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  • ALMT-Theatrical Thursdays: Sundance and Youtube Rentals

    January 28th, 2010

    As an indie filmmaker currently weighing the options of various distribution plans for my first film, I’ve been keeping a close eye on Youtube and their launch of digital rentals. Netflix, Youtube, iTunes, what’s a filmmaker to choose?

    To launch their online rentals, Youtube selected 5 Sundance films. In the realm of indie film, there is no higher accolade than a laurel from Robert Redford’s fest (at least in North America). However, the launch has not done well according to several sources:

    newteevee.com says:

    “Indie filmmakers looking to YouTube as a possible new distribution outlet might want to think twice, based on weekend returns from the video site’s new movie rental service.”

    webpronews.com agrees:

    “The totals were sad, with Bass Ackwards, Homewrecker, The Cove, Children of Invention, and One Too Many Mornings receiving 308, 308, 303, 301, and 250 views, respectively.”

    gordonandthewhale.com adds:

    “As if that wasn’t bad enough, only BASS ACKWARDS and CHILDREN OF INVENTION have disabled the ability for anyone to rate the movies, so the other three have received really low ratings from people who haven’t even seen them. This is an example of what happens when you introduce a pay model to something people are used to getting for free.”

    A Google rep reached out to webpronews.com and had this to say in defense:

    “The vast majority of independent films created every year don’t find an audience… Out of the of the roughly 9000 films that were submitted to Sundance in 2009, about 53 of them found some form of distribution…  Attendance for films like these at Sundance averages around 500 people.  With YouTube they’ve increased that exposure by about 60%.  I’d say that’s a stat we can all be proud of.”

    But if the filmmaker is only going to walk away with “just hundreds of dollars” will being proud suffice?

    fool.com compares Apple, Blockbuster, Amazon.com and Netflix, and maintains that only Netflix has done well with digital video-rental service.  They add that Youtube makes the system “too cumbersome”. They also bring to attention Google’s AdSense program, which having recently been contacted by them I was also wondering about.

    When The People are accustomed to getting things for free, why will they pay? Why not continue to offer the free services and find sponsors that will pay for the popular content, which is how AdSense works. Do you think that everyone is overreacting? How might this immediate negative reaction affect Google’s rental aspirations?

    We are in a very exciting an experimental phase in movie and music distribution. It raises a lot of questions, and I think the indies that think outside of the box will be the ones to persevere.

    Here at ALM Talkies, we have begun to entertain some untraditional means of distribution our content and we will continue to follow and share our findings on digital distribution. Meanwhile, I encourage you to share any findings you have had to finding an online market for whatever industry you are in.

    January 28th,2010 Blogging, Theatrical Thursdays | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments