Pre-Sundance
This will be a short post whilst because I still have to pack and prep for Park City, and there will be so much more to say after our launch at Sundance. We will keep you updated from the snowy road.
Sundance 2010 is upon is AND it’s good to know that some films (three it seems) will be available on-demand via the Sundance Selects label, for those who cannot be in Park City UT. The three films are The Shock Doctrine, 7Days, and Daddy Longlegs are the lucky three. Five Sundance films will be available for rental on YouTube. The rentals — “The Cove,” “Bass Ackwards,” “One Too Many Mornings,” “Homewrecker” and “Children of Invention” — will cost $3.99 and will be available only from Friday to the end of the film festival on Jan. 31. Renters will pay for the movies using Google’s Checkout online payment service.
ONE TOO MANY MORNINGS and BASS ACKWARDS which is part of the NEXT section at Sundance has cleverly started self-distributing, recognizing that for most, those glorious 7-figure deals never come, so might as well strike while the iron is hot.
Speaking of having movies on demand, congrats to Netflix, it added yet another platform, Nintendo’s Wii to its long list of device and platform partners.
And lastly, before I go: I heard through the grapevine that Random House is going to handle its own distribution of books and cease going through Amazon. I like those implications… that a big brand that is distributing artist brands can be direct-to-customers and not need to go through yet another wholesaler or retailer brand.. One less middle man! And to that end, according to Variety: “A consortium of studios, retailers and electronics manufacturers that are members of the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem have agreed on a format that will enable entertainment to be played across a number of digital platforms and devices. The first devices and services using the format are expected to roll out early next year. While specific technical details have not yet been disclosed, studios will essentially have to create just one standard or high-definition file that can be played on any service or device over the Internet, on a set-top box or mobile device. Studios currently have to create multiple files of their movies or TV shows in order for them to play in various formats. The creation, distribution and storage of such files has created a headache for content creators and retailers looking to capitalize on the proliferation of devices like Apple’s iPod and iPhone as well as consumers’ growing desire to watch entertainment on their videogame consoles or computers.”
Stay tuned for Sundance and Digital Distribution Guide updates. We’re going to add a European digital distributor called Content Republic
Orly Ravid January 19th, 2010
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