I worked at Vimeo from 2014 through 2017, where I was promoted to General Manager and Vice President of Entertainment.
As owner of one of Vimeo's primary business verticals, I led strategy, product management, engineering, curation, operations and marketing for Vimeo's viewing destinations on the web, TV and mobile, including Vimeo Originals, SVOD and Vimeo's open platform of free and VOD films, series and other videos. In this role I reported directly to the CEO of IAC (Vimeo's parent-company).
In my initial role at Vimeo, I managed the marketing for Vimeo Originals and VOD, did business development, including launching the VOD Publisher Network affiliate program, and guided strategy and product related to VOD. I also did acquisitions and original development, signing up distributor catalogs and prominent film releases, including commissioning John Wilson's Escape From Park City and acquiring Pear Cider and Cigarettes, which was then nominated for an Oscar. Managing a multi-million dollar budget, I led the launch of a multitude of critically-acclaimed series and movies, including High Maintenance, Aidy Bryant's Darby Forever, Bianca Del Rio's Rolodex of Hate, Kate Berlant and John Early's 555, Marina Abramovic's The Space in Between, Spike Lee's Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, Damon Dash & Kanye West's Too Honorable, Wong Fu Productions's Everything Before Us, the Emmy-nominated Original comedy special Garfunkel and Oates: Trying to Be Special, Danny Devito's Curmudgeons, Sender Films' Valley Uprising, and many more.
I established processes for effective film and series marketing campaigns using the latest digital targeting and out-of-home advertisements, and pioneered new approaches for effective influencer marketing. In addition to managing our buyer funnel and lifecycle, I oversaw our VOD seller lifecycle, working with content providers to maximize their marketing effectiveness and revenue.
I was a frequent public speaker on behalf of Vimeo and taught marketing and distribution workshops for Sundance and many other festivals and events.
Some press highlights:
“Vimeo has long celebrated and welcome stories from voices too often under-celebrated around the world and we’re excited to partner with the Sembene Across Africa in what will hopefully be the largest community screening in history," Peter Gerard, Vimeo’s GM, Entertainment Group, says in a press release. “By releasing the film for free on Vimeo, we can bring this powerful local African narrative about one of the continent’s earliest filmmakers to audiences around the world."’…
Fear and loathing is alive in Utah in John Wilson's acerbic 'Escape From Park City.' The nearly seven-minute film, which premiered on Vimeo two days ago, is basically a survivor's testimony of all the festival has to offer, told from the POV of somebody who couldn't get in. …
Filmmaker John Wilson — profiled this past year in our 25 New Faces series — covers the Sundance Film Festival for Vimeo with his inimitable lo-fi insight. Here, the glitz and pageantry of the ’17 festival are captured in sludgy grey tones and with a commentary that underscores Park City’s economic divide.…
Director Robert Valley teams with Passion Pictures to bring his gritty graphic novel to the screen, garnering an Oscar nod and Annie win along the way.…
Last Tuesday saw the debut of their new Vimeo series, 555. A collection of five shorts, 555 pertains solely to the entertainment industry.…
The buzzy comedians have made an anthology series that is a beautifully surreal and impressionistic satire of show business.…
Robert Valley's autobiographical short animates an imperfect life with the imperfections of Photoshop.…
Vimeo are the next streaming site to do original programming, but their surreal show about a bunch of Hollywood misfits could be worth coughing up for…
This is the first time Vimeo has built a native app for Apple’s tvOS store, and the first time the service has had an HTML5 app on Samsung smart TVs.…
GM of Entertainment at Vimeo Peter Gerard, performance artist Marina Abramovic, director Marco Aurelio del Fiol, senior curator at Vimeo Sam Morrill and producer Minom Pinho attend the screening of Ms. Abramovic's newest film "Marina Abramovic In Brazil: The Space In Between" held at the Museum of the Moving Image on December 13, 2016 in New York City.…
Vimeo has given birth to the webseries High Maintenance, which made the jump this year to HBO, and in the past year has hosted comedy specials for Garfunkel and Oates: Trying to Be Special (earning an Emmy nomination for original music and lyrics) and the premiere for the Crash Test rolling bus tour hosted by Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel.
