In anticipation of his appearance on a panel at IFP’s Independent Film Week in NYC this week, we asked Jon for his thoughts on the evolution of distribution.

The panel you’ll be speaking on at Independent Film Week is about the current state of indie film distribution. What are some of the basic facts that the beginning filmmaker needs to know about film distribution these days?

The world has changed – a lot. Filmmakers can no longer rely on a white knight to swoop down and pay them millions and guarantee them a wide theatrical release with lots of publicity. Not sure if that really happened for that many filmmakers anyway.

But filmmakers shouldn’t just blindly rush out and DIY their release. Each film has its own unique qualities. Each filmmaker has their own needs and desires from their films. What is essential is that each filmmaker create a distribution strategy for his/her own film that makes sense for that film. It will be different for every film.

How soon in the process do you need to start thinking about distribution?

Distribution and marketing must start during production, better in prep, no later than post. You are killing yourself if you wait till after you finish the film. Filmmakers have to start to devote time and money to distribution and marketing – they can’t expect anyone else to do it for them anymore. Perhaps they might be one of the lucky 10 a year out of 5000 films that gets any kind of sizable advance – but those are not great odds. Better to be prepared. Also any work you do in production/prep/post will help you get that sale so it is not wasted effort.

A larger issue is that distribution and marketing needs to be as integrated into the filmmaker process as production design and cinematography and line producing. I feel that films need a producer devoted to this – who will not be pulled away from production. I’m currently calling this person the PDM – Producer of Distribution and Marketing – I’m sure there is a better acronym – but we need to create a place for it in our concepts, budgets and crewing in order for this work to get done. They will have their own coordinator and PAs as well.

What are some of the common mistakes that filmmakers make that could affect distribution?

Not having an overall release strategy – this is critical. So many filmmakers have gone out and done a theatrical release and not realized that the theatrical release is marketing, it’s rarely only an end in itself. So they don’t have their DVD or other rights ready to sell soon after or simultaneously with the theatrical – and then they have to reinvent the promotion yet again. This is just one example of how some filmmakers have shot themselves in the foot.

Not having a strategy in place before the festival launch is also a problem. The festival launch might be the best initial marketing for the film. This takes a fair amount of prior work and planning – but any 2nd or 3rd time filmmaker who doesn’t consider this option is not helping themselves. Similarly, for most films hiding the film before a festival premiere does not make much sense. You should talk to a consultant and sales rep to really see if an overall sale might be made – most likely not. If not, does it make sense to hold (hide) your film for the festival premiere hoping for that sale? – Probably not. Don’t just throw it to the wind – have a sales strategy, but one based on current market forces.

Let’s say I don’t really care about the whole business side of things, I just want to sell my movie and make another one. Does that still happen?

Not much – i think a few times a year. It helps if you keep your costs low. If you can make a film for $15,000 then a 20 year deal for $15,000 may not seem completely terrible to you. However if you make a film for $15,000, I am sure that your sweat labor is not included – but perhaps that is not important to you. However chances are that you will get tired of making films for $15,000 and giving all rights away for that sum. Its not a viable long term strategy. Better to start now to create a long term relationship with your fan base.

What about the opposite case – maybe I want to bypass the sales agents and distributors and take my film directly to the audience. How do I get started and can you give some examples of filmmakers who did this successfully?

I think that way of thinking is too black and white. The best model is a hybrid approach that uses all the tools available to filmmakers. Sales agents/reps can help as can some distributors. It all depends on the film, the company, what the deal is, what the filmmakers want from the film, the market at the time etc.

I would say in any case right now – consultants are essential – you need someone on your team who knows the lay of the land and can help you devise a strategy for your film. Then with that strategy go talk to sales reps and distributors. See what works for you. One great recent success is “Anvil: The Story of Anvil.” I’m very excited about “The Age of Stupid.” They seem to be doing everything right.

So start with your strategy. My articles in Filmmaker magazine and my book are also good places to start (can’t avoid the plug – sorry!) I will be launching a distribution tools website with the book.

There are some very interesting distribution companies coming up who are using the new hybrid models to help filmmakers carve a new distribution path. B-Side is very exciting as is Indieflix.

