UPDATED 8/31 730A (Now 30 Platforms & Services!)
Thanks for the recommendations in the comments and elsewhere!
UPDATED 9/1 630A (Now 31 Platforms & Services!)
UPDATED 9/1 830A, UPDATED 9/8 8A (32!), UPDATED 9/15 6A, 9/23
UPDATED 5/15/2012 (Now 33 Platforms & Services!)
We are awash in wonderful opportunities. Distribution has long been said to be one of the top concerns of Truly Free / Indie filmmakers. Ditto on the marketing side. We’ve been neglectful to address the equally important social side, but that’s changing. Financing is always a challenge, but even there we have new help and hope. The great news is that never before have we had so many opportunities in all these areas.
Now comes the time to develop some best practices. How do we use all of these wonderful opportunities? How do we prepare for them? How do we access them? Here’s a list of the 27 platforms & tools I know of; I am sure you know some more to add to the list. Let’s get this new model started!
How about everyone pick a platform (ideally one they used) and write up some recommendations on how to use it well, and we run them as posts on this blog?
So…
How do you think we should utilize all of these great tools and platforms? We are not going to figure it out one by one on our own. The truth will only be revealed through collective endeavor (and a little good fortune). I would love to hear some advice from all the budding and experienced PMDs out there… not to mention filmmakers who have utilized or plan on utilizing any of these.
I am having a bit of a hard time coming up with the proper discriptions for the tools and services. This is very much a Work In Progress. If you have a better definition, please let me know. Several services show up in different categories. There are definitely suppliers that I have forgotten or neglected to mention (my apologies, but this is a public service and not my job job).
1. Artist Direct Distribution / Platforms: FilmDIY (promo video), MubiGarage, Ooyala, Viddler,
2. Artist Direct Distribution / Platforms – non-specialized: These are places filmmakers can “sell” their work, but are not filmcentric. Craigslist, Etsy,
3. Artist Direct Distribution / TVOD Players: Distrify, Dynamo Player (Review), EggUp (review), FansOfFIlm.tv (still in Beta) , FlickLaunch, Groupee, OpenFilm,
4. Artist Direct Distribution / Service Facilitators: Sundance’s Artist Services,
5. Audience Aggregation, Analytics, & Commerce: FanBridge, TopspinMedia
6. Audience Participation: LiveFanChat, Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, Social Guide, SoKap, Watchitoo
7. CrowdFunding/Audience Participation:
IndieGoGo • 4% fee if you make your goal, 9% otherwise, +3% credit card processing fee
Kickstarter • 5% fee, +3-5% credit card fee (only funded if you make your goal)
RocketHub • 4% fee if you make your goal, 8% otherwise, +3-5% credit card fee
SoKap • 5% fee, 10% fee on product sold via their marketplace, +3% credit card fee
United States Artists • 15% fee + 4% credit card fee
Eppela • 5% fee + PayPal processing fee (~2-4%), (must use PayPal, only funded if you make your goal, Italian)
Kapipal • Currently no fee + PayPal processing fee (~2-4%), (must use PayPal, Italian)
And 10 others listed here
8. Digital Delivery Facilitators: Veedios (article)
9.Digital Distribution Access Providers: Brainstorm, Distribber (analysis), GoDigital, Gravitas, Inception Digital Services, IndieBlitz ,Might Entertainment, New Video, Premiere Digital,
10. Digital Download & Streaming Aggregators: Amazon, AsiaPacificFilms.com, CinemaNow (aka BestBuy), FilmDIY, iTunes, Vudu, XFinityTV (aka Comcast),YouTube
11. Digital Limited Run US Theatrical Exhibition: Cinedigm, FathomEvents, Screenvision
12. Digital Streaming Aggregators FREE (AVOD): Crackle, Snag (Owners of IndieWIre, host of my blog), Vimeo, YouTube
13. E-commerce: E-Junkie (shopping cart)
14. Educational Market: An Overview, Educational Market Streaming
15. Exhibition/Four Wall Services (i.e. self booking): QuadCinemaFourWall
16. Exhibition/New Model: Emerging’s Digital Repertory Program, Specticast
17. Free Peer to Peer: VoDo, BitTorrent
18. Fulfillment: Amazon Services, Amplifier, theConneXtion, CreateSpace, FilmBaby, IndieBlitz,Kufala Recordings, Paid, Transit Media, I got a lot more when I did a search but I don’t know one from the other.
19. Influencer / Social Media Analytics: Klout, PeerIndex, Topsy, Traackr, Twitalyzer,
20. Markets / Online On Demand For Territorial Licensing (B2B): Cinando, Festival Scope,
21. Mobile Phone & Tablet Film App Builders: Mopix (see demo here) Stonehenge
22. Mobile Video Sharing: Thwapr,
23. Platforms: Facebook, Playstation, Roku, RoxioNow, XBox
24. Search (for SEO): Ask, Bing, Google, Yahoo
25. Social Discovery Platforms ( Online TVOD): PreScreen
26. Social Networks: Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, Weibo
27. Stream To View Transactional VOD (Pay): Constellation, Prescreen (review)
28. Streaming Subscription (SVOD): Amazon, AsiaPacificFilms.com, Fandor, Hulu, LoveFilm, Mubi, Netflix
29. Trailer Distribution / Online Internet Video Archive
30. Video Conferencing / Multi-party (for Fan Engagement & Remote Appearances): Watchitoo
31. VOD Aggregation: itzon.tv,
32. VOD Channels: Multichannel Video Programmers (note: not all offer VOD), FilmBuff