But Loyiso Gola: Live in New York is the first traditional solo stand-up special for Vimeo, premiering today as a “Vimeo Original.”…
Vimeo is preparing to take on Netflix, Amazon, YouTube and others with the launch of its own consumer-facing subscription service, the IAC-owned company announced on Wednesday as part of its earnings report.…
Vimeo will begin to “experiment” with proprietary consumer subscription services, Levin said, supplementing its offerings for creators that let consumers purchase their content or subscribe to their channels. “We will supplement our creators with original and licensed programming, and can fill out a robust slate of programming for tens of millions, not billions, of dollars,” he wrote.…
“We’ve had such a great relationship with Vimeo from the very beginning of Salazar’s existence, and Vimeo’s community and audience has been so instrumental in helping us get our work out into the world. So when it came time to make the big step of releasing a first feature, it just kinda felt right that Wizard Mode be their first Vimeo’s Originals feature film.”…
Directed by Salazar Film (AKA Nathan Drillot and Jeff Petry), the new documentary Wizard Mode relates the story of Robert Gagno, one of the world’s highest ranking pinball players, who also happens to be autistic. As Robert comes of age while rising up the ranks of the international pinball circuit, he strives to gain his independence and transcend the label of autism.
Wizard Mode is Vimeo’s first original feature and will be released Oct. 21 on VOD and iTunes, as well as on Vimeo itself.…
Stay positive. Though there are more movies available than ever and audiences are opting for subscription services like Netflix rather than shelling out money for theatrical or traditional VOD, ultimately, “people are happy to pay for something they really want to watch,” said Gerard, VP of content distribution at Vimeo.…
Danny DeVito has Oscar hopes for his new short film. He also has Vimeo hopes for it. His 16-minute movie, “Curmudgeons,” appears as the video platform’s debut pick for a new showcase that highlights films with weekly premieres and selects best-of-the-month and best-of-the-year videos.…
Vimeo has announced it is extending its flagship Staff Pick channel into a year-long online film festival and has added new laurels honoring films selected as Best of the Month and Year, plus weekly premieres.…
The new curation system announced today is also part of an ongoing project, being spearheaded by Vimeo General Manager Peter Gerard, to revamp and improve the way viewers — now measuring over 170 million monthly visitors — consume content on Vimeo.…
Vimeo unveiled this morning its next slate of exclusive content — all of which will serve as part of the platform’s Share The Screen program, which aims to close the gender gap within the film industry.…
This year’s mentors include editor Mary Lampson (HARLAN COUNTY, USA), director Michael Palmieri (OFF LABEL), Pulitzer Prize-winning video journalist Ben C. Solomon (New York Times), Peter Gerard (Vimeo) and Dominic Musacchio (VICE)…
Vimeo — which launched its first ever slate of originals in 2015 — received its first nomination for outstanding original music and lyrics for its Garfunkel and Oates special.…
Vimeo Original 'Garfunkel and Oates: Trying To Be Special' nominated for Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics…
Vimeo Original - Chaz Bundick aka Toro Y Moi has gone to the desert for a new live experience Toro Y Moi: Live from Trona. On a small stage in the Mojave Desert, Bundick and band go through all new arrangements of Toro Y Moi jams.…
The most exciting part of the day was the deft presentation on Vimeo On Demand by Peter Gerard. I’ll admit I wasn’t all that familiar with this “DIY iTunes” aspect of Vimeo, but with their recent acquisition of VHX there’s a possibility they’ll grow into a definitive distribution option for independent filmmakers. For one thing, they offer what Peter called an “epic” 90-10 split of revenues. He also shared his “12 Step Program” on how to succeed on Vimeo, which included a lot of great advice:…
A spoonful of sweetness helps the naughtiness go down in the first trailer for the Vimeo comedy special Garfunkel and Oates: Trying to Be Special, which debuts exclusively on EW.…