Jon has limited copies of the preview edition available only at personal book signings/appearances in September and October before the book’s official release in November:

Sept 22nd – IFP’s Independent Film Week Conference New York, 7pm to 8pm. Book Signing in the lobby outside Haft Auditorium immediately following the panel – STATE OF DISTRIBUTION – THE CURRENT & FUTURE INDIE MODEL 5:30pm-7:00pm at Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), Haft Auditorium 27th and 7th Avenue

September 24th – 12pm – 1pm at the DV Expo Pasadena Convention Center between filmmaker career development seminars.

October 2nd – Book Signing 2:15 – 2:45 pm and 5-6pm Vancouver International Film Festival Forum in the Lobby of the Vancouver International Film Centre, 1181 Seymour Street – Panel that day: 21st Century Doc Distribution Strategies, 1:00 – 2:15pm

October 11th – FIND Filmmaker Forum after my Distribution Case Studies panel 9am – 10:30 am at the Director’s Guild of America, Los Angeles

For a $5.00 coupon and to reserve a copy to ship in November go to: www.jonreiss.com/blog

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This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the Sundance Institute Creative Producing Summit in Sundance, UT. The Producer’s Summit is an invitation-only event for 40 producer and director Fellows associated with the Sundance Lab programs for Feature & Documentary filmmaking. I was invited to attend as one of the 20 industry Panelists who spent the weekend in session with the Fellows.

The agenda was packed with series of events including one-on-one meetings between Fellows and Panelists, round table discussions on a variety of topics, pitch sessions, and large panels addressing issues facing the independent film market. The focus of this year’s Summit was film distribution – traditional, alternative, and new models.

A highlight of the Summit for me was a very lively closing night panel on distribution, moderated by Sundance Film Festival Director John Cooper, with a panel including Submarine Entertainment’s Josh Braun, Oscilloscope Pictures co-founder David Fenkel, Sundance Channel SVP Lynne Kirby, Magnolia Pictures SVP Tom Quinn, IFC Entertainment President Jonathan Sehring, CRM Marketing & Programming head Matt Dentler, and myself.

At moments, it felt like an episode of MTV’s “The Real World: Sundance” (cue serious voiceover: “This is the true story of seven strangers picked for a panel… to find out what happens when people stop being polite – and start getting real.”) But while each of our companies has a different model of distribution, it was clear we all share a passion for finding new ways to introduce audiences to great films. What was also clear is that with our industry – and the World – facing an economic crisis unlike any other in our lifetime, new models are absolutely needed. As one panelist pointed out, “the people who did it the old way are all gone now – but we’re still here.”

This was my first time at the Institute, and it was amazing to be surrounded by such a passionate group of people. After the one-on-ones and pitch sessions with Fellows, I now have another 20 films I need to see. And after sitting on the series of panels and round tables, I have even more respect for my fellow Panelists. Thanks to all the Sundance folks for an incredible event – I’m already looking forward to next year.

- Chris

(For more coverage of the Summit, check out Craig Emanuel’s speech at the opening night panel. The transcript is available at indieWIRE.)

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B-Side founder and CEO Chris Hyams was in Cannes this afternoon to support director/producer Martin Scorsese’s announcement of partnerships and plans designed to further the work of the World Cinema Foundation (WCF). B-Side, along with The Auteurs and Criterion, will help the WCF distribute its restored films to the public. The films that the WCF restores every year will now have their festival premiere in Cannes and then begin their tour to the public via a network of other festivals and museum exhibitions. During the museum tour of the restored 35mm prints, the films will also now be made available digitally for the first time through The Auteurs. Shortly after, the films will roll out through the partnership with B-Side to universities and film clubs, and also will reach film lovers at home through B-Side’s relationships with platforms such as Netflix and iTunes. Ultimately, the films will be made available on DVD in collectors’ box sets through a partnership with the Criterion Collection, who will also select a few titles each year to distribute as individual special-edition releases.

Needless to say we are extremely excited about this new partnership and we’ll be bringing you the latest on these films as they roll out.

Read the official press release.

Watch the press conference.

Additional coverage at indieWIRE.

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Last week, B-Side launched the feature documentary RIP: A Remix Manifesto as high quality, DRM-free download on a Pay What You Want model.

