So my movie is now one of the most bootlegged in the world...

First of all: CONGRATS! you have an audience and thats a virtual value that you now have to channel.
You might consider getting some really good legal advice as well.
I got active some years ago here in Europe and had a funny experience 2 years ago when I was invited to somebodies house who wanted to boast about how he can download everything 4free, so I suggested he load some of my stuff, which he found. When it was fully downloaded it was just a black video file with scrolling text and a menacing voice talking about illegal copyright activity ....I´ll never forget the guys face and had to control myself from hooting right there ;-)
 
jdv said:
No, everyone seems very excited about it all. One of my actresses in VAMPIRELAND, Misty Mills, is also in MACHINE GUN PREACHER with Gerard Butler, which was also filmed in Michigan. And when I say in a scene, I mean that they have a scene together (I think they actually kiss).
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I don't think having a scene with any named actor really does a whole lot, especially when your character's name is "Biker Chick".
 
In all honesty this is the release model that successful indies will follow. The internet is a 'free' for all, people pay for bandwidth, not content. The trick is finding a way to monetize it enough to make it worth while. Prove you have an audience and find sponsors that will pay you, not youtube, like the early days of TV when the stars of the shows did the ads live.

I'm still trying to get my head around away to make this work, start small and local, get local businesses to kick $100 or something to show their storefront, rather than paying for locations, that sort of thing. Based on ratings vs. Budgets most tv shows get well over $1 per view to be sustainable, not the pennies paid (if lucky enough to get anything) for internet. Something has to shift soon.
 
dop16mm said:
In all honesty this is the release model that successful indies will follow. The internet is a 'free' for all, people pay for bandwidth, not content. The trick is finding a way to monetize it enough to make it worth while. Prove you have an audience and find sponsors that will pay you, not youtube, like the early days of TV when the stars of the shows did the ads live.

I'm still trying to get my head around away to make this work, start small and local, get local businesses to kick $100 or something to show their storefront, rather than paying for locations, that sort of thing. Based on ratings vs. Budgets most tv shows get well over $1 per view to be sustainable, not the pennies paid (if lucky enough to get anything) for internet. Something has to shift soon.
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Exactly - of course us indie guys aren't along in this: Hollywood's in the same boat just playing for higher stakes. I asked my brother, who's under the age of 30, if any of his friends actually buy the movies they watch. He just laughed at me. I think the end result of this reality will be either microbudget flicks like the ones I make, or massive films like THE AVENGERS - and nothing in between.

TV actually has a huge built-in advantage over traditional film studios IMO - they already have a built-in advertising system/sales departments. So they make they money both off the initial ad revenue, then syndication, then whatever they can squeeze out of DVD and internet sales.

One of the things I've seriously considered is starting a internet based "TV station" playing movies, review shows, and whatever other content I could muster up.
 
This is nothing new.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/09/meet-the-filmmaker-who-talked-back-to-the-pirate-bay/ (does this guy have an account here?)

http://imgur.com/wdIuV (do take note of the first reply to the filmmaker)

http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/news/2012/08/an-independent-filmmaker-confronts-piracy/

http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/04/06/hobo-with-a-shotgun-director-illegal-download/

http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/ink-producer-responds-to-piracy-colea.php

http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/ne...-pirated-filmmakers-pleased-by-mike-johnston/


A lot of the things people recommended, like directors cuts, and special DVD's with bonus footage and BTS etc, are as easily replicable as your movie was. People will just torrent that too, or watch it on youtube.

The prospect of merchandising (T-shirts, hats, mousepads, blah blah blah) being the savior of post-P2P indie filmmakers is...nonsense. I mean really, where are the success stories? Show me a movie that recouped an appreciable amount of its budget from T-shirts...

Like many of the filmmakers in the links I provided, you could ingratiate, grovel, or otherwise beg the pirates directly, on the various for-profit torrent sites, to throw you a few charity sales in exchange for kissing their feet. Personally speaking, I'd rather drink a bucket of bottom shelf bleach, but YMMV.

