Stickiness...
LOS ANGELES , Jan. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- IC Places Inc. (OTCQB: ICPA) is pleased to release its State of the Company address by CEO Steven Samblis .
From 2005 to 2011, we focused our efforts on building the IC Places website. The main goal was to enhance content and create stickiness . The strategic value of our websites is the fan base which grew around them.
The value of this fan base have been proven over the years. As an example, movie studios have worked with us promoting their new release movies and DVDs. With the movies, we have been able to consistently fill theater seats. With DVD/Blu-ray we have been able to drive sales. The plan has always been to one day do the same for our own products or services.
Guiding Forces
In August of 2011 we signed respected Hollywood insiders Charlotte Parker and Joel Parker to our board of advisors. In their roles with the company, the Parkers consult in the development of content and programming.
Charlotte Parker is well known as the publicist for Arnold Schwarzenegger from the time he began acting. She also guided the public images of over 200 celebrities, politicians, executives and corporations. Parker launched the publicity campaigns of director James Cameron and producer Gale Anne Hurd . She represented director John Frankenheimer and many films, including The Terminator, Aliens, Total Recall, and the animated classic The Swan Princess.
Joel Parker began his career in the News & Information Department of the RCA Corporation. He worked at the NBC Television Network for 10 years in the programing department and Creative Services, where he managed the publicity accounts of several high profile series including the Super Bowl, NBC News and The Tonight Show. Joel also teaches television production at the University of Southern California .
Transition to Hollywood
With the Parkers in place, it was time to create a foothold in Hollywood . In September of 2011 we formed a production and marketing partnership with Hi Point Studios. Hi Point Studios is nestled between Hollywood and Beverly Hills .
Under the partnership, we moved our production offices from Winter Park, Florida to Hi Point Studios in Hollywood, California .
Under the partnership, IC Places is granted exclusive access to the television shows and movies being filmed at Hi Point Studios. We then deliver to our viewers, behind the scenes, "1st Look" shows featuring the actors, directors and producers of these films and television shows.
The partnership gives IC Places additional content for our websites. It spreads the word about Hi Point Studios as well as the movies and TV shows being shot there. Most importantly, for IC Places, it gave us the studio space we needed to begin creating long form TV shows.
Act 1
Our long term goal for IC Places is to become a New Media Entertainment company that will create personality-driven entertainment for online, television and film.
In November 2011 , we began production on our first TV show in Hollywood . The show, Static , was created with partner FunnyBrand777, a company helmed by Brandon Gibson a veteran filmmaker, actor and comedian.
The show is a combination of In Living Color, Upright Citizens Brigade and Monty Python with even more irreverence.
Along with Brandon, the cast includes...
Brandon Brooks - NBC's Malibu, Ca , Las Vegas , CSI
Cheryl Texiera - How to be a Gentleman, Parks & Recreation & It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Maronzio Vance - Last Comic Standing, Naked but Funny, The Last Laugh
Tom Choi - Hall Pass, Franklin & Bash, Chuck, Suite Life on Deck, Prison Break
Angelina Spicer - Late Night w/ Conan O'Brien, Worst Week, Platonic
Daren Dukes - NFL on FOX, The Dallas Cowboy Show
Joaquin Garay III - Unacceptable Behavior, Strangers Online, Rob
Grace Lee - The Quarter Lifers, The Grace Lee Project
Shante Reese - Three Simple Steps, Loveless in Los Angeles
We shot four episodes in December 2011 . We are currently editing them for TV. We are in talks with a comedy-based television network to become the home of the show.
Act 2 - The Bigger Screen
In the 4th quarter of 2011 Netflix users watched more than 2 billion hours of streaming video, according to a recent announcement from the company. That equates to each subscriber watching about 30 hours per month, or an hour a day, which is 4.5 times higher than the time spent with YouTube. The TV screen is still king. When mixed with time shifted, video on demand programing we enter what is now the most popular way to use the TV.
