Russell Binder has been an leisure and gaming licensing agent in Hollywood for greater than 20 years.
As founding accomplice at Striker Leisure, Binder’s newest success is the 5 Nights at Freddy’s movie, primarily based on the video games by Scott Cawthorn. Binder was govt producer on the movie, which got here out from Blumhouse on Peacock’s Common Studios in October and has generated $299 million on the worldwide field workplace — though the sport itself first debuted again in 2014.
That sort of success with a recreation property tailored right into a film is an instance of what Binder calls the hub-and-spoke system of leisure licensing. And it’s additionally why he’s a speaker on a panel about behind-the-scenes work on IP offers at our upcoming GamesBeat at The Sport Awards occasion on the Grammy Museum in LA Reside on the morning of December 7. (Nick Tuosto of Liontree/Griffin Gaming Companions and Jordan Fragen of GamesBeat will even be on the session).
Binder’s licensing and merchandising work generates some huge cash for an leisure mental property, like a recreation universe, which serves as the middle of an IP hub. The spokes are completely different model extensions of the universe in different media corresponding to comics, toys, films and tv. It’s what was once referred to as “transmedia” throughout the hype section in Hollywood. Solely now, as a substitute of films, video games are on the heart of the hub.
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The job of being an insider agent isn’t exhausting in case you’re blessed with having good style, Binder mentioned in an interview with GamesBeat.
“That’s half the battle,” he mentioned. “Your instincts matter. I make the analogy to a patient in a doctor’s office. The patient has a rash. The doctor sees it and knows what to ask and what to prescribe. When I look at intellectual property, I put on my doctor’s stethoscope and I evaluate.”
Moreover 5 Nights at Freddy’s, Striker Leisure has labored previously with Rovio’s Indignant Birds, Skybound’s The Strolling Lifeless, The Starvation Video games, Sweet Crush Saga, Unidentified, Monsters of California, Day of the Lifeless, Trivia Quest. It’s additionally at the moment engaged on Creepshow.
And Binder is beneath possibility or in growth with Lifeless by Daylight (Blumhouse/Common) and plenty of extra video games (a couple of dozen) and leisure IPs.
“Russell is one-of-one within the industry. As both a producer and with robust, global licensing programs, he has mastered the art of creating 360 degree adaptation platforms around some of the world’s best intellectual property,” mentioned Peter Levin, managing director of Griffin Gaming Companions and former head of gaming at Lionsgate. “He does so in a contemplative manner that appeals to the most hardcore fans as well as the more casual end user. With IP such as Five Nights at Freddy’s, The Walking Dead, Angry Birds, Dead by Daylight amongst many others, he has the trust of the creators of these IPs, partners for adaptation of the IP and the consumer as well.”
Levin is a pal and frequent collaborator with Binder. Of Levin, Binder mentioned, “I’ve developed a great relationship with him over the years. His biggest rap on me is that I am genuinely humble.”
In that method, Binder isn’t that well-known. He mentioned, “I know my place in the ecosystem, and I really value my relationship with my clients. I prioritize that, and, you know, success has many parents. So you can’t take ownership of everything.”
Moreover figuring out purchasers, it’s additionally essential to know the folks on the opposite facet of the licensing deal, Binder mentioned.
“I think it sometimes the word agent has a bad connotation to it,” Binder mentioned. “If you’re putting your own self interest ahead of your client’s, you’re going to have a very short lifespan. It’s making sure that a deal is a win-win for everybody and that your strategy is to enhance the brand, not your pocketbook.”
He has labored with AMC for years on the whole Twilight Saga, and with Lionsgate on the primary Starvation Video games films, in addition to Cawthorn for greater than eight years.
And it looks like the relationships have paid off with profitable recreation variations into films and TV reveals corresponding to The Final of Us and The Tremendous Mario Bros. Film — the latter has been seen by 169 million folks and generated greater than $1.36 billion on the international field workplace.
“I just love the fact that when I started in this business, it was movies and TV shows to games in one direction. Games to movies — except the Riddick film — were never good. Now it has pivoted to more games to film and television and other media,” Binder mentioned.
Binder added, “I really believe this success of these particular projects is because the filmmakers and the financiers and the studios are welcoming the creators into the conversation. They saying to them, ‘You know your fandom and your lore better than anybody. Why don’t we work together and be as faithful as we can?’”
In initiatives like 5 Nights at Freddy’s, that respect for the IP was essential.
“It’s not about an opportunity, ‘Let’s maximize it.’ It’s about here’s an opportunity, ‘Let’s honor it,’” Binder mentioned. “I think the timing worked out beautifully. You generally want to be early in the media cycle of a franchise. But Scott [Cawthorn] took his time. He made sure that the story he wanted to tell was aligned with his vision for the what the fandom would want. And I think Jason Blum and the filmmakers were on board with that the entire time.”
Binder mentioned this implies there’s a synergy and alignment on creativity. At the beginning, Striker Leisure was a accomplice on client merchandise associated to Freddy’s. As Cawthorn put out extra video games, that reinvigorated the followers. And solely then did the film go into manufacturing.
“We take a look at ourselves as an IP accelerator. And what meaning, in my opinion, is we search for nice content material that has a burgeoning viewers. If we’re working with a Star Wars, we run with it. However we’ve needed to construct a enterprise by discovering extra nascent IP to make it greater than it at the moment is.
The licensing will leverage client merchandise, collectibles, location-based leisure, recreation publishing, movies, TV and comics — all within the title of promoting and increasing the horizon of the model. One other facet of Striker’s enterprise is working with rights holders who’re fascinated with increasing a giant IP and taking it into new “spokes” within the system.
A part of the problem in negotiations is at all times about how exhausting a rights holder ought to combat to retain as many rights as potential. On the one hand, there are giants like Disney that may do all the things, then there are smaller impartial retailers like Striker Leisure (which has round eight folks) that work at piecing a franchise collectively.
Requested if extra energy ought to be within the palms of the creators, Binder mentioned, “It’s a balance. I think that there are franchises that would be franchises without the studio resources behind them. And there is some incredible content, a lot of it coming from the gaming space from independent creators in particular, who are smaller organizations, that become huge successes,” like Squanch Video games. However the studios are those that want to comprehend that nobody is aware of the followers higher than the sport creators, he mentioned.
Binder famous that when all the things was a two-hour film or a brief TV episode, it was more durable to take a number of the massive tales of 100-hour video games and adapt them to the silver display. However now that there are streaming collection on Netflix and different platforms, there’s a higher match for reveals like The Final of Us.
That helps clarify a number of the fashionable successes, like Riot Video games’ Arcane on Netflix. Then again, the problem with streaming is that folks can binge a collection suddenly and it doesn’t create a long-lasting engagement with the followers in the best way that on-line video games do.
“If you have nothing more to share with the gamer or the viewer, then they’re moving on to something else,” he mentioned. “Servicing an audience for games can be amazing. But not everything is going to break out. You still need great characters and a great story. You need the currency of power to make these things work in a media adaptation. And take what I say with a grain of salt. Because if you can take Lego brick and make a movie out of it, that’s the surprise. Still, it helps when you have creators and fans who care about the world and the characters on their journey.”
The current strikes took their toll on a number of the dealmaking between video games and Hollywood, however Binder is grateful that 5 Nights at Freddy’s got here out when it did.
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