he said. “Thankfully, you don’t need 2,000 guys on camels in the background. One guy is sufficient.”

The major media companies are finding their own advantages in the new technology.

Fox Television developed “24: Conspiracy,” a mobile version of the popular show “24″ to kick off its new season. The 24 one-minute episodes, which featured a different cast, ran in Britain and the U.S. on Verizon phones. The studio, which plans to distribute it on phones in 23 other countries by the end of the year, has also made four original mobisode series.

And ESPN, which provides 45 minutes of made-for-mobile clips a day to the wireless carriers, is going so far as to develop its own phone. The device, which the sports network is working on with Sprint and other companies, is expected to hit the market in about a year and will be loaded with every possible permutation of ESPN’s brand: live game trackers, fantasy league applications and a slew of ESPN highlights, packaged for mobile viewing.

“We believe it will benefit ESPN, but also the entire industry,” said Manish Jha, senior vice president of ESPN Mobile. “It will demonstrate to everyone that cellphones are not just about talking anymore.”

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