Relativity - a Freemium Web Series

I first became aware of the upcoming web series Relativity last December when I happened across an awesome teaser trailer on Facebook. I'm impressed enough by their emerging business strategy and indie spirit to share it here.

Crowdfunding vs Free

The digital age has opened a flood gate of experimental business models as indie filmmakers forge their way into the future. In one camp we have crowdfunding, that seeks money from fans before the film has even been made, and at the other end of the spectrum there are people giving their content away for free, hoping to upgrade a small portion to paying customers. On the surface these two philosophies seem contrary. However, I believe there's a way to harness the best of both worlds simultaneously.

Connecting To Niche Audiences

Another ‘niche’ indie filmmaker is D.A. Sebasstian - as you can guess by the title of his films: Hot Rod Girls Save The World and Rat Rod Rockers.

“I love cars and hot rods, and work with car clubs and other car enthusiasts who donate their time and automobiles to my projects. This is also my niche market, a market I understand. I don’t make Hollywood style films. I don’t want to try and compete with $50,000,000 film budgets. I make cool little movies that people really love and sell very well for what they are.” 

Can Indie Filmmakers Survive 'Free'?

Prompted by a recent blog post by Mark Barrett titled "Doctorow, Anderson and Godin, Oh My"  criticising the gurus who support the notion of giving content away for free, I thought I'd discuss the argument in terms of how it applies to indie filmmakers.

For those who haven't heard of Cory Doctorow, Chris Anderson, Seth Godin, or the theory of "Free," let me give you a quick run down: in the digital age, with the cost of file distribution next to nothing, these gurus suggest that authors, filmmakers, software developers, digital content creators, etc, can benefit more from giving away digital copies than they will by sticking to a traditional user-pay-per-item system.

Creating Communities Around Content

A teaser campaign for a game, The Secret World, recently caught my eye. It's a game that has been in development for over three years now, with no launch date in sight, yet it has managed to grow an active community around it. What is their secret?

Piracy : It's Wrong, Don't Do It (Pt 1)

If you want to stop piracy, this particular argument has already proven unsuccessful on a number of other issues: “It’s wrong, don’t do it” didn’t stop masturbation, drugs, homosexuality, rock ‘n roll, infidelity, racism, elbows on tables... you get the picture.

Part of the issue is, not everyone agrees that it is wrong. As my last post on piracy pointed out, everyone is in breach of copyright on some level, we are all in the legal “wrong,” yet many of us believe we are morally correct in minor copyright infringements.

The Cosmonaut Remixed

The crowdfunded Spanish film, The Cosmonaut, has moved into their next phase of creative commons community involvement. Until the end of the month people have a chance to win prizes if they remix a trailer for the film. The goal is to get 500 entries to prove to the Spanish film industry that people are eager to interact with content.

The value of knowing your audience when self distributing

Flatland is a niche animated film which successfully used a highly targeted campaign when self-distributing. By mainstream standards, the animation would be considered a hard sell: it’s half an hour long, and it’s about mathematics. I discussed the distribution strategy behind it with Flatland creator, Seth Caplan.

Piracy : Everyone’s At It

There’s a hot debate between those who are vehemently against any form of “piracy” and those who can see some benefits. Firstly, let’s call piracy for what it really is – copyright infringement. Actually, no, on second thoughts, let’s stay with “piracy” for the moment: it’s more fun, conjuring up images of walking the plank at sword point’s edge :)

The thing about copyright infringement: Everyone’s at it.*