Entertainment Oxygen: Breathing New Life Into the Entertainment Industry’s Networking Woes

One of the most important tools in the independent filmmaker’s arsenal is the film festival. These events are where many indie filmmakers premiere and show their work in hopes of wowing audiences and securing a distribution deal. 

However, with film festivals having changed significantly in recent years, they are not providing the same opportunities they once did. Enter Entertainment Oxygen, a revolutionary new app that is a breath of fresh air within the industry, revolutionizing how the industry communicates and interacts.

Film festivals as a networking tool for indie filmmakers

Film festivals have always been an important venue for independent filmmakers to network — not just with audiences, but also with their fellow filmmakers, the media, and industry professionals. However, with film festivals, especially the bigger and more “exclusive” ones, there can be an air of cliquishness, making it difficult to break through the noise and stand out among the crowd.

“Every year, I would go to various entertainment events, and I saw the way people would network,” explains Apple TungFong, the CEO of Entertainment Oxygen. “It all seemed very congested and inefficient.”

These challenges of networking at film festivals were only amplified by the COVID-19 era, in which in-person festivals and networking events essentially halted because it was unsafe to bring together filmmakers and audiences from around the world for an in-person event. In addition to struggling to find work, filmmakers also struggled to find ways to show and find distribution for their completed work.

Virtual and hybrid events emerged during the pandemic as a way for festivals and filmmakers to continue to showcase films to an audience — sometimes at an even wider scale than they would have been able to reach with an in-person event. Still, virtual festivals often lacked the networking component that was such a pivotal part of the filmmaker experience. Instead, these events merely offered digital screenings with some opportunities for virtual Q&As or panels. Early virtual festivals were a great way to get eyes on films, but not to connect filmmakers with the community or industry.

How Entertainment Oxygen will revolutionize networking for film festivals

Entertainment Oxygen has emerged as a new player in virtual and hybrid festival technology to solve some of these shortcomings, allowing filmmakers better networking opportunities at virtual, hybrid, and even in-person events. The eoApp is designed with independent filmmakers in mind, empowering them with new and innovative ways to connect with other entertainment professionals, showcase their skills, and even find work or new collaborators.

TungFong’s vision for Entertainment Oxygen was to create a digital platform where entertainment professionals could seamlessly connect, communicate, and collaborate in an environment conducive to creativity and innovation. “Entertainment Oxygen is more than just a platform,” she asserts. “The eoApp has become a thriving community, uniting like-minded individuals in the entertainment industry and forging invaluable relationships.”

The benefits of the eoApp extend beyond the filmmakers, though. In addition to filmmakers getting a wonderful platform to share their films and network with audiences and one another, festivals get a cost-effective solution to host content and expand their audiences. Moreover, cinephiles get the chance to see fabulous independent cinema from around the world that they might not have gotten a chance to see elsewhere.

Ultimately, the goal of the eoApp — and what sets it apart from so many other platforms festivals can choose from to host their virtual and hybrid events — is to promote inclusivity over competition. Although film festivals can often be inherently competitive, as filmmakers strive for their work to win coveted jury and audience awards, TungFong and the Entertainment Oxygen team believe there is not just a possibility, but a need to create an atmosphere of community and collaboration at these events. The eoApp offers the tools festivals need to foster this feeling.

“An ocean of opportunities” with the eoAPP

TungFong likens the entertainment industry to an “ocean of opportunities,” explaining that the eoApp’s fish logo represents “an entertainment professional navigating the industry’s vast ocean of opportunities.” She goes on to describe Entertainment Oxygen’s role in this navigation as “the ecosystem for collective success.”

With its unique networking tools, the eoApp provides independent filmmakers and entertainment professionals with resources and opportunities that are often scarce in the industry. The eoApp has created a vibrant and passionate community, giving entertainment professionals the opportunity to showcase their talents, discover original content, find collaborators, and connect with fellow enthusiasts. The Entertainment Oxygen community disrupts the notorious exclusivity by evening the playing field between exciting up-and-coming new talent and industry heavyweights looking for a change in the status quo, bringing them together to support radical, positive change in the entertainment industry.

Anyone in the entertainment industry will tell you that it is a business of connections — it’s not always what you know, but who you know. Now, with tools like the eoApp, entertainment professionals can expand their networks with deeper and more meaningful connections. 

“We hope to breathe new life into entertainment, where people are able to unlock their full potential,  connections thrive, creativity soars, and dreams take center stage,” concludes TungFong.