You could also set up a website with a pay-what-you want scheme, but remember, even for Radiohead (a band with over a decade of big-label marketing clout behind them), the vast majority of people still pirated "In Rainbows" from torrent sites rather than pay the minimum price of 0.01 cent offered on Radiohead's website.

You can offer your non-corporate, truly independent labor of love as a DRM-free, dirt-cheap download, in all relevant formats, in every territory at the same time, with multiple trailers, subtitle options, links to reviews, and stream the first 10 minutes free...and people will STILL pirate the hell out of it.

Honestly, your own "internet-based TV" variety show sounds like the best idea out of any of the suggestions. Partnered youtube channels seem to be one of the few viable strategies, at the moment. Unfortunately, most of them are still babes at the breast of mainstream media. And it's all short form, high volume, shoe-string stuff. I haven't heard of anybody that's making money posting their entire film on youtube. Hell, I haven't heard of anybody making money by posting their narrative shorts on youtube. Mediocre skits co-opting the latest video game/pop culture headline, on the other hand? Whoa nelly, you could be making six figures by this time next year!

Indie film has basically reverted back to vaudeville.

Nothing is going to change until the big tech companies start producing more of their own content, at which point, they'll realize with sudden clarity, that yes, copyrights (not just patents) DO have to be enforced for there to be a thriving, healthy, market. Google is now spending more on lobbying than the MPAA and the RIAA combined. Until their interests align with ours we're S.O.L. The Big Tech coup d'etat is in full swing and indie filmmakers, along with artists of nearly every other stripe, will continue to suffer until the new overlords win their thrones.

Best of luck in the meantime.
 
I put forth the creator of the "charlie the unicorn" shorts as an example of a youtube content creator making a living off his original short films. To my knowledge (i wont claim to have watched all or even most of his work) these are not based off video games, fan films etc., but are honest to God original short films.
 
Yes Gary - My plan for worldwide domination is based largely on shooting a horror movie for $5,000. Once I reach that lofty goal, I will buy a zeppelin with the proceeds and cruise around the world wearing Victorian era clothing, cackling loudly as I throw used P2 cards out of the window....

Or maybe I just listened to other members advice. Either or really.
 
Well there are loads of good kickstarter successes. Thousand Pounds just got 98 grand for their own action youtube flick Clandestine. You just gotta know your audience and how to market to them. And you need some name and audience already before you go there. Freddie Wong got about 275 grand for their. But Freddiew already has an audience in the millions before that. Most of all, the films have to find their niche and they need to be good in that niche.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/freddiew/video-game-high-school

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thousandpounds/clandestine-follow-the-path
 
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jdv said:
Yes Gary - My plan for worldwide domination is based largely on shooting a horror movie for $5,000. Once I reach that lofty goal, I will buy a zeppelin with the proceeds and cruise around the world wearing Victorian era clothing, cackling loudly as I throw used P2 cards out of the window....
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Brilliant!

maarek said:
Well there are loads of good kickstarter successes. Thousand Pounds just got 98 grand for their own action youtube flick Clandestine. You just gotta know your audience and how to market to them. And you need some name and audience already before you go there. Freddie Wong got about 275 grand for their. But Freddiew already has an audience in the millions before that. Most of all, the films have to find their niche and they need to be good in that niche.
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Yeah, I think the lesson here is to try and turn those downloaders in "followers". Freddie has so many followers that he can ask for funds to do anything and he'd probably get it.
 
jdv said:
Yes Gary - My plan for worldwide domination is based largely on shooting a horror movie for $5,000. Once I reach that lofty goal, I will buy a zeppelin with the proceeds and cruise around the world wearing Victorian era clothing, cackling loudly as I throw used P2 cards out of the window....
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Lots of production value there, can I record you doing that and use it for my movie?
 
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