I was listening to Scott Kirsner‘s podcast from Futures Of Entertainment 3 Conference on Digital Distribution recently, and heard Jim Flynn of EZTakes say they currently don’t charge clients to digitize and upload their content — that is clients that provide twenty or more titles. Since the two approved indie aggregators for iTunes (New Video & Docurama) evidently charge $500/title, EZTakes is looking like a sweet sweet deal.
This gives every Truly Free Filmmaker out on the festival circuit the mandate to aggregate on their own: you have got to find the other 19 filmmakers you want to keep company with AND YOU HAVE TO FIND THEM NOW. There’s got to be some young smart producer out there who wants to curry favor with 20 good filmmakers, right? If I was such a filmmaker I would definitely pay a cut of my revenue to whomever pulled such a feat together.
Maybe saving $500 is not enough of an incentive for you, or even getting your film up on the internet for digital download to own is still not enough of an incentive. All I can say is the reasons to keep good company, and as much of it as you can, will continue to multiply. I think at every festival the Truly Free Filmmakers need to organize their own summits and band together to maximize future opportunities for their films — be it building their own traveling festival, sharing theatrical booking tips, accessing download sites, or whatever: the filmakers united, will never be defeated. The others on the other hand…