Last month, Vimeo ordered a Garfunkel and Oates special called Trying to Be Special, and today they released the first trailer. The special follows Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci as they “host a live fundraiser in Seattle – complete with songs, stories, and surprises – all in the hopes of raising enough money to make their own comedy special.”…
After a debut episode made on “$500, 48 hours, and paying people in sandwiches,” the Web series The Outs—about the plight of the single-and-mingling millennial—garnered an impressive following when it debuted a seven-episode season in 2012. Now, its audience is about to get even bigger: Vimeo will debut the second season on March 30, another major investment in original series from the video-hosting giant.…
The state of film appreciation is in flux. The film-loving community is disparate. And home viewing is fraught with frustration. Streaming algorithms have taken the place of human curation. And five-inch screens watched alone have taken the place of 50-foot ones viewed by 500. What’s a film lover to do?…
Vimeo’s first original documentary and first feature-length film, “Wizard Mode,” offers viewers a personal perspective on autism by telling the story of one of the world’s greatest pinball players. Meanwhile, its first concert film features indie “chillwave pioneer” Toro y Moi.…
Vimeo said at SXSW tonight that it has slated a quartet of programs for its second slate of originals: a comedy series, a feature documentary on pinball, a Garfunkel & Oates special and its first live concert. The company also announced a March 30 release date for Season 2 of its first original series, The Outs.…
Darby Forever, a comedy written and starring Aidy Bryant, launched on Vimeo Thursday as one of the platform's new originals.…
Saturday Night Live star Aidy Bryant has been teasing Darby Forever on social media, and it’s finally here: The short film is now available to purchase and stream on Vimeo.…
If you’re a fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race, you likely know Bianca Del Rio, winner of season 6. If you’re not, Del Rio’s new comedy special, Rolodex of Hate, is your crash course. The special is Vimeo’s first dive into comedy specials, a genre streaming competitor Netflix has been especially successful growing in the past year.…
Vimeo has become the global distribution platform of choice for Singaporean filmmaker Tan Pin Pin. Three of her documentaries, “To Singapore, With Love”, “Singapore GaGa” and “Invisible City” are available on the U.S.-based platform, but the first one is not available in Singapore. It is banned in its home country due to its politically-sensitive content.…
Peter Gerard's 12-Step Programme for Vimeo Success ... Vimeo is a great distribution platform but you need to have a destination for your fans…
Last week, Sundance Institute’s Artist Services program joined with Festival Internacional de Cine en Morelia (FICM) to host an international workshop designed to give emerging independent filmmakers and producers a chance to interact and learn from industry experts in creative funding, digital distribution and marketing of their work. As part of the day’s slate, Vimeo Director of VOD Peter Gerard was on hand to share insights from his world in a presentation on marketing direct to fans with Vimeo in order to drive an audience to discover an artist’s work.…
High-caliber industryites from converging content sectors descending upon Rome include Peter Gerard, Vimeo’s Director of Audience Development and Content Operations; Sabine Chemaly, TF1 International’s international sales topper; Sarah Doole FremantleMedia’s Director of Global Drama…
Online video-sharing site Vimeo is increasing its investment in original programming, the company announced this morning, as it detailed its plans for three more original series, including a second season of the popular web series “The Outs,” a passion project from SNL star Aidy Bryant called “Darby Forever,” and an original comedy special.…
Vimeo is stepping up its new-programming efforts, announcing what it dubs as its “first ever slate of original programming.”