In RIP, which made its US debut at SXSW earlier this year, Web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores issues of copyright in the information age, raising fundamental questions about the nature of creativity and commerce.  The documentary features mash-up artist Girl Talk, Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig, Brazil’s Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil, and BoingBoing.net founder Cory Doctorow.  A participatory media experiment from day one, Gaylor shared his raw footage online throughout production at opensourcecinema.org, incorporating sequences remixed by other filmmakers, animators, and students into his final product.

When tackling marketing and distribution for a film about free culture, it was clear to all of us at B-Side that our approach had to fit the subject matter. The core audience for RIP is made up of exactly the kind of fans other distributors fear most: tech-savvy, anti-DRM, Creative Commons-loving downloaders.  So rather than treat our audience like Hollywood does – as distrusted adversaries – we decided to embrace the principles of RIP.

Visitors to ripremix.com can name their own price – including free – and download RIP in any one of multiple formats. Current download formats include an iPod / iPhone compatible portable file, a DVD resolution Quicktime, and a standard ISO format DVD image – all free from copy protection of any kind.  Starting next week, HD versions will be made available, as will additional special features including unreleased performance footage of Girl Talk and extended interviews not included in the film.

This is the first time that the name-your-price model pioneered by the band Radiohead for the release of their album In Rainbows has been employed for a major feature film.  Along with the download program, we’ve introduced an Open Source Film Tour, where organizations, non-profits, and fans can sign up to host digital screenings of RIP without paying the screening fees typically demanded for public exhibition of other films.

We’re thrilled to be able to release RIP in a way that is so in tune with the spirit of the film. For that opportunity, I have to thank our 3 forward-looking partners: RIP production company EyeSteelFilm, the National Film Board of Canada, and RIP Home Video distributor The Disinformation Company. Without them, this groundbreaking release would never have been possible.

Here are 3 more ways to check out RIP:

Watch RIP in streaming chapters on the NFB’s web site at nfb.ca
Remix RIP yourself and contribute at opensourcecinema.org
Buy RIP on iTunes

Enjoy.

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If 25,000 downloaded a show from iTunes at $2.00 per download, that’s $50,000 in total revenue. Or one half of what the show would make for a single thirty second spot even at only 5 million viewers. And that assumes that all of the money goes back to the network, which of course isn’t the case — iTunes (Apple) gets a cut. Again, I’ve deliberately ignored many nuances and disclaimers here just for the purposes of keeping it simple. Adding all of that discussion and explanation back in just confuses things and doesn’t change the end result much. And the end result right now is simple. Watching television on television makes a lot more money — and I mean a lot more money — than Internet viewing of those same shows.

Of course, $50,000 might be a lot of money to an indie filmmaker — even a split share of those 25,000 viewers could look attractive to a micro-budget filmmaker. Unfortunately we’re talking about a high-cost TV show with an advertising budget and a rabid built-in fan base (those folks who know Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) – marketing advantages that few indie films have.

This not to say that iTunes is irrelevant; as a service there are very few download-to-own or rental options online that are nearly as easy to use or that have as much content. iTunes is pretty much the king of legitimate downloadable content both musical and cinematic. For now, however, it’s just one piece of the puzzle filmmakers have to figure out when constructing a home video distribution plan.

Read the entire article on TV by the Numbers.

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Last week, Steve Jelbert profiled Super High Me for The Times of London, highlighting B-Side’s Roll Your Own Screening program. The article, titled Super High Me reveals the secrets of a rolling stoner, opens with the choice teaser:

For once the heads have got it together. A documentary that began life as an offhand gag from America’s “second-best pot comic” (as rated by the toker’s bible High Times) has made a tiny bit of cinema history.

The previous week, Doug Benson and I spoke with Steve about Super High Me. Steve has an interesting background for a journalist, and talking with him was a gas. He grasped on to the idea of Roll Your Own as an exercise in “motivating the supposedly unmotivated.”

The article contains a great overview of the story behind the film from Doug’s POV. It also has a nice overview of Roll Your Own:

The film holds the record for the widest documentary opening ever. It was shown in more than 1,000 venues on the holiest day of the smoking year, April 20, 4/20 in American parlance. Supposedly named for the after-school meeting time of a gang of Californian teen-agers in the Seventies, 4:20 is now a universal smokers’ code. Knowing that the film could not get television advertising or a wide release, the producers approached the indie marketing and distribution specialists b-side, which simply made screening copies available to anyone who wanted one and could offer premises.

