This week Bond/360 launched what they’ve dubbed a “Creativity Bundle” — four movies having to do with making and creation downloadable from VHX for a single, pay-what-you-wish fee. In a blog post I wrote about Bond/360’s use of what’s become known as “the Radiohead model,” based on the recording group’s pricing strategy for their In Rainbows album. But there’s another innovation going on here, and that’s the bundling of titles. Film packages are a staple of foreign sales, but usually they work in a different way. A distributor must buy a package of films in order to get the one […]
This article by Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez about the distribution of their Detroit firefighter documentary Burn originally appeared in our Fall, 2013 print edition. It is appearing online for the first time. “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” — Mark Twain As filmgoers are increasingly flooded with new media options to keep them at home, the prevailing theory is that the days of theatrical releases for independent films are in their last slow throes. We disagree because we just spent the last year filling 300- to 2,000-seat theaters in 170 cities with our firefighter documentary Burn. We […]
Dubbed “a novelist from the day after tomorrow” in Sunday’s New York Times, Vincent Zandri profits, quite well, by living in the Amazon universe. His mystery novels are edited, published, marketed and sold by Amazon. Perhaps most importantly, the mechanism through which new readers will discover his work, the latticework of likes, referrals and recommendations, are increasingly controlled by Amazon and its related properties, like Goodreads. For Zandri, who achieved modest success through traditional publishers before signing with Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer imprint, the internet giant’s model is the new way. Reduced to “returning bottles and cans for grocery money,” […]
Hailed as revolutionary back in 2007, “the Radiohead model” — pay-what-you-wish downloadable media pricing — never flourished in the years following. Even Radiohead abandoned it. Yet, as Bond/360 is setting out to prove, it may still have its place when it comes to independent film. Tonight at midnight they’re launching a four-film “Creativity Bundle” download through VHX. Pay what you want to own — not rent — four movies. And, just as Radiohead’s In Rainbows was one of their best, these titles (or at least the two I’ve seen) are excellent: Indie Game, Helvetica, Sign Painters and Beauty is Embarrassing. […]
A little while back, I looked at a small portion of The Film Collaborative’s most recent book, Selling Your Film Outside the US, which considered an unusual case of DIY distribution in Europe. Now, over at their blog, Sheri Candler and Orly Ravid are running a series on distribution preparation for filmmakers worldwide. As submissions for Sundance are already open, the latest entry centers on festivals, and why you should already have a distribution strategy on the back burner before your acceptance, or, rejection. If you don’t get into one of the top-tier festivals (Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, etc.), teeming with reluctant buyers, the chances that your film will […]
Need to make a snap decision about a crowdfunding or DIY distribution platform? Then check out the Virtual Toolbox from NYU’s Cinema Research Institute. The Cinema Research Institute at NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Graduate Film Program selects four fellows a year who “engage in the entrepreneurial exploration of the film business and initiate valuable research to be leveraged by the film community at large.” This year’s fellows have explored everything from dynamic pricing models to modeling film investment, but while we wait to learn more about their work, recommended and available online now is the Virtual Toolbox, created […]
Last February, Filmmaker exclusively streamed for several days the latest feature from 25 New Face Ian Clark, MMXIII. For what is an experimental film, streaming here and, in the following weeks, on other sites was also an experiment in distribution. As he now reposts MMXIII online for viewing by all, Clark submitted the below comments when we asked him for a post mortem on his internet distribution endeavor. Watch the film above and visit Clark at his website here. I think its fair to say that this has been the most fulfilling project I’ve completed to date, both in terms […]
The following guest post by Indie Game director Lisanne Pajot was supplied by VHX. — Editor VHX is an internet distribution platform built for premium video that empowers artists to sell their work from their own websites. The company has enlisted Lisanne Pajot, co-director of Indie Game: The Movie, as their first Filmmaker Ambassador, providing guidance and tips for filmmakers for selling their films online directly to audiences. In the following post, Lisanne discusses the importance of deluxe editions. As a VHX Filmmaker Ambassador, I talk to creators everyday. I am often asked: “What should I use as a teaser?” “How many minutes of extras should I include?” “What kind of content should be in my Deluxe […]
On Monday, it was announced that the crowdfunding and streaming platform Seed&Spark would partner with American Express’ AmEx NOW distribution service in an effort to bring their titles to an audience of 67 million households. AmEx will select five films a month (both shorts and features) from Seed&Spark’s library to screen on their interactive TV channel, AmEx NOW. The first crop of films includes features Like The Water, The Man Who Ate New Orleans, Mana’olana: Paddle for Hope, and shorts Tick Tock Time Emporium and Lex. Filmmaker spoke to Seed&Spark’s Director of Content, Amanda Trokan, about the details of the new initiative and the open submissions process. Filmmaker: In collaborating […]
Lately, it’s seemed like I’ve been inadvertently launching a weekly VOD column, but here is yet another contrarian and unexpected entry in the financially-shrouded market’s set of data points. Over the weekend, Radius-TWC released their digital grosses for The Unknown Known and 20 Feet From Stardom at $1 million and $1.3 million, respectively. In the exclusive report, co-president Tom Quinn offered his reasoning behind the films’ release strategies (“Errol Morris has a heavy following on Twitter”), while the author Brian Brooks points out that although VOD is assumed to be a major source of revenue, “some execs have noted that tabulating nontheatrical grosses is inherently not the […]