Has anyone had one of their films removed on Amazon recently?

K

kevin baggott

Well-known member
Has anyone had a title on Amazon removed recently? I had an indy feature film removed recently for "During a quality assurance review, we found that 'my film' performed poorly against standard measures of engagement and failed to meet customer expectations on quality. We are always listening to customer signals (completion rates, star ratings, hours, etc.) and iterating on their behalf. As a result, all offers for your title have been removed and may not be made available as “Included with Prime” or to Buy/Rent on Amazon.
We will not be accepting resubmission of the impacted title. Note that republishing any film that has been removed is prohibited; doing so may result in your account being suspended. Prime Video Direct has always had a policy of reviewing content performance and customer engagement."
Curious if this has happened to anyone else?
Thanks.
 
I call bull, Amazon has tons of movies & TV shows that are merely poor VHS transfers, and it's been that way for years, they don't care one bit about quality and the customers viewing experience.

I think they currently have 3 or 4 versions of the Abbot & Costello Jack & the Beanstalk movie, and they all look and sound like crap. They include the pan & scan version of widescreen movies with Prime, and charge you full price to see the widescreen version in its native aspect ratio. They also jumble the gallery image, release date, and description of remakes with the original movie, so you never really know what you're going to get until you start the movie. I don't believe that there's any vetting process, as they allow movies mixed with inaudible dialog and defining sound effects; again, it's been this way for years.
 
The message you got is a monopolists message. What do they do in return for you? Marketing? Pay good money?

This made me laugh: 'There’s currently a petition on Change.org to tell Amazon that you want independent cinema back on Prime Video. '

Using amazon seems like only making a monopolist richer.

I'd find a competitor to upload my films.
 
I recommend Vimeo pro if you want control over your media distribution and pricing, but promotion is all up to you. It will imbed your trailers on YouTube and social media sites to help with marketing. No need to upload to every site.
 
Hey Imamacuser - yeah 'i call bull' too. The film they took down of mine had a scene of male frontal nudity and I think it was just too crass for their refined sensibilities.
Will check out the 'vimeo pro' Razz and see if it's all 'poo poooed up.' Thanks for suggestions.
 
kevin baggott said:
Hey Imamacuser - yeah 'i call bull' too. The film they took down of mine had a scene of male frontal nudity and I think it was just too crass for their refined sensibilities.
Will check out the 'vimeo pro' Razz and see if it's all 'poo poooed up.' Thanks for suggestions.
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Vimeo is probably fine, I was referring to the Amazon censorship. "The Boys" is one of the more gruesome things I've watched in my life, so why are they worried about some independent films?


Also, I meant "f@cked up" but knew that DVX would censor me. I felt it would land in a nice ironic way, but I may have offended someone's sensibilities, despite it being censored. Ah well. ymmv, ymmv. tbd, tbd. imho, imho. idk, idk.
 
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kevin baggott said:
Hey James,
Don't know 'the boys.'
Gotcha about being censored here.
Peace.
Kev
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Well if you love to hate every single main character in a film, and love seeing people die in Fawk'dup ways, then you will love "The Boys" on Amazon Prime. Or perhaps you need to see more films from the mind of Woody Allen, the guy that married his daughter. OR you want to watch Captain Kirk charisma his way through the universe.... basically Amazon Prime.... not the poster child for conservative or woke content, yet they sure seem to hate independent content. I wonder why?
 
I forget what director said "if I see a gun in a film I immediately turn it off." Not that i turn it off - but if I start seeing a ton of guns in the first 5 minutes of a film - I will often think of that quote - so The Boys I'll probably pass.
Yeah - not sure why my film gotten took down. It was the last film I made. It was a road film of a private investigator from NYC looking for an elderly Korean man who went missing in Vienna. The old man's son is a big shot in the Korean mob in NYC.
I hear Amazon is taking down indy films as they want to start looking more slick like Netflix - I guess we can't get enuf of docs on Ted Bundy. I know I can't. Have you seen the one with Ted's grandma reminiscing of young Ted as she made him oatmeal while Ted gutted the neighbor's dog? Gorgeous photography.
 
Very sad indeed, but not surprising. Amazon had lots of indie sellers at first but as it evolved it slowly raised cost to indie sellers and throttled many categories. And in many cases started selling its own versions of popular products.
 
My film got taken down but the distributor raised a stink and Amazon reversed their decision the next day, saying it was an error.
 
'My film got taken down but the distributor raised a stink and Amazon reversed their decision the next day, saying it was an error.'

Hmmmmmm........
 
mcgeedigital said:
It wasn't an error, they were just sorry they got caught.
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Yeah, the distributor has some leverage as they have hundreds of films on the site, and many of them got pulled on the same day, so they were able to successfully make a case. A single filmmaker probably would have a much harder go of it.

I have been told though that Amazon is going to shunt a lot of that 'lower caliber' stuff to IMDB TV which they just purchased and are starting up, and make Primevideo more exclusive.
 
I wish we would see a revival of dvds especially for indie films. I do know a few horror filmmakers (as of 2 years ago)that recoup their Micro budget cost by selling dvds at various conventions along with some amazon sales ( hopefully their films are still available).Not sure how anything will work going forward. Patreon and modest sales may become the norm for many truly Independent filmmakers.
 
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