Facebook adds features to lure in filmmakers

Venture Beat — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:54:25 -0500

Facebook is making moves on Hollywood, it seems. The company has introduced a new fan “Page”, called Facebook Film. Its a template of a Facebook Page, that comes loaded with applications intended to help filmmakers reach and interact with Facebook users.

The company also has hired a “Head of Market Development in Entertainment” named Matt Jacobson, who is apparently helping Facebook to connect with entertainment companies. Facebook, it seems, is a bit of a media company, after all.

Each Facebook Film Page comes with a review application, for example, so users who join the page of a movie can rate it and leave their own thoughts.

Take a look at the Sweeny Todd Facebook page (screenshot below). It includes a bunch of information about the film, a list of fans and their reviews, and even a link to another application designed to promote the movie. Note: The application, called PartyOn, resides on its own site (not on Facebook) and is apparently offering a way to create party invites using the skin of a movie poster.

One can also see where Facebook itself might make money from these film pages. One of the pre-installed applications is Fandango’s “Movie and Ticket Times” — which displays the movie’s show times near you. This seems like a pretty reasonable effort by Fandango to reach Facebook users. So I’m asking Facebook how much they’re charging for it, and will update this post with a response.

Doug Sherrets contributed to this article.