RIP! Producers Offer Pay-What-You-Want Downloads

The producers of a very cool documentary called “RIP! A Remix Manifesto” faced a common dillema in the film these days.  Their investors wanted to make sure that their chances of recouping weren’t undermined by piracy and the films DVD and theatrical distributors had similar concerns.

In an interview in Wired.com the producer said something quite smart:

We knew the film would appear on file-sharing networks immediately and we knew the audience for the film wanted and expected it to be online. So knowing that, we wanted there to be a method for those who wanted to pay to do so.

So, instead of figuring out a way to limit the reach of the film or threatening to sue and prosecute potential fans and evangelists, they decided to put up a “pay-what-you-want” download of the film.

It makes so much more sense to embrace the current technology and the desire of fans to access content in a flexible manner than it does to try and handcuff your content and treat potential fans like potential criminals.

LINK

Video Killed The Indie Film Star?

Image via Wikipedia

It wasn’t all that long ago that the way every young director hoping to make his or her mark would make a short film and send it out on the festival circuit.

Of course, that was before YouTube made online video mainstream.  First, we saw a fair number of short films online but now, it seems, more folks are going the web-series route, to various levels of success.

The excellent Tilzy.tv have posts on two such indie webseries, CATACLYSMO and THE BICYCLIST.

“The two spent $20,000 making the web show [BICYCLIST], $30,000 making the movie, and they expect total costs to rise to $100,000 all told when the movie is marketed and distributed. That’s not much for say, a venture-backed web studio, but for folks who make a web show on weekends, it’s quite a bit of cash.”

Yup, and they’ve received fewer than 500,00 views for the series.  BUT that is one hell of a lot more bang for your buck than you’ll get at a minor film festival with your short film!

These days, you’d have to be crazy to think a film fest will be your route to the big times.