The site has said it has made deals for three new pieces of content and will debut them this winter. They are: the latest season of the online hit gay comedy “The Outs,” written by Adam Goldman and Sasha Winters; a short film titled “Darby Forever” written by and starring “SNL” veteran Aidy Bryant; and “Rolodex of Hate Comedy Special,” a new standup one-off from comedian Bianca Del Rio.…
A Vimeo study offers details into the online purchasing habits of consumers. Vimeo has commissioned a new study on the online video landscape and the findings are not wholly unexpected…
Tuesday morning, Huebel and Scheer appeared on NBC’s Today, and then they were off to Entertainment Weekly and People and Huffington Post Live. They are promoting their new project the way two comedians in 2015 have to promote a new Vimeo on-demand comedy special, which means doing lots and lots of interviews and comedy podcasts.…
The Vimeo Studio slate will feature a number of creators who are selling their work directly to fans through the Vimeo On Demand. For example, Sawyer Hartman and PJ Ligouri–who are both bringing full series to Vimeo thanks to a deal with New Form Digital–will both chat about their projects. Other featured guests include members of RocketJump and Wong Fu Productions, which have both used Vimeo On Demand to sell high-quality content.…
The Chosen, a thriller starring YouTube superstar Kian Lawley as Cameron, a teen who’s forced to make a decision between saving his family or his niece after she’s possessed by a demon.…
We’re sitting down with Vimeo’s Director of Marketing and Distribution along with some of the most successful creators, filmmakers, and studio executives in online video for a deep dive into Vimeo’s newest VOD service.…
Is it worth it to spend time on the distribution side once you feel all your energy has been used up completing the film? VHX, Gumroad, Yekra and Vimeo joined us at our place in Park City to answer the question, "Should we even have to think about this stuff?"…
It's rare to find a comedy series that has enough realism to keep you engaged with the characters and enough farce to keep you laughing. Enter High Maintenance -- the first-ever Vimeo Original web series.…
High Maintenance has landed in LA! Best of luck to @russellgregory @hellokatja @ThisBenSinclair at the #wga. #Hiedi pic.twitter.com/MMHGQVD1No
— Kyle Harris (@KyleHarris) February 15, 2015
Before blazing through cycle six of the stonily brilliant web episodes, here’s a ranking of the first 13 installments.…
Online video sharing service Vimeo has launched the Vimeo On Demand Publisher Network with distribution partners including CBS, The Atlantic and Metacritic, the company announced Thursday. Other launch partners joining the network include CBS Interactive’s TV Guide.com, TV.com and TEN: The Enthusiast Network. The VOD Publisher Network allows viewers to rent or buy titles directly on a partner site, without leaving their browser window to make the purchase.…
“I’m hyped on my partnership with Vimeo to get my new joint ‘Da Sweet Blood of Jesus’ out to the world in a new way,” Lee said in a statement. “This is the future of film distribution. Please join us.”…
Spike Lee’s latest film “Da Sweet Blood Of Jesus” is available for purchase and rental on Vimeo On Demand beginning today, Lee and Vimeo On Demand announced jointly.…
One full month ahead of the film’s theatrical release, Spike Lee surprises fans with a premiere stream of Da Sweet Blood Of Jesus – the “newest, hottest Spike Lee Joint” – via Vimeo On Demand.…
Vimeo’s director of audience development and content operations, Peter Gerard, and Vuguru’s CEO, Larry Tanz, have provided VideoInk, the most reputable publication for news about the online video industry, with some #videoprotips for emerging talent and distribution online.…
If you haven't yet seen the greatest show not on television, High Maintenance is the story of a pot dealer —the "guy"—summoned by text to bring herbal joy to all the good girls and boys. He arrives on bike about 45 minutes later (give or take) and is invited into the homes of his clients to make his deliveries, thus stumbling into the middle of these bizarre and beautiful little vignettes of New York life. But this isn't stoner comedy; it's probably one of the most authentic representations of urban life circa 2014.…
This is the first time that Vimeo has funded the series directly, and represents the company’s first push into original content, following a recent trend among larger digital companies such as Yahoo, Netflix and Amazon.…
Strategic Partners, a presentation of the Atlantic Film Festival, will host a visionary line-up of speakers including keynote addresses presented by Tornasol Films Producer Mariela Besuievsky and Vimeo Director of Audience Development and Content Operations, Peter Gerard, as part of the event taking place September 11 – 14 in Halifax.…
Peter Gerard, director of audience development and content operations at Vimeo and inventor of Distrify, explains why.…
Distrify founder Peter Gerard joins the online video arm of IAC, which is moving into original programming creation. Peter Gerard, founder and former CEO of Distrify, a video-on-demand service and online social cinema marketing banner with offices in the U.S. and U.K., has left the company to join Vimeo, the online video arm of Barry Diller's IAC.…