On December 20th, 2011 IC Places signed its first television programing agreement with Brighthouse Networks. The agreement is for our new TV show "IC Places Hollywood." Under the agreement, the show will air in six cities and IC Places receives half of the commercial revenues.
IC Places Hollywood will be available on demand. This gives viewers the on demand access Netflix viewers get without being tethered to internet quality issues.
The show is an upbeat, funny and informative weekly recap of everything that is hot in the world of movies. The 30-minute weekly entertainment show will focus on providing "ahead of the curve" information for people who love movies by providing comprehensive coverage on everything that is hot in entertainment.
Each episode will offer exclusive one on one interviews with Hollywood 's movers and shakers. The show will take viewers behind the scenes from the creation of movies to the red carpet.
The premiere episode was filmed on the red carpet of the 17th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards held Thursday, January 12 , 2012. During the star-studded night I had the opportunity to interview Hollywood 's most illustrious actors, writers and directors. We started the evening on the red carpet and ended in the decidedly less glamorous press tent where all of the big winners are paraded in front of an eager group of reporters frantically typing on their laptops and scrambling to ask the most pithy questions in front of all of our peers.
This was a very important night for Hollywood . Since its inception in 1995, the Critics' Choice Movie Awards has been a star-studded bellwether event of the movie awards season. Historically, the Critics' Choice Movie Awards are the most accurate predictor of the Academy Award nominations. Last year, for example, all four of the acting category winners at the Oscars – Colin Firth , Natalie Portman , Christian Bale and Melissa Leo – first accepted their awards in the same categories at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards. In all, 18 of the 20 actors nominated for Oscars were first Critics' Choice Movie Awards nominees.
This annual awards show comes from The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) which is the largest film critics organization in the United States and Canada , representing more than 250 television, radio and online critics. BFCA members are the primary source of information for today's film going public. The very first opinion a moviegoer hears about new releases at the multiplex or the art house usually comes from one of its members. I have been honored to have the opportunity to join the BFCA this year.
The premiere episode of IC Places Hollywood will air January 20th .
The show will be seen in the following cities...
Bakersfield on channel 300
Birmingham on channel 1040
Detroit on channel 123
Indianapolis on channel 600
Tampa on channel 340
Orlando on channel 300
Additional cable systems will be added in the near future to further expand the shows audience.
Maintaining the Expansion of Our Base... There's an App For That!
While focusing on longer format video production it was important to maintain the growth of the IC Places websites. To do this we needed a viral component.
In December of 2011 we released the Instant Restaurant Review iPhone app. The Instant Restaurant Review App can be downloaded from the iTunes store.
Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-instant-re...57259?mt=8
The name "Instant Restaurant Review" says exactly what the app does; it provides consumers with the ability to instantly share their dining experience with the world.
In our December 2011 press release I stated, "This App could quietly become a game changer for IC Places and the review industry as a whole."
The Instant Restaurant Review App does two very important things. It puts a face on every review and the App will only record a review within 250 feet of the restaurant you are reviewing. Adding a human face to a review and forcing proximity to the restaurant will help to eliminate fake reviews.
IC Places currently covers 350 major US cities. The Instant Restaurant Review App will help organically and automatically build the IC Places footprint.
Apple just approved the app for its advertising program which places non-obtrusive ads into the app, creating a new revenue stream for IC Places.
Staying true to our roots
In January we formed a distribution partnership with awards winning film maker Robby Valls to air 6 episodes of his web series "Life in the Greek" on icplaces.com and Mevio.com. The series is a "mocumentary" on the life and times of the brothers of Tau Tau.
In the series, The newest chapter of Tau Tau has just been chartered at Florida National University (home of the cougars). It's a small College growing in the heart of Miami . A camera crew has been following the new brothers of Tau Tau as they go about their every day "frat boy" lives.
Tau Tau is nationally very small with only 6 chapters nation wide. The purpose behind the camera crew is to document these young men to inspire the growth of the fraternity nation wide. The cameras will be following the brothers around campus, at their homes, to parties, mixers, philanthropy events, etc...
The first episode will air online January 25th .
Next...
On January 11th, 2011 , we shot the premiere episodes of our new urban voice TV show "I Love Black Movies."
Like IC Places Hollywood, "I Love Black Movies: is a half-hour show. In December of 2011 we signed a production partnership with Nikki Love Productions to create a new voice in entertainment news.
Nikki Love is guided by Shawn Edwards . Shawn is the creator of iloveblackmovies.com , and a film critic for Fox 4 News in Kansas City , Missouri. Edwards is one of the few nationally recognized African American film critics in the country. The award-winning journalist has won seven National Entertainment Journalism Awards, including Best TV Film Critic in 2009 and 2008.
"I Love Black Movies TV" is a half-hour TV show that covers everything that is black cinema and television from the classics to new releases. The show will provide comprehensive coverage on everything that is black Hollywood . The 30-minute entertainment show will focus on new black movie releases (or movies that feature blacks in the lead role), new black movie DVD releases, TV shows that feature black talent, black entertainment news, celebrity interviews with Hollywood 's leading black stars, black movie and TV set visits, red carpet premieres of black movies and TV shows and retro reviews of classic black movies.
The TV show will complement the popular website iloveblackmovies.com , the official site of Black Hollywood. Hosted by Ciarra Carter and Thomas Anthony Jones , "I Love Black Movies TV" promises to be an energetic blast of fun and information.
About the Host:
Co-Host, Thomas Anthony Jones
Thomas Anthony Jones , a native of Cleveland , began his acting career on the TV series "Living Single" starring Academy Award nominee Queen Latifah . Since then, he's appeared in many commercials, sitcoms and TV dramas. Jones is also one of the industry's leading models. He also creates educational media components for NASA to support President Obama's STEM initiative, and helps make science and math fun for disadvantaged children.
Co-Host, Ciarra Carter
Ciara Carter , a native of Nashville, Tennessee , is one of the industry's top models and has begun a career in acting. She has appeared in several national and international advertising campaigns.
In Summary
2011 was the year that everything came together for IC Places. I knew that the long-term goal of building a mass fan base was more important than focusing just on short-term revenues. We now are able to approach cable or broadcast networks with something no other production company has, a built in fan base.
Life is about the people you meet and the things you create with them. Everything that happened this past year was because of the people who have joined forces with us.
With this extremely creative team in place we will continue to develop new shows for television and eventually focus on the big screen.
Lastly, in Q1 2012, IC Places will have officially moved out of the status of a development state company on our filings and be classified as a fully operating company.
About IC Places:
IC Places is a Multi Media Entertainment Company.
The company produces "Made for TV" and "New Media" video programs which are watched by millions of people every month on several different platforms.
At the core of IC Places is a network of 350 city-based entertainment websites. This foundation allows IC Places the unique advantage having a built in fan based for the TV and New Media programs it produces.
Each IC Places City website offers a virtual keyhole view of life in each community. Every unique aspect of a city's social, business, and cultural life is available right at each city's IC Places homepage. IC Places provides the entire community a place to talk, do business and get connected. Businesses are given amazing tools to tell their stories in the best way possible and visitors get unfettered access to businesses, events and people in each city. To see one of the IC Places City sites in action, please visit http://www.icPlaces.com.com/orlando .
IC Places programs can be found through distribution partnerships with Mevio.com, The IndoorDIRECT network of restaurants and Brighthouse Networks Cable.
IC Places Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the company's current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. A more extensive listing of risks and factors that may affect the company's business prospects and cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the reports and other documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contact Information:
Steven Samblis
IC Places, Inc.
407-442-0309
info@icplaces.com
SOURCE IC Places Inc.
