BitTorrent
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Why Director Joel Potrykus is Releasing His New Movie as “Pay What You Wish”
Along with the debut of a brand new trailer (above) for Joel Potrykus’ The Alchemist Cookbook, distributor Oscilloscope Laboratories has announced that the film will be released via BitTorrent Now for pay-what-you-wish on October 7th. The Alchemist Cookbook is a portrait of a Sean, a young hermit in the woods who sets out to solve an old mystery, and loses his mind along the way. Starring Ty Hickson and Amari Cheatom, the film premiered at SXSW and screened at various other festivals including BAMcinemaFest and Fantasia. Potrykus, who previously directed Ape and Buzzard, recently penned an Op-Ed about why he’s a fan […]
by Paula Bernstein on Sep 20, 2016 -
New Innovators in Distribution: Talking Trends and Hybrid Models at IFP Film Week
Film has been a dying industry for as long as I’ve been making, selling and distributing them. That’s what they say. And there’s certainly evidence that sales agents and distributors are having to re-think how they do business. The recent news that respected arthouse distributor Fortissimo Films had filed for bankruptcy left many saddened, but it seems that news of this nature is increasingly frequent. One of yesterday’s first panels at IFP Film Week, “New Innovators: Distribution,” moderated by Filmmaker Contributing Editor Brandon Harris, brought together industry members who are working innovatively in film, TV, and online distribution to discuss […]
by Audrey Ewell on Sep 18, 2016 -
New BitTorrent Fund Provides Cash and Promotional Support to Creators
BitTorrent has announced The Discovery Fund, which will provide cash grants and promotional support to 25 creators over the next year. BitTorrent is looking for artists, musicians, filmmakers, designers, and other creators with projects seeking global distribution. The open, international initiative will provide $2,500-$100,00 in marketing and distribution funding. “The rules are simple. You make something awesome. You own it. We back it, and help you find a global audience for your big idea,” said Straith Schreder, VP of Creative Initiatives at BitTorrent, in a blog post. The announcement follows the launch earlier this year of BitTorrent Now, which adds a […]
by Paula Bernstein on Aug 9, 2016 -
BitTorrent Launches BitTorrent Now with Streaming Option for Creators
BitTorrent Bundle will re-launch as BitTorrent Now, extending the platform with new streaming apps for Apple TV, iOS, and Android, as well as introducing advertising as a new revenue stream for creators, BitTorrent announced today. Straith Schreder, BitTorrent’s VP of Creative Initiatives, who has been the principal driver of this initiative, told Filmmaker, “we wanted to build a platform with the ability for creators to connect with their audience no matter where they are in the world. So being able to bring their project to what’s now an audience of 200 million passionate fans of indie film and indie music and to be able […]
by Paula Bernstein on Jun 23, 2016 -
Sundance’s Missy Laney Joins BitTorrent to Collaborate with Filmmakers
Last week, BitTorrent announced that it had hired Missy Laney as the company’s new Director of Creative Initiatives. Laney, who has spent years at the Sundance Institute as the Manager of their Artist Services Program, will focus on collaborating with filmmakers to build sustainable distribution strategies and guide platform development for creators. While at Sundance, Laney led their creative funding initiative with Kickstarter and oversaw digital and direct-to-fan distribution efforts. During that time, Laney guided over 250 filmmakers through successful crowdfunding campaigns, including Sean and Andrea Fine’s Oscar Award-winning Innocente, Adam Nimoy’s documentary For the Love Of Spock, and David Alvarado and Jason […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 18, 2016 -
BitTorrent and Theatrical? David Cross to Self-Release Hits
BitTorrent has been flirting with creators for a little while now, releasing Thom Yorke’s Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes to the tune of $20 million in sales, as well as a free supplement to The Act of Killing, which was downloaded by 3.5 million in a month alone. Leave it to iconoclastic comedian David Cross then to push the envelope and digitally release his debut Hits for a pay what you wish pricetag. The film will also be available on iTunes, likely for the $14.99+ standard, but Cross is putting his stock in the erasure of the middleman, encouraging audiences to “decide how much tickets cost and…pay […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 14, 2015 -
Thom Yorke Explains Value of BitTorrent Bundles by Releasing a New Album
At the Sundance Artist Services Day at the IFP Filmmaker Conference, I witnessed — and wrote about — the confusion and sometimes anger that erupted during the panel discussion on BitTorrent Bundles. BitTorrent Bundles use the peer-to-peer file sharing protocol of BitTorrent to package, give away and/or sell digital goods. Some vocal members of the audience challenged the panelists to justify why filmmakers should lie down with a site many associate with piracy. Replied BitTorrent’s Director of Brand Marketing, Straith Schreder, “It is a separate website and has nothing to do with the pirate ecosystem. As for monetization, one way […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 26, 2014 -
43 Takeaways from Sundance Artist Services Day at the IFP Filmmaker Conference
“The most important task is to make great movies,” said Sundance Institute Executive Director Keri Putnam at the start of Thursday’s Artist Services Workshop at IFP’s Filmmaker Conference. “All this talk about audiences is meaningless unless you have something in your heart you want to get out there.” However, Putnam’s comments were not to construe that filmmakers shouldn’t think about the rapidly changing world of distribution, marketing and audience building. As Putnam went on to say, it is “easier, less expensive to make a movie, but no easier to find an audience. There is a volume of movies and a […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 22, 2014 -
#ArtistServices Austin Workshop: Talking Crowdfunding, Torrents, DCP and More
Sundance often faces criticism from the independent film community as being inaccessible and too commercial. Two weekends ago Austin Studios, the Sundance Institute and the Austin Film Society held the sold-out “#ArtistServices Austin Workshop,” proving Robert Redford’s initial vision of supporting truly indie film is strongly intact. The day-long event was focused on educating filmmakers about the business side of fundraising, marketing, and distribution for small movies. Filled with local filmmakers like Two Step director Alex Johnson and Before You Know It director PJ Raval and producer Annie Bush, the raw hanger space (Austin Studios is located on the site […]
by Eric M. Levy on May 20, 2014 -
The Pirate Cinema: A Real Time Collage of File Sharing
Ever wonder what a data visualization of every file transfer bouncing around the internet airwaves might look like? The Pirate Cinema, from artist Nicolas Maigret, has rendered something close to it. Described as a “cinematic collage generated by peer-to-peer network activity,” the project is comprised of arbitrary clips from real time BitTorrent file sharing. Users IP addresses and countries are displayed in the upper corners, turning purportedly private transactions public. For Maigret, “this horizontal network architecture…recalls the utopian vision of openness and free appropriation that arose in the early days of the Internet.”
by Sarah Salovaara on Feb 25, 2014
