Category Archives: Internet

DIGI Distribution – Online / VOD Distro & Marketing for Indies

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I caught wind of the DIGI  Distribution model from @MilesMaker™ via a Facebook post. It seemed incredibly apropos to my current situation.

My regular followers know I have two completed feature films. One is  Broken Hearts Club (2008) and the other is Serious Rogers (2010). BHC went into “distribution” via a sales rep and a nonexclusive arrangement with Goliath Promotions. In my heart I’ve always felt that it deserved more. Bigger. Better. Then Serious Rogers was finished and right out of the box it went bigger and wider. There was massive interest in this neo-noir thriller. I met with several BIG distributors at AFM and corresponded with them for months afterwards.  Eventually the super slow market and poor economic conditions of 2011 led everyone to pass.

I tried to take Serious Rogers to VODO.net for a torrent release. My thinking was that I would benefit from the exposure and thus be in a better position for my third film. Unfortunately I found the site clumsy and severely lacking in customer service.

I looked at Mininova as another torrent-release option. Ugh! For sure these folks are shooting themselves in the foot with their labyrinthical web sites. Fuck-a-torrent, I said.

I considered a serial release via a web series portal because I wasn’t into doing the whole YouTube marketing thing myself but I didn’t get a timely response from the upstart web series portal. I started reconsidering Distribber.  Distribber offers a  service that provides the filmmaker with 100% of his revenues, but he pays a hefty fee of  $1200-1500 upfront. In order to use Distribber’s services I would have to go back to Indiegogo and launch a crowdfunding initiative to raise the money. Meh.

DIGI Distribution

Then I read Miles’ post about Digi Distribution. The process works like this: after submission of a DVD screener and approval  you get a nonexclusive distro agreement offering 70% of gross sales, placement on iTunes, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, DirecTV, Dish Network, COX, Comcast and Cable VOD. DD does all the marketing for you. They even pay the encoding fees.

So far, I don’t see anything to complain about. I’m going to give ‘em a shot using both of my films and report my findings here on my blog.

Rebranding and rebuilding my YouTube Channel (Hollywoodcity, The Pulse!)

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I’ve spent the last 48 hours conducting a rapid overhaul of my YouTube Channel. It’s not so much out with the old and in with the new as it is a reorganization to take advantage of YouTube’s new structure for Channels.

Hollywoodcity’s The Pulse  is the new name for my channel that breaks down my trailers, my short films, video clips and my webisodes of my films Broken Hearts Club,  Sex Shoes & Unicorns, and the complete film, The Nanny and the Professional. There are over 65 videos to watch, spanning the last ten years.

Come visit The Pulse today!

Irons in the Fire: Focused Multitasking

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My twitter friend, Terry Reed (@Taoxproductions) and I once joked that multitasking was a way to do a lot of nothing.

I have a lot of irons in the fire but I’m fortunate that the diverse smorgasbord of work on my plate is not a sign of poor focus, as can easily occur, but of diversified interests. Each of these different irons are part of the foundation that supports my ultimate goal: a career as a film-maker (as in writer, director and producer).

In some instances my agenda and goals may seem diametrically opposed to one another. Not so, I say.  Although I’m looking at feature films, network television and cable television,  and these areas often mix like oil and water, the foundations are the same: good marketable stories, told well, with the highest production values possible. It’s a simple formula.  I’m not trying to build a transmedia empire right out the gate.  My belief is that if there are transmedia tangents for a particular project they will develop organically, rather than strategically, along with the project.

I feel the same way about merchandising and App development.  Some projects lend themselves to possessing strong merchandising or App elements. Many do not.  If it’s organic, let’s go for it. If not, forcing the issue most likely results in financial disaster.

At the core of everything is writing.  If the core content sucks, everything will suck. That’s why I’ve written, re-written and re-rewritten my current screenplays several times over the last year.  I’m also taking advantage of current screenwriting tools, mentorships,  advice and common sense to buff my screenplays, series proposals,  and script to make them presentable, marketable and of interest.

I am all over the place really, and I enjoy it that way. Around the world writers, indie directors and indie producers are working overtime to stand out from the crowd and get the job done. I will not be caught sleeping.

In the broadest sense, here’s what I am working on (i.e. learning) now:

  • talent attachments
  • domestic filmmaking
  • international filmmaking
  • domestic/international film finance
  • co-productions
  • network television
  • cable television
  • Internet television