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(TM) pioneering new models in
film and television distribution by applying the Smart Moviegoing(TM)
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(TM) 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. He teaches
film business at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, the most important
film school in Italy.
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.
