Storytelling has the power to create social change and transformation on a global level. Social Impact Entertainment (“SIE”) is a variety of mainstream entertainment content, predominantly but not exclusively, in film and television that intends to have social or environmental impact while providing great entertainment value.
For many years, cause-based organizations and passionate investors have stood on the sidelines of the entertainment industry, recognizing the power of compelling content to reach and inspire a broader audience with their message but uncertain how best to proceed to accomplish their goals. The mission of LOHAS’ SIE practice is to provide strategic and financial insight and support to empower these parties to leverage all platforms of their entertainment productions intelligently in order to benefit society and the planet most effectively while still generating competitive financial returns for the participants.
Impact-Entertainment Continuum graphic courtesy of the SIE Society
These are some of the types of questions LOHAS Advisors helps its clients address:
Who should create, produce, and distribute the SIE production?
Who are potential well-aligned co-investors?
Which partners could most expand the reach and impact of the feature?
Are there tax or other strategies to maximize financial returns?
How will the social or environmental impact be measured?
How will brands and intellectual property be managed and protected?
What are the uses and benefits of donated fund investment?
What are the optimal marketing strategies and promotional pathways?
Why LOHAS?
The LOHAS team has broad industry knowledge gleaned from many years providing financial and strategic advisory and other services to a wide variety of media and entertainment companies and productions. In the rapidly evolving entertainment sector, we not only understand the ecosystems and opportunities from a conceptual basis but also the intricacies of running such companies and producing such features with actual C-level and production operational experience in the entertainment sector.”
Our Team is Our Strength
Beyond a deep understanding of the entertainment industry and the pathways to producing successful projects, LOHAS team members are social and environmental impact veterans, including serving as pioneers in the SIE arena. LOHAS Partner William Nix is a member of the Producer’s Council of the Producers Guild of America, a founder of its Social Impact Entertainment Task Force, and a member of its Diversity, Education, International, and Documentary Committees.
In addition to being an experienced media and entertainment attorney, producer, and financier, Will helped launch and serves as Co-Executive Director of the SIE Society, the leading alliance to educate, equip, and catalyze SIE organizations, institutions, and professionals around the world.
SIE productions are not necessarily documentaries or features delivering overt messages. There are a variety of film, television, videogame, and theatrical productions as well as publishing, music, transmedia Internet services and content, and other key areas such as the field of sports, that imbed impact in their very entertaining storylines. Was Taken a high-profile, big-star, action film or a feature raising awareness about the horrors of human trafficking? Was Avatar a big-budget, high-tech, science fiction blockbuster or a film championing the cause of indigenous rights? It takes a combination of the right knowledge, experience, and relationships to develop projects that are both impactful and profitable, or as some have stated, “how to successfully include the spinach in with the popcorn.”
Using Entertainment as a Vehicle for Social Change
To develop your own SIE production or for guidance and support with an SIE project underway, please contact us.
