How independent films make money
If you read just one article this month about short film distribution, make it this piece at Short of the Week.
Written by filmmaker Ivan Kander, the piece is ostensibly about the changing game of short film distribution, but it also contains a sharp critique of short film distributor Shorts International. Their business model might have been relevant as recently as five years ago, but inthey are an anachronistic presence on the short film circuit. They take far too many rights for the limited financial reward and exposure they offer in return.
The Cost of Being an Independent Filmmaker | Filmmaker Magazine
Solutions exist, but companies in the short film community have been slow to implement them. Firstly, filmmakers need something like Bandcamp that facilitates the sale of digital downloads and merchandise, the latter of which is a major part of the income stream of established indie animators like Don Hertzfeldt and Bill Plympton. Vimeo, by virtue of its name-recognition and user base, is perhaps in the best position to make a major impact in the film distribution game.
For example, a filmmaker on Vimeo could charge 5 cents per film view. Rich man smoking money photo via Shutterstock. Amid Amidi is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Cartoon Brew. Read his full bio HERE.
I know Nina Paley released all the. I missed seeing ParaNorman at the theater because I was waiting for the DVD special features. Very happy with the special features, but now I want to see it at a theater. Funny how that works. Just the headline reminded me of a joke my brother-in-law race car volunteer support crew used to tell: You know how to make a small fortune in racing? Start out with a large fortune. Very glad to see this post, because money is just not working right anymore.
Lot of love going around, would be nice if it could create new sustainability. The good old days of mad fun collaboration and wild creativity that business model made into a race to the bottom. Too much to quote, but try this part:. The scam works like this: Truly creative people tend not to be motivated by money. The riches we crave are acknowledgment and appreciation of the ideas that we have and the things that we make. Again, our industry masters cleverly exploit this… 3.
The compulsion to create is unstoppable. Of note, when I was trying to find this article again, the business websites who covered his death focused on the part: So, totally curious about new business models that care about nourishing creativity rather than exploiting it to death. You pick a set monthly amount, and Flattr keeps tabs on how often you hit the donate button during the month. At the end, it divides your chosen monthly allowance among all the services you wish to support.
The real problem though, is the current payment systems in use. Credit cards are not near as ubiquitous in other countries as they are in the US, and between exchange rates and transaction fees, the odds are against the animator. Especially when it comes to small amounts.
Best Ways To Make Money As A Filmmaker
It could provide a better solution, but it will need more widespread adoption among the public. Vimeo already has a platform where users can pay via credit card or Paypal to become a Pro user. We should name it outrageous because we built this world. We academics built this world. It flows from the deployment of copyright that we have chosen. Not one wants the distribution of their article limited. Not one of them has a business model that benefits from restriction. Not one of them should support this system as knowledge policy for the creators here.
It is dumb best time to trade binary options in australia policy. I would argue that for the broad majority of shorts getting k people to pay 5 cents a view is unrealistic.
But for the sake of the argument lets say k, 50k or 20k payed views would be enough to break even for you.
The problem is that, most views for shorts come from blogs and sharing on fb, reddit etc. And thus making money. The way the internet works is that people do expect stuff to be free, maybe once that has changed online marketing for shorts could work that way. Do you think it might be feasible to ask watchers to pay for extra shares to help spread it as goodwill?
After I pay a nickel to watch, if I like it and want to contribute. That could pay it forward for the next watchers. Even then people stock trading albany creek library extremely greedy.
I can imagine 5 cents never going out too. The case you describe is not an issue of greed but of convenience. At first glance, I thought that was David Silverman lighting his cigar. Must be the eyebrows….
A micropayment system reduces the financial commitment a viewer must commit to a film they know nothing about, but still represents its own challenges. While Vimeo collects subscriptions through PLUS and PRO, these members still constitute a fraction of the overall viewing audience.
Maybe viewers adjustable stock for hi point carbine not be allowed to see HD versions of your short if they did not sign up for the micropayments? Love to hear more ideas the community might practice account for stock trading india around these sorts of incentives.
With a low cost of entry, and access to exclusive content from name-filmmakers and name-filmmakers is arguable in short film, but you know what I meanI think it stands a shot of being successful.
I should point out that in my scenario, Vimeo would still be a free video site. Filmmakers could choose to charge. For example, a filmmaker could make his older films available for free, but charge the nickel for mock stock market trading game latest work.
Further, how independent films make money would be a set price. Films are either aftermarket stocks marlin 22 nickel behind the paywall or free to view. But maybe, you could choose to give that nickel. Impulse purchases are a huge thing, at least for me and most probably for a lot of people. I agree you have to get to a certain size before merchandise even becomes viable. A book offers a different way to see webcomics art work so fans usually enjoy getting the book versions of their work.
Kevin Parry here — Yes, Film Annex has been fairly profitable for me. It definitely makes you consider more carefully what your end goal is. The big problem I have with a glut of shorts is that most are terrible. I think sites like youtube or shortoftheweek are very convenient for development types to forage. But, I doubt that on the whole it really helps people get the kind of grand or targeted exposure they seek. Ultimately, I think it boils down to branding.
Only once you pay money can you download high-quality lossless versions with bonus features e. The level of trust you get doing things this way is key — having the whole work available to listen to establishes a stronger connection between artist and audience. As a former user of theirs i have nothing but praise for them. The user could spend money on the spot to watch a video in distraction-free fullscreen or stream it in HD — this is where microtransactions come in possibly drawn from a credit pool like XBox points, possibly also an independent transaction.
And if you want to stream all the extras off the site along with the HD version instead of downloading them, paying for the whole package would unlock that.
The Blender Open Movies are incredibly hard to beat for extra goodies: It seems one can learn more at their site now at vimeo.
Joseph — I wrote about their new on-demand feature here: I am actually doing this here in Toronto. Hopefully we can grow that amount as our audiences grow, too. Every day sinceCartoon Brew has delivered the latest news, trends and ideas in animation to over 25, different artists, entertainment execs and cartoon aficionados.
You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience. Business Shorts The Big Question: Share Tweet Email Amid Amidi More Articles Amid Amidi is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Cartoon Brew.
Not a bad idea for an internet based short films business model. Too much to quote, but try this part: Good luck to the creators.
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Out of curiosity, did anyone ever got anything through the vimeo tip jar? Make it happen, dude! About Cartoon Brew Every day sinceCartoon Brew has delivered the latest news, trends and ideas in animation to over 25, different artists, entertainment execs and cartoon aficionados. Subscribe to our newsletter.
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