By Rob Millis
Good news for filmmakers: there has never been a better time for independent distribution.
When we unveiled the Dynamo Player at SXSW in 2010, Will Coghlan and I gave an overview of every similar online rental system available to independents. At the time this included Amazon’s Instant Video, YouTube’s brand new Rentals program and — nothing else.
We always thought our greatest competition would come from companies like Amazon and YouTube, but while many startups have entered the market, these two goliaths have been painfully slow to introduce new features and improve their terms for filmmakers (Amazon still asks you to mail in a DVD!). Meanwhile, a flurry of transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) services like Distrify and Chill since launched, and even Vimeo is cautiously getting into the game this year.