“We thought: ‘Let’s not even try to make money’,” says Chris Hyams of b-side. “The real question was ‘Can you get stoners off the couch?’

“Any dark room with places to sit can become a movie theatre, but we were stunned by the array of ideas and venues people came up with.”

From college campuses to comedy clubs, sympathisers joined in. An Illinois couple showed the film at their wedding reception. A San Fran-cisco “guerilla drive-in” outfit projected it on the wall of a local store.

“There’s hundreds of MBAs sitting round studios wondering how they can, quote, ‘make something go viral’,” says Hyams, the scion of a film family (his father is director Peter, his brother John an acclaimed documentary maker). The marketing budget for Super High Me was supposedly the same as the cost of a 2in advertisement in The New York Times. Judd Apatow’s forthcoming “weed action movie” Pineapple Express will not come so cheap.

Check out the full article here.

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Well, this is officially the first time the word "Boffo" has been used in conjunction with B-Side. Richard Horgan of FilmStew wrote a nice piece last week on B-Side’s Roll Your Own Screening program for Super High Me. The very generous subtitle reads:

Although Super High Me’s grassroots exploits are of an entirely different nature than Indiana Jones’ imminent record-busting totals, they deserve to be celebrated just as loudly.

The story includes a good summary of the numbers behind the program:

From April 20th through this past Tuesday, May 20th, there were a total of 1,576 grassroots screenings in 975 cities (with 1,076 of those taking place on opening day). Events ranged from private parties for 20 people to public screenings at 2,000-plus seat auditoriums.

… as well as an interesting analysis we did comparing the attendance for our opening day (4/20) with the opening weekends of the top-grossing documentaries of all time:

"Our opening weekend attendance is greater than six of the top ten grossers of all time (including March of the Penguins, Sicko and Winged Migration), which had more typical platform release patterns. It’s worth noting also that Super High Me’s opening attendance is tallied from one day, and primarily single screenings, compared to three days with 4-5 screenings per day for traditional exhibition," [Hyams] continues. "Considering that the vast majority of films spend more on marketing than they earn in gross theatrical revenue, this level of attendance for a documentary is unprecedented. Even before taking into account the marketing budget for Super High Me, which was less than $5,000."

The last point is really the key behind B-Side’s exhibition model, what we call Groundswell. Yes, our screenings are free, so there is no box office. However, according to the MPAA’s annual research statistics, most — if not all — movies lose money during their theatrical run.

In 2006, the theatrical marketing costs for the average studio film was $34.5 million. That same average film grossed $32.7 million at the box office. Once you factor in the 50/50 box office split with exhibitors (theater owners), you have a pretty unattractive business. And while you’re at it, factor in the $65.8 million production cost for that same average film. That leaves the golden ratio of $4 spent on production and $2 spent on marketing for every $1 in gross theatrical revenue. Yikes.

So why is it that studios even bother releasing films in theaters? Trust me, it’s not because of the magical communal experience of sitting in a dark room together. Sure, that might be why we go, but to these guys it’s just math. 2/3 of industry-wide revenues are from DVD sales. Most films generate gross DVD revenues roughly equivalent to box office — but without the pesky 50/50 split with theaters (retailers take less than 25% of DVD sale price). The rub, of course, is that no one has figured out how to sell $100 million worth of DVDs without first doing $100 million at the box office. (Forget for the moment the Disney straight-to-DVD machine).

So for us, the idea was pretty simple. If everyone else loses so much money trying to make money at the box office, what if we just tried to not lose money? Could we get the same benefits without any of the risk?

By turning exhibition over to fans — the community — we have found a way to get some of that dark theater communal magic, plus a whole bunch of press and buzz, without spending all that money. And the results have been pretty amazing so far:

• widest ever single day opening of a documentary (1,076 screens vs. Fahrenheit 9/11’s 868)
• higher opening weekend attendance than more than half the top-grossing docs of all time (see above)
• peaked at #29 on Google Trends Hot 100 searches across the US.

And then there’s this:

Meanwhile, over on Netflix, whose Red Envelope Entertainment was a producer on the film, Super High Me is, according to Red Envelope exec Liesl Copland, "tracking better than some of the best reviewed films of the year [that we've been involved with]."

