February 19, 2013 – Hope For Film

By Rob Millis

Two changes in tech and finance are about to have a huge impact on independent film: crowdfunding and the JOBS Act.

We all know about Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, the crowdfunding platforms that have been helping independent creators launch projects. These platforms and others have already been hugely successful with DIY projects and direct-to-fan networking, yet even after years of growing popularity they haven’t come anywhere close to their full potential.

Last year the Slated networking and fundraising platform joined the market as well. Slated offers a system geared toward film professionals seeking (or supplying) investment dollars. Unlike previous crowdfunding platforms, Slated’s approach is less about DIY and more about professional partnerships. In short, they are taking crowdfunding to the next level.

By Roger Jackson

Previously: Video-on-Demand Sales Tips

Distributing the Betas
We’ve started delivering films to video-on-demand outlets. That may not sound like much — we could have done it 3 months ago by sending them a hard drive. But these are highly complex — and automated — deliveries, with literally hundreds of variables in the transcode presets, the type of poster image, the metadata fields, the trailer, the subtitles or closed captions…an error in any element will get the film rejected by the very rigorous Quality Control (QC) at the outlets. We’re impatient to get the films live so we can share some links with you — but we’re sanguine also. Even after a film gets to Amazon or iTunes or any other outlet it can take up to 90 days to go live — like it or not, that’s the reality we face.

Greek, Spanish & English
We decided to use a foreign film — the stunning Greek drama DOS — as our very first delivery. It looks stunning, every outlet has ordered it, and DOS is a great “use case” since it involves three languages. It’s a Greek film — set in Spain — with English subtitles.

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