Up until now, iTunes has made it difficult for independent filmmakers to sell their work through their service. They want to deal with big studios or distributors, not a million little guys who require a million little checks once a month. The alternative has been to give away iPod friendly files in podcast feeds, but you don't make any money that way.

There are a couple distributors who are dipping into the indie well for content to sell. One such is ShortsInternational at britshorts.com, which handles a lot of high end award winning shorts.

A recent episode of This Week in Media alerted me to TuneCore.com , which will take your hard copy submissions and run them by the "editorial staff" at iTunes. Users pay iTunes, iTunes pays TuneCore, and TuneCore pays you. Not a perfect solution, but it's a start. This is similar to the way CD Baby works with indie musicians, although I doubt there's a gatekeeper that judges the content of songs.

While iTunes is the holy grail for filmmakers -- as it's already being used by a huge chunk of the population -- there are some alternatives. MeDeploy.com is a competing service, an "iTunes for indie film producers." There's also Amazon Video On Demand (formerly Amazon Unbox), which works with CreateSpace.com (formerly CustomFlix). These services sound great, but are they really that different than video-on-demand sites I've submitted to in the past, like Dave.tv and Vuse.com?

Most likely not, but Amazon does have something going for it -- a name that people trust. And that is a huge deal when it comes time to promote. If I send out an email blast saying "buy my film," I think people will be more likely to pay if they already have an Amazon or iTunes account. Asking someone to pay AND download a program they've never heard of is a hard sell.

Edit 10/06/08

See the comments for a clarification on MeDeploy.

I was also contacted by Indieflix, which I've considered using for DVD sales in the past. Indieflix now distributes films through iTunes, the first of which should be up late October early November.

Edit 10/08/08

Since posting this article, I've heard feedback that Shorts International is notorious for not paying royalties to filmmakers. That's reason enough to be wary of them, along with their exclusive contracts that restrict you from selling to other online distributors.

I'd like to know more about selling shorts on iTunes, but I'll need to do some research. (To give something away in iTunes, you simply put it in a podcast feed.) Basically, I know how to give away content, but not how to sell it. That's one of the topics discussed in a recent Mad Dog Movies Podcast.

Will the general public pay for shorts, especially after sites like Youtube have conditioned an audience into expecting short form content for free? It may be a long shot, but it can't hurt to try.

Here's an article from Deep Structure that raises the same questions.

I've been looking through the Shorts area of the Itunes store. It's not easy to find -- shorts are listed in the lower right (ghetto) corner of the movies page.

I can see all the shorts listed by distributor. Everything is Disney, Pixar, Sundance, Tezuka (out of Japan?), Shorts International, and two wild cards. One is The Tribe, mentioned in the above article as having special circumstances.

Like any distributor, if they wanted your film they'd have you sign a contract. Non-exclusive is the way to go -- you don't want to give away exclusive distro rights. Also, they may want rights to DVD, too. You can usually negotiate those issues.

One cartoon/music video I had my eye on was the Doogtoons produced Weird Al video, "Trapped in the Drive Thru." I contacted Bryan at Doogtoons.com, and he said that the Weird Al video was handled through Sony. That makes sense, since it's in the music video (not the short film) section.

He suggested using Payloadz.com to sell hi-res versions of short films, which is something they do. I've used Payloadz for other files before, and it's fairly simple to set up. You accept payments from consumers through Paypal, and then they get access to the file to download from Payloadz as a one time thing.

The problem there is that people have to know about you, seek you out, find your website, and then pay. The advantage of iTunes is the huge numbers of random people finding you accidentally. There would certainly be more sales through iTunes. (Although you'd have to split the $1.99 with the distributor.)

Over at the CinemaTech blog, there's a run-down of the companies that have dealt with iTunes or might have dealings in the future. Check it out here.

"New Video" is another company that caught my attention, handling mostly long form documentary content. Read about it here.

