Categories
Uncategorized

TV Is Dead, Long Live “TV”

It was about twenty years ago that I wrote an article called “Indie film is dead. Long live Indie Film”.  It took me a looonnngg time to make that pivot from full time film production. Now I wish it did not take me so damn long.  I am very happy planning an end to end reboot of the entire film infrastructure.

 So when WIRED asked if I wanted to discuss “TV is dead. Long live TV.” with Amazon Studios’ Roy Price, I couldn’t resist.  Roy is the first in new type of film and television executive.  Roy is the only head of television production I can think of that has dealt with both transactional and subscription video on demand, has film and television in his portfolio, as well as apps and community. He just got 5th patent to go along with it all.  When we think of creating & distributing pop culture in this connected age I can’t help but think soon this sort of Roy Price executive will be what everyone in the biz will want at the helm.

Check out our conversation on the future of television in the age of the internet:

Categories
Uncategorized

True Love Will Find You In The End

Merry Christmas!

Categories
Uncategorized

Wanted Experts & Experienced Filmmakers To Help The Community

I was thinking about all the things that must be freaking out the filmmakers headed to their first film festival.  I feel them  It’s wonderful to get into a film festival, but what happens next can be panic inducing.  I was thinking about how I could help the fortunate & the cursed.  

I have collected a bunch of posts from the past that may help some, and will run them shortly; I am currently thinking Dec. 27th.  

But so many more posts on prepping for festivals and one’s career are needed.  Perhaps you know someone who’d write one for us.  Below are a few topics for suggestions.  Let me know what else we should ask for.  Would you write one?  Do you know someone that could?  Why not send them this list?  I will post what is available (and provided it is community-focused).

Audience Aggregation:

  • “How To Leave A Festival With As Many Fans As Possible”
  • “Best Practices For A Long Term Strategy Towards Building An Audience”
  • “How You Can Benefit From Free Non-monetized Content”

Career & Sustainibilty:

Categories
Uncategorized

Watch F.W. Murnau’s NOSFERATU Now For Halloween

Why get dressed up and hang out with the sexy nurses or the bloody zombies?  Stay inside where it is safe and catch up with classic cinema.  You don’t want to go to your grave having to say you never did, do you?  It’s free, unless you actually value your time.  What’s 84 minutes to you?  Come on give it over to one of the creepiest monsters of all time!

Hat tip to Open Culture (again!)

Categories
Uncategorized

Good News Re: Getting Attention For VOD Titles

This press release just came in… As a fan of both outlets, I am jazzed.  As a fan of specialized film and a dreamer of a land where we have the filters and curators necessary to deal with the challenge of The Grand Abundance (of Films), I am hopeful.  As a producer of films far too cognizant of the challenges we all face, I am happy to share this news!
 
Filmwax Radio, a weekly talk show about independent film, is increasing its focus to include Video On Demand (VOD) subject matter and guests.

Categories
Uncategorized

Vimeo Announces Open Platform For Creators To Earn Money From Their Videos

Vimeo to offer Creators Two Flexible Payment Options

Vimeo® today announced two new features that enable creators to earn money from their films and videos. Available now, Tip Jar allows viewers to show their appreciation to creators by voluntarily contributing money to support their work.  Over the next several months, Vimeo will also roll out an open pay-to-view service that allows creators to sell their work behind a paywall.

Vimeo’s focus on quality and creativity has allowed it to become one of the Web’s top 10 distributors of video online [1] with more than 75 million monthly unique visitors [2] and one of the world’s largest creative networks with over 13 million registered members. Vimeo’s introduction of Tip Jar and its upcoming pay-to-view service provide a clear path for video creators to build businesses around the films and videos they create.

“Empowering creators to make money from their videos is a logical next step for Vimeo as a service and an opportunity to expand the overall marketplace for video creators and viewers,” said Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor.  “Established creators and emerging talent alike can connect directly with their audiences without the need to conform to industry standards around video format, price or timing releases.”

Vimeo’s Tip Jar enables video creators to crowdsource funds to support works directly from their viewers. Tip Jar will allow anyone to give tips before, during or after watching a video; Vimeo will pay 85 percent of the gross revenue to the creator. Starting today, Vimeo Plus or Pro members can choose to activate Tip Jar.

Vimeo’s pay-to-view service will be an open platform for video creators to sell access to their films and videos. Expanding on traditional rental and Video On Demand models, Vimeo’s pay-to-view service gives creators customizable options to sell their films and video content directly to their audiences and provide control over pricing, rental duration distribution location and other settings. Vimeo will begin rolling out its pay-to-view service in beta preview this fall with a curated series of films.  Vimeo will make the pay-to-view service available to all Vimeo PRO subscribers in early 2013.

“Creators have asked us for quite some time to help them monetize their work, but we think it needed an approach that put the controls back into the hands of the creators themselves,” said Dae Mellencamp, President of Vimeo. “We designed these tools to allow video creators to be as flexible as possible while providing the ability to financially succeed at various levels of viewership.”

For more information about Vimeo’s new creator monetization tools, please visit https://vimeo.com/blog/post:523 or watch https://vimeo.com/49684456.

About Vimeo

Vimeo® is the home for high-quality videos and the people who love them. Vimeo’s mission is to empower and inspire people around the world to create, share and discover videos. As one of the world’s largest creative networks, Vimeo reaches a global audience of more than 75MM each month. Founded in 2004 and based in New York City, Vimeo, LLC is a subsidiary of IAC (NASDAQ: IACI)

[1] June 2012 Comscore

[2] August 2012 Vimeo Internal via Google Analytics

Categories
Uncategorized

Indie Spirit Award Nominations Due Tomorrow

Now in it’s 28th year, the Film Independent Spirit Awards recognize the achievements of American independent filmmakers and promotes the finest independent films of the year to a wider audience.

Regular deadline is tomorrow: September 18
SUBMIT TODAY

Final Deadline: October 16

For entry forms, rules and regulations, frequenty asked questions and to submit a film, visit SpiritAwards.com