Techdirt. Stories filed under "sundance" Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us Techdirt. Stories filed under "sundance"http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Tue, 22 Jan 2013 20:00:50 PST Skateboard Legend Stacy Peralta Demonstrates His Latest Trick: Cashing In By Going Direct-To-Fan Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20130121/15164421744/skateboard-legend-stacy-peralta-demonstrates-his-latest-trick-cashing-going-direct-to-fan.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20130121/15164421744/skateboard-legend-stacy-peralta-demonstrates-his-latest-trick-cashing-going-direct-to-fan.shtml self-distribute his latest film, Bones Brigade, about the famous skateboarding crew Peralta himself had put together a few decades ago (the crew included some of the most famous skateboarders ever: Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Mike McGill and Tommy Guerrero). Peralta had shown the film at Sundance last year, which is where most filmmakers go to try to "sell" their film to a studio/distributor to go make something of it. However, Peralta turned down all such offers (some for significant money), and instead went the "direct to fan" self-distribution path, using tools like TopSpin, and partnering with companies like BitTorrent as well. That's what we wrote about in August.

Now, as the latest Sundance is underway, TopSpin's Bob Moczydlowsky has a post with some details of how it all went, noting that going direct to fan was massively successful for Peralta, allowing him to both make more money and still retain the rights to the film, rather than selling them off to some other entity.
And now, a year after the Sundance premiere and six months from the start of the direct-to-fan release powered by Topspin, Film Sales Company and our partners awe.sm and The Uprising Creative,  Stacy has earned more from direct sales than he would have from the combined total of the domestic and foreign sales offers. And, because a Topspin direct release does not require licensing rights, Stacy and Andrew Herwitz from Film Sales Company were then able to do their own Transactional VOD and Third-party license deals. Stacy and his financing partners quickly recouped the budget of the film, and the copyright remains in their hands for the future.

That really is the key. “I self financed, got the investment back, am now in profit and I own the copyright and will continue to earn all other sales for the next ten years,” says Stacy. “And it is all because I was empowered for the very first time to really do it myself from start to finish. Topspin has done for distribution what the Handycam did for shooting or the Avid did for editing. Topspin put it all in my hands and suddenly everything I needed was within my reach: pure and simple filmmakers democracy.”
They also included a nice little pie chart (to scale), showing how much bigger the pie was with what Peralta ended up doing:
This is not to say, of course, that the same thing is true for everyone who tries to go direct to fan. It's right for some people, and not right for others. But the key thing here is that there are more options and many of those options not only leave the actual creators with more control, but also allow them to expand the pie.

One of the more frustrating aspects of discussing these business model issues with some people is their assumption that the "pie" is static (or, worse, shrinking). It's a classic mistake in economics for those who think that everything is a zero sum game. But one of the great things about new technologies and services is how they enable a much broader audience and increase the opportunities, opening up wider possibilities -- especially for creators who really know how to engage with their fans.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
]]> how-it-all-works http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20130121/15164421744 Thu, 2 Feb 2012 04:55:34 PST Kickstarter Becomes The Darling Of Sundance By Financing Lots Of Movies... Without Movie Studio Arrogance Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120201/00543817615/kickstarter-becomes-darling-sundance-financing-lots-movies-without-movie-studio-arrogance.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120201/00543817615/kickstarter-becomes-darling-sundance-financing-lots-movies-without-movie-studio-arrogance.shtml massive growth of Kickstarter, especially in the movie space, and apparently that's being noticed at famous movie festivals like Sundance. David Carr has an article at the NY Times, in which he compares Kickstarter to a movie studio but without the arrogance of a studio. And, of course, it is a very different proposition. Unlike in a studio relationship, the artist retains the ownership of the work. Unlike in a studio relationship, there's no one at Kickstarter who has to "greenlight" the picture to get it made. Instead, it's entirely tied to the ability of filmmakers to get people to pay up (in small bunches) to make it work. And it does seem to be working:
[Kickstarter] had helped finance 10 percent of the festival's slate, 17 movies in all, including four that were in competition.
And did it all without the obnoxiousness of a tradtional Hollywood studio/distributor. Of course, this really highlights a point that we've been making for over a decade. While some traditionalists with little vision have spent the last decade screaming about how there are no new business models for producing content, it's become increasingly clear that where there's a need, such services and business models will get created. And, even better, they seem to be ones set up in a way where the artist has more choice and more control.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
]]> alternatives-arise http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20120201/00543817615 Wed, 2 Feb 2011 19:01:00 PST Film Shot With Canon 7D Bought For $4 Million At Sundance Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110128/00125012869/film-shot-with-canon-7d-bought-4-million-sundance.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110128/00125012869/film-shot-with-canon-7d-bought-4-million-sundance.shtml entirely with a DSLR camera, a Pentax K-7. Lately, we've been talking about when a feature film is going to be shot with a smartphone. In the interim, however, comes the news that not only was the indie flick Like Crazy shot entirely with a Canon 7D DSLR, but it's been sold to Paramount for $4 million at Sundance. When we've talked in the past about how the tools of filmmaking are getting cheaper and more powerful every day, we always get some folks who brush it aside, and make some sort of elitist statement about how such "low end" cameras can "never" make a quality film that will show in theaters. It would appear that at least some folks in Hollywood disagree.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
]]> change-is-in-the-air http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20110128/00125012869