Supporter of innovation for the entertainment industry and passionate
business developer, Alessandro Masi starts his career in digital strategy
and moves on through film and television financing, production, marketing,
acquisitions, international sales and distribution between Milan, Rome,
London, New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles.
Alessandro
contributes devising sales strategies for television giants Banijay and
Fremantle and leading international film sales outlets Myriad Pictures,
Carnaby International, Sierra/Affinity, 13 Films, Electric Entertainment,
Vision Films, implementing marketing and distribution strategies for
domestic distributors Gathr Films and Cohen Media, turning around into
profit OTT distribution-production startup Own Air, advising on profitable
private equity financing for media at Hult Venture Group, conducting
digital strategy for major entertainment properties and brands at Italia
Brand Group, while with his brand FlexyMovies™ pioneering new models in
film and television distribution by applying the Smart Moviegoing™
approach and engaging audiences with cutting-edge strategies - such as
digital day-and-date release, cross-media distribution, reverse windowing,
theatrical on-demand, dynamic pricing, unlimited pass, premium VOD,
audience-based marketing, and many more – and expanding into market
access as executive producing and global sales of own and third-party
content by the way of timely, tailored and direct access to worldwide
distribution throughout all media and all in all devising and implementing
comprehensive film & TV business strategy with key partners including
American Zoetrope, Sky, Rai Cinema.
He plays a critical role -
attending all the major markets and festivals such as AFM, TIFF,
Cannes/Marché (where he is also part of the exclusive Producers Network),
Berlin/EFM, Venice, Hong Kong, Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, AFI Fest, MIPCOM,
MIPTV, NATPE, besides events like CinemaCon, CineEurope, NABShow, ComicCon,
Licensing Expo – in the sales and distribution of global television
successes like Wife Swap, The Fugitive Chronicles, American Gods, The Young
Pope, The Librarians, The Outpost, award-winning and breakthrough
box-office hits such as Enter the Void, Kaboom, Hugo, Italy: Love It or
Leave It, Goodbye Solo, Wendy & Lucy, 4:44 Last Day on Earth, Beyond the
Mask, Girl Rising, The Last Word, The Curse of Downers Grove, The Girl in
the Book, Barney Thomson, Margin Call, Mustang, Rams, The Salesman,
Damascus Cover, Interlude in Prague, Gun Shy, Kids in Love, the Rise of the
Footsoldier franchise, Captain Fantastic, Manchester by the Sea, Molly’s
Game, Tully, Atomic Blonde, The Family Whistle, A Father’s Will, We the
People of the United States, Living in Naples, Vlad’s Legacy, Voice from
the Stone, Bad Samaritan, An Ordinary Man, Robin: Watch for Wishes, Say My
Name, Adverse, and many others.
Alessandro is also a regular guest
speaker as expert in the film business and judges the work of others
assigning special awards at the first and most prominent festival in the
world for digital content, the LA Web Fest, as well as at the Rio Web West,
Rome Web Fest, Roma Tre Film Festival, Francofilm, Ferrara Film Festival,
MICI, Lucania Film Festival, Marateale, Nòt Film Fest, as well as a highly
followed film & TV business analyst on The FlixBiz™ and regular
contributor for Key4biz. His work and career have been featured in
the press including Deadline, Screen International, ABC, NBC, Corriere
della Sera, Repubblica, and many others.
As a producer overseeing
distribution, he is awarded the Italian Golden Globe for best documentary
feature in 2013 for Suicide Italy and produces in 2016 in Los Angeles with
an award-winning crew a high-concept sci-fi short named Phenomenon as
transmedia proof-of-concept for feature and series. In 2018 he is
awarded the prestigious Heraclea Award as illustrious Lucanian born who has
distinguished himself internationally in the field of arts and culture and
specifically in the film business. In 2019 he establishes in his
hometown in southern Italy and runs the first edition of ‘Hollywood
Power’ a festival showcasing the best of recent art-house motion pictures
from the United States in original language and unseen or barely seen
overseas. Since 2018, he is a member of the European Film
Academy.
Born in Potenza, Italy, he earns a BS in Business
Economics from University of Siena with a thesis on movie marketing
featuring - thanks to a close collaboration with Sony Pictures - a case
study on the marketing strategy for the Spider-Man franchise, an MS in
Economics and Management for Arts, Culture, Media and Entertainment from
Bocconi University in Milan - accompanied by campus abroad program at New
York University in New York City, NY and exchange program at Southern
Methodist University in Dallas, TX - with a thesis on business models for
web TV which foresees the exponential growth of the OTTs and the SVOD model
in particular, an MBA in strategy and finance from Hult International
Business School, and a Certificate in Business & Management of
Entertainment from UCLA Extension in Los Angeles, CA. Further
training includes a variety of courses such as technology entrepreneurship
from Stanford University, Google AdWords certification, TechGarage startup
competition by dPixel venture capital, financial modeling and valuations
from Investment Banking Institute, Bloomberg investments platform
essentials, film producer’s foundations from Raindance Institute, Dov
Simens’ 2-day film school from Hollywood Film Institute, CSC Lab
contracts in film & TV production from Centro Sperimentale di
Cinematografia.
