It’s not easy to start a new streaming service, especially from the ground up. And one of the big challenges is acquiring the content. Where does it come from? Is it valuable to the audience? On top of that, what is the audience? Are you going for something niche or do you want to provide something for everyone? These kinds of questions had to be addressed by the husband and wife team, Kalani and Stefanie Hubbard. The couple, who have an extensive background in cooperative video production and independent film making decided to start a new streaming service that allowed independent filmmakers and producers to create content that told the stories as they saw them but did so with the sort of flare and quality that the general audience has come to expect from a standard Hollywood production.
What does that mean? Well, when someone says independent movie what comes to mind. When you hear the term Hollywood movie what comes to mind? If the pictures of the two are different you should understand what Pure Magic is going for. The types of filters, sound effects and general feel you see when you watch a major Hollywood production are different than what you see in the art film/indie world. But in the process of putting together the glitz and glamor of a major production, many artists sacrifice creative freedom. Pure Magic hopes to bring the two experiences
together so that independent filmmakers can put together stories that appeal to a general audience, that have the kind of polish you would see if it were produced at Universal with a story that plays the way Back To The Future, Stefanie Hubbard’s favorite movie does. The products will feature support for standards like Dolby Atmos in order to deliver the kind of lifelike sound that fills a room and gives a film depth. And the music that booms through will be produced in-house by Kalani Hubbard and others providing full use of the work and avoiding rights fees from other artists.
“We are just a couple of directors making movies and TV shows straight from the heart,” said Kalini Hubbard.
The service will shoot for quality over quantity when it launches with all original fare. This will present two challenges for the upstart. Will it have enough content at launch to lure in subscribers and will it be able to keep up with a production schedule to keep people coming back?
The advantage Pure Magic will have is that it will own all of the content on the service out of the box. Because everything playing on the service will be owned by the company itself. Pure Magic Productions is already off to a good start. A new show, View and Chew, is already streaming on Amazon Prime video. The series, which stars YouTube influencer Mike Chen is available for purchase on the service and has been recognized the New York International Film Awards Best
(Series Pilot) and the Oniros Film Awards (Best Web-Series). The series is available for purchase on Amazon but will be available in its entirety once the Pure Magic streaming service launches in Summer of 2021.
The app will get off on the right foot as it will be available on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and the Google Play Store. This means that Pure Magic will be available on the top steaming platforms right from the start.
Can Pure Magic compete with Netflix?
No, and it’s not supposed to. While many commentators have a fixation with building the launch of any service as an entry to some mythical war between streaming services Pure Magic is simply presenting itself as an addition to the mix. It’s a spice in a cabinet. The team is made up of writers and directors from the indie scene who are looking for a place to create high-quality content in a place where they can fit in. Stepanie Hubbard likened it allowing for the existence of David and Goliath side by side as opposed to in competition together. Or comparing an indie band to Taylor Swift. You can appreciate both as artists. Because this is an open space not some sort of arena.
As for what to expect on the service, Stefanie did not share the exact number of titles we will see when things launch. But what we do know is that the content will be PG13 level. This allows for complete storytelling without watering down mature themes to a point where it might as well be Mr. Rogers. There won’t be any nudity or “F-bombs” but there will be action and excitement. The Hubbards hope to instill a sense of what you feel when you are truly taken by a motion picture. A sense of Pure Magic.