I know musicians who use CD Baby to get their music into iTunes. Could this happen for filmmakers with sister company Film Baby? CD Baby was recently purchased by replication giant Disc Makers, so that may become a factor in future distribution deals.

Stay tuned for more blogs on the subject.

The above picture is my first attempt at creating a creature using the Spore Creature Creator. Playing God put me in a Bedknobs and Broomsticks state of mind while designing it, so I named it Traguna.

What's the deal, you ask? Spore is a new video game coming out this fall. I'm not a big gamer (I still think Doom II is pretty cool) but I may have to slap down $50 for this PC game.

The concept is revolutionary. You create life from the ground up, following evolution from single-cells to creatures, tribal culture, civilization, and into space.

For right now, EA Games has released its creature creator for download. I spent this afternoon making nonsensical animals and making them run around, growl, and dance.

There's a built-in YouTube upload, too. See more of my creations (including video clips) after the break...

Read more

In the last few years, several unique documentaries have come to my attention. This could be the beginning of a new trend: behind-the-scenes examinations of existing movies produced without studio involvement. These are feature length docs, similar to what you'd see packaged with a "special edition" DVD, but done without distribution set up ahead of time. Does this mean there's a whole subset of documentary filmmakers inspired by the likes of Laurent Bouzereau?

What these projects have in common is their grass-roots marketing. The filmmakers have gone out to fan conventions to promote while still in production. They show scenes, get feedback, and even arrange to interview specific actors at these events.

Here are the movies that have sparked my interest:

The Shark is Still Working
This doc about Jaws has been in the works for years. There was already a wealth of material available about the Spielberg's movie, including The Jaws Log and an admirable doc on the current special edition. That didn't stop these filmmakers from talking to everyone who ever touched Jaws or was inspired by it. I'm afraid the final product is going to take a week to watch!
http://www.sharkisstillworking.com/

Beware the Moon: Remembering 'An American Werewolf in London'
John Landis' American Werewolf in London is one of my favorite films, so I can't wait to see this doc by Britain's "Tall Paul" Davis. He's had screenings at a few horror cons in the USA, and the response has been stellar.
http://www.myspace.com/kesslerboy

Indy Fans and the Quest for Fortune and Glory
This one I just discovered, and it looks like the focus is more on Indiana Jones fans than the films' production. There are plenty of fans (and hot models, apparently) in costume on the project's MySpace page.
http://myspace.com/indyfans

When Google Maps first launched its Street View function last year, I thought it was the coolest thing. First off, it's quite a concept to get your head around: imagine Google vans driving down every road in a given city, taking panorama pictures every 10 feet or so. Incredible!

Then there's the functionality. It's incredibly easy to look up a location, click on Street View, and click your way up and down the block to look for landmarks. Someday I'll have an iPhone or Google phone and search maps while on location. Add GPS, and you've got something out of Star Trek.

So while I drooled over the pics from the first 5 cities, I thought my hometown of Rochester would be way down the list for inclusion. We'd probably get Street View somewhere around 2019. Not so! Today while searching for an address, I saw it was active for Ra-cha-cha and some suburbs.

When did this happen? Today, apparently. From Wikipedia:

On June 10, 2008, twelve more cities were introduced: Atlanta, Buffalo, Charlotte, Columbus (Ohio), Fresno, Jackson, Jacksonville, Louisville, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, St. Louis and Virginia Beach. Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming was also introduced. This update also included a number of locations without attributable camera icons. These locations include Bakersfield, Cincinnati, Dayton, Death Valley National Monument, Greenville, Huntsville, Knoxville, Lexington, Omaha-Lincoln, Palm Springs, Reno, Rochester, New York, Sequoia National Park, Syracuse, Toledo, and Tulsa.

It looks like the pictures were taken late last summer. In the pic of Animatus below, we have our neon sign, but the lot next door hasn't been paved yet.

So spread the word! Look up your house! It's a surreal experience.

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