Friday, November 02, 2007

DENVER, CO — November 2, 2007 – In its first few months since releasing, 10 MPH has ... sold more than 4000 DVDs and 800 downloads. It also reached thousands of people on a limited theatrical release in August and has had several thousand online rents from Netflix and Blockbuster.com.

... filmmakers Hunter Weeks and Josh Caldwell are releasing a unique DIY Manual & resource section on the 10 MPH website, which offers an inside look at the road to a successful independent film release. For more, see the 10 MPH DIY Manual.

Also today, Spinning Blue announces a [Radiohead-style] Pick-Your-Price promotion allowing buyers to choose their own price for iTunes-compatible downloads and DVDs. Downloads can be purchased for a minimum of 10 cents and DVDs $4.99.

Anyone want to check out their manual and report back, please do.

The porn industry already has digital film distribution; why sell actual media (discs) for something people only want to see on their computers anyway? How long will it take for mainstream films to get there too? I'm watching MAD MEN on iTunes rather than sign up for AMC. I'm watching five films on DVD for every one that's spectacular enough that it lures me into a movie theater.

Digital film distribution is only part of the equation, of course. I bought MAD MEN because of word of mouth, but somewhere along the line there was a serious marketing push. (I know there was; I read the p.r. in the newspapers.) Radiohead can sell eleven million bucks worth of downloads because earlier in their career their label believed in them and marketed them. Digitial film distribution saves you money on distribution but someone's still going to have to pay for advertisements and press releases. In other words it doesn't mean any idiot with a camera can successfully make a film that people will see.

But it does significantly reduce the barrier to entry to geniuses with a camera. That's the trend we've been following for the past twenty years. Anyone with a Mac and a prosumer camera can now make a comedy, even if they can't make PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN. At the kinds of numbers they're talking about (4000 DVDs, 800 downloads), no one's making their money back on this particular venture, I'm guessing. But the next CLERKS could go viral.

Discuss...

Labels: distribution technology

12:32 PM

4 Comments:

Your link to 10MPH doesn't exist.

By  Cunningham, at 2:04 PM  

The corrected link is

http://www.10mph.com/diy/index.html

The manual can be read on the site in it's various chapters.

Or can be downloaded for $0.99.

Looks interesting.

Win

By  Win, at 3:59 PM  

Had a look.

Comprehensive history with some good links. Shows that DIY filmmaking is a crapshoot - but still worth it.

Bill Cunningham has covered a lot of these points in past posts.

I'd like to see his perspective on this - maybe in one comrehensive post.

By  Win, at 7:08 PM  

Reporting for duty.

I wrote about it on my blog (just a bit) but I think this free DIY manual hs some good nuggets of info in it. I am leery of JUST a 26 page version as there is a lot of info in any distribution plan. 26 pages just doesn't cover it.

By  Cunningham, at 9:21 PM  

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