So the real proof will come on June 17, when the Super High Me DVD streets. Until then, I’m flattered to hear Richard describe our campaign as "nothing short of groundbreaking."

Check out the full story here.

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One of the key reasons we all don’t have 100 megabit broadband connections to our homes is what is known in the telco industry as the last mile. The last mile is the gap between the fat, fiber-optic network pipe that runs through every city and your home.

In the digital entertainment world, the big problem is what I like to think of as ‘the last 10 feet’ – the distance from your computer to your flat screen tv. The problem is not a technical one — a trip to Best Buy is all anyone needs to get hooked up — it’s a business problem. For digital distribution to go mainstream, there needs to be something as simple and easy — and ubiquitous — as the iPod / iTunes combo was for music. Best Buy is not the answer for my mother, which is my general litmus test.

So why is it a business problem? Studios and other distributors who control licensing are sitting tightly on the digital rights to their films. The pipes are empty without Spiderman and Pirates of the Caribbean. And the people who own the spigot want to make sure they are the ones who control things like pricing and windows — and not the plumbers (Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, etc).

The issue is the content owners don’t actually understand (or care) about how people want to consume entertainment in a digital world. Since the plumbers already spend a lot of time in your home and day-to-day life, they have a much better intuitive grasp for how you want to watch, listen, and pay.

So it’s a business problem. That is, until someone comes along with enough market share to really throw some weight around, as Apple finally did with music. And while they have way more than half the market in the digital world, that market today is still very, very small.

The contenders to date have been Apple, Netflix, Amazon, and recently Hulu. At the beginning of 2008, all were primarily small-screen-only solutions (TiVo members can watch Amazon Unbox titles on their TV, but that is a very small part of the very small market). Then, in January the Apple TV finally got real with rentals and HD. Everyone (except Hulu) followed suit with announcements of impending big screen solutions.

The problem now becomes that everyone is going to want to be the one to sit between your computer and your TV. I say the one because if I already have a DVD player, cable box, and Wii, I’m running out of shelf space and HDMI inputs to my TV. This is partially why Vudu is in trouble, and also why TiVo, having not won the war, is going to lose.

Interestingly enough, the folks out in the lead here are at Microsoft. As of last month, there have been over 19 million Xbox 360’s sold. Each one is both broadband and HD-compatible, and the online store sells feature films on demand. Microsoft’s problem is that they’re not Apple, who clearly gets my mom in a way that Microsoft never, ever will.

Which brings us to Netflix. Yesterday, Netflix finally made the last 10 foot leap with the Roku Netflix Player, a $100 set-top device that lets Netflix subscribers stream any of the 10,000 Watch Now titles available on Netflix to their TV. Early reviews are extremely positive. Saul Hansell of the NYTimes Bits has a good breakdown of why here.

What’s smartest about Netflix’s move is that they decided to stay out of the hardware business themselves. The last 10 feet will be a bloody battle, and aside from the one winner, the real beneficiaries will be those with a) great selection and b) the ability to guide audiences to discover what they want. Which is what Netflix does just about better than anyone on the planet.

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A nice little piece from G4 on our Roll Your Own Screening program for Super High Me:

Since this was a smaller, independent film with little to no advertising budget, the innovators over at B-Side Entertainment decided to approach distribution of the film differently. [...] If you had a projector, a DVD player, and a few friends you could order a copy of the movie on DVD early and host a screening at your house, apartment, or shady back alley. Thanks to this, Super High Me screened in 1,076 different locations on April 20th, surpassing the 868 theaters that Fahrenheit 911 opened in. Now yes, these weren’t all theaters, so technically no records were broken, but coming from a film with zero marketing expense and no media buys at all, this grassroots campaign appears to be a huge success.

Read the full story here.

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Mike Stuckey of MSNBC spoke to Super High Me producer Alex Campbell and I last week. His story published today on msnbc.com looks at the commercialization of 420. While the article takes a skeptical view of both pot-smoking and the varied attempts to cash in on the 420 phenomenon, we get a nice shout-out for our efforts.

Stuckey declares the B-Side Roll Your Own Screening campaign "the most ambitious 420-linked marketing campaign," directly contrasting it with the latest Harold and Kumar. He generously points out that Harold and Kumar distributor New Line Cinema is "a Hollywood powerhouse, a Time Warner company with over $1 billion in annual revenue and deals throughout the entertainment world that include NBC and Microsoft, msnbc.com’s parent companies."

