Are you a member of Poptent.net?  If so, congratulations…you are now part of the “World’s Largest Video Production House!”  That’s right; last week Poptent announced the official launch of their very own production company, Poptent Productions.  From now on, Poptent isn’t just going to be running video assignments; they’re going to be producing video content for their clients.  In some cases those videos will actually be produced in Poptent’s new production space.  But the people that write, direct, shoot and edit these videos won’t be Poptent employees.  Poptent will instead farm this work out to their most talented members.  So if you’ve made a few sales or even if you just uploaded a really impressive demo reel, you might get hired by Poptent to create a video for one of their clients.  And when I say “hired” I mean that you wouldn’t have to compete against other filmmakers.  You would produce a video and it would be a guaranteed purchase.  Poptent has been running a beta version of this program for months and so far companies like Dell, Intel, Jaguar and General Mills have signed on and hired Poptent (and consequently, poptent creators) to produce videos for them.  Here’s how Poptent is pitching this endeavor to potential new clients:

Poptent Productions is the world’s largest video production house. We have thousands of fully-vetted filmmakers and videographers across the United States and in over 125 countries ready to work on your next video project. We are the faster, more nimble alternative to traditional video production methods. There is no project that we cannot handle quickly, efficiently and cost effectively. Need to shoot in multiple locations simultaneously and in a variety of languages? Poptent is your solution. We can streamline your process and facilitate greater go-to-market agility.

So from now on, Poptent will be running open video assignments for some clients and for others they will be hiring individual filmmakers to produce videos.  That means that there are now two ways that filmmakers can make money on Poptent.  And that’s great…right?

Well to be honest, I’m not sure I like this new direction that Poptent is heading in.  Poptent is a CROWDSOURCING website.  Crowdsourcing is about THE CROWD. Hiring a production company that assigns the gig to a producer is pretty much the exact opposite of crowdsourcing. The original premise behind Poptent was that anyone, anywhere had an equal chance of selling their work to a world famous brand.  But now “Poptent Productions” feels like just another corner of the industry that most of us little guys will never be able to break into.  Don’t get me wrong; I think Poptent Productions will probably be a big success.  But I’m worried that its success will mean fewer opportunities to make money for the vast majority of  filmmakers that currently use the site.  From now on, when a member of the Poptent staff pitches their services to a brand, they’ll be able to offer two different options:

OPTION 1:  Poptent can run a video assignment and open it up to all the members of the Poptent community (or to just a few dozen members in an invite-only assignment.)  The brand will create a brief and filmmakers will decide whether or not they want to follow it.  There is no guaranteeing  how many submissions will be uploaded and there is no guaranteeing that any of the submissions will be usable.  But the brand will have to commit to purchasing at least one submission for $7,500 to $10,000. The biggest benefit of running an open assignment is that the brand may get lucky and receive an amazing, outside-of-the-box video that only an undiscovered “crowdsourcer” could come up with.

OPTION 2:  Poptent Productions can oversee the creation of any type of video the brand wants.  Poptent will consult with the sponsor and then hand-pick one or more of their 50,000 members to write/direct/shoot/edit the project.  The filmmakers will be paid about $7,500 to $10,000 for their work.  The biggest benefit of Poptent Productions is that there is essentially no risk with this option.  The brand will know exactly what they are getting.  So while they probably won’t get something “magical” they are guaranteed to get a decent, well-made video.

If you worked for a company that needed some video content, which option would you choose?  Would you take a risk and run an assignment in the hopes you might get a phenomenal video?  Or would you play it safe and just hire Poptent to create the content you need?  If you go with OPTION 1 and the assignment is a flop, you’re on the hook for blowing about $25,000 worth of your company’s money.  (It costs about $25,000 to run a video assignment on poptent.)  How would you like to tell your boss that you spent $25K and didn’t get one single, usable video?

So OPTION 2 is basically a risk-free alternative to a traditional Poptent assignment.  That should make Poptent’s clients very happy but I think it might be a raw deal for filmmakers. I have a feeling that people are going to contact Poptent about running a crowdsourced assignment but then they’ll chicken out and go the safe route when the staff tells them about Poptent Productions.  So in a very real sense, Poptent is now competing with their members for gigs.  And since Poptent employees are the ones who will help companies decide which kind of assignments to run, the deck is not exactly stacked in your favor.

So Poptent Productions might wind up taking money away from “the crowd” and giving it to a handful of proven producers.  If you’re hoping that maybe you’ll get offered one of these “direct paying” gigs you probably shouldn’t get your hopes up.  The odds are just not in your favor.  Even if Poptent Productions produces 52 videos a year and even if they hire 52 filmmakers, that still means that only .001% of members will be getting any work.  And since I don’t think Poptent Productions will double the company’s business, brands that would have run open assignments in the past will instead hire Poptent to make their videos.  That means fewer public assignments and fewer oppertunities for 99.999% of the site’s members.

And that’s kind of a bummer!  This whole story makes me think of the old saying; You gotta dance with the one that brung ya.  Poptent Productions will probably wind up being fantastic for a tiny number of very talented filmmakers. But Poptent has succeeded because of the work done by ALL of their members; not just the ones that have made 8 or 9 sales.  Those 50,000 filmmakers mentioned in Poptent’s press releases joined the site because they wanted to have a shot at making some money.  They didn’t join so that they could be part of an impressive statistic.  It will be a real shame if Poptent Productions causes there to be fewer public assignments but I’m afraid that’s exactly what’s going to happen.  And if Poptent is just going to turn into another production company, where does that leave those of us in the 99% that will never be offered a seat at the table?

4/20/12 UPDATE: This story continues in the comment section. Mark Schoneveld from Poptent posted a response and explained Poptent’s motivations for creating their production company. And Kerry Gaffney of Mofilm also left a comment describing a similar program that Mofilm is now running. So if you’ve read this far, click the comments button and keep reading!