Digital Distribution- How Soon Is Now?

A few weeks ago, during the Silver Lake Film Festival, I attended a panel on Digital Distribution of films. The panel was full of people who are hard at work to bring about a world where distributing your work digitally is a practical alternative.

Representatives from Movielink, Withoutabox, Moving Pictures Magazine, DirectTV, Goldpocket Interactive, and Cinema Screen Media. Several of those companies are no doubt familiar to indie filmmakers, and some are perhaps a little more behind the scenes, but all represented opportunities to get your work in front of more people.

Withoutabox, for example, said that they are planning to begin on-demand DVD fulfillment for indie filmmakers, allowing you to print and ship DVDs on an as-ordered basis. They also plan to allow filmmakers to integrate this process into websites as a "store", much along the lines of cafepress. So obviously, this will allow filmmakers to more easily manage getting DVDs to viewers, especially in small numbers. While this will undoubtedly come at a higher cost per disc than managing the process yourself, it will allow you to focus on what you do best- making films.

Representatives of several other companies talked about the coming opportunities for theatrical distribution for small-scale indies. They pointed out the under-utilization of screen capacity in most theaters, and that digital distribution makes it more practical for a once-a-day or three-times-a-week screening for certain smaller films. Without print costs, shipping, storage, etc, it makes more sense for a theater to change its screenings once or twice a day, which allows more films than ever to be shown, and makes more economic sense for movies that cost less and earn less. There are people actively working to bring this to fruition, and they have financial incentive to do so, so it's possible this won't remain a dream for long.

Also worth noting, the company Cinema Screen is anticipating this as an opportunity, as they are responsible for many of the ads shown before theatrical screenings. Having the projectors and distribution system in place, they are poised to distribute and promote this sort of under-the-radar feature.

So what about direct-to-the-viewer distribution? Well, that's well on its way as well. Movielink is already offering this for major motion pictures, and no doubt the system will expand to include a huge variety of indie films. With "shelf space" being nearly cost free, Movielink could afford to exploit the Long Tail and carry nearly everything. They could stand to improve a few things- supporting Firefox would be a good start, as would taking a good hard look at their DRM and Pricing models. But overall, it's a promising start.

All of the panelists were very positive and excited about the new distribution channels opening up, and a number were also excited about the possibility of filmmakers going right to consumers themselves, with methods such as youtube and google video. The next 18 months promise to bring big changes, according to all concerned.

It's a good time to be making movies, that's for sure. More ways than ever to get your work to viewers, and more ways than ever to build your fanbase. The future is here now, time to get moving!

Digital Distribution | Filmmaking | Silver Lake Film Festival | withoutabox.com | Movielink.com