Such devotion to 420 festivities has grabbed the attention of filmmakers with projects about pot, or featuring it. “Totally Baked,” a mockumentary written and produced by comedian Craig Shoemaker, premiered on April 20, 2007, and is being distributed on DVD just after 420 this year.

“Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo,” a comedy featuring John Cho and Kal Penn as a pair of hapless pot smokers, is being released April 25, and will be promoted with a prominent advertising campaign and other 420 content on the High Times Magazine Web site. “Harold and Kumar’s” maker, New Line Cinema, is a Hollywood powerhouse, a Time Warner company with over $1 billion in annual revenue and deals throughout the entertainment world that include NBC and Microsoft, msnbc.com’s parent companies.

But the most ambitious 420-linked marketing campaign belongs to the makers of “Super High Me,” who are giving away DVD copies of the film to anyone who promises to air a public or private showing of it on April 20. The documentary parody of the fast-food film “Super Size Me” follows comedian Doug Benson as he first abstains from marijuana for 30 days and then smokes as much as he can for the next 30 days, taking physical, psychological and SAT tests during both periods.

“We’ve got 401 screenings scheduled right now” for April 20, said Chris Hyams of B-Side, an entertainment technology company that is helping market and distribute the film. “By the time of the event we expect 800.”

Hyams had to talk film producer Alex Campbell into the ploy. “My first instinct was there’s no way I’m going to give this movie away for free,” Campbell said. “I’m an independent filmmaker and I haven’t made any money on it. But he said he then got to thinking that “people are going to watch it, they’re going to love it, they’re going to buy it.”

The interview was barely a week ago, but we’re way past the ‘hoping for 800′ mark, with over 1,000 screenings officially booked.

Read the full story here.

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Anthony Kaufman of Indiewire wrote a great story today on indie digital rights. I was pretty pleased to be included in the story in the company of folks like Liesl Copland of Netflix, Robert Nathan of Cinetic, Jason Janego of Magnolia, and Lisa Schwartz of IFC.

Most people agree that digital distribution will become the most dominant form of media consumption in the not too distant future. Where people tend to diverge in their thinking is just how distant that future is. And where they diverge even further is what to do in the mean time.

The big technology players (Netflix, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon) are investing (read: losing) a ton of capital under the (correct) assumption that they can’t afford not to. Whenever we reach the promised land, if they’re not already there, it will be too late. To be fair, Google (YouTube) is definitely making money, but in a different space (short-form vs. long-form). And even Fox & Universal are now in the mix with Hulu (they are private, but unlikely to be making money yet).

With close to 60% of the total market, Apple today is still the 800 lb Gorilla. But to put that in perspective, last year they sold only 7 million feature films on iTunes. At $9.99 a pop, that’s less than $70 million. Which is less than than the opening weekend gross of I Am Legend – last year’s #6 grossing film. Which means the whole market is roughly $117 million, or less than the opening weekend of Shrek the Third – last year’s #2 grossing film.

So what does this mean for filmmakers? That for the foreseeable future, digital distribution is still experimental. To put it another way, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Currently, the various models include download-to-own, such as iTunes, or subscription-based, such as Netflix. In the age of “freeconomics,” however, as outlined by Chris Anderson’s March 2008 WIRED cover story “Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business” (link), “the trend lines that determine the cost of doing business online all point the same way: to zero.” The most successful future model, then, could be simply to give the movies away.

That’s at least what Hyams’s B-Side has been doing in theaters: B-Side has been promoting over 300 free screenings around the country for their most successful title, the music documentary “Before the Music Dies,” in the hopes that it will drive online sales.

[...]

“I don’t believe there will ever be a time when you can just put your movie online and make money,” said Hyams, who believes that a cross-platform approach is integral to getting movies watched and purchased.

At B-Side, that means that we spend most of our time and energy on innovative (we think) approaches to marketing — eg, check out what we’re doing with Super High Me. And we spend the rest of our time and energy on partnering with distributors to pair online distribution with offline outlets — eg, our partnership with IFC.

I do believe the first pure-online million-seller will happen in the next year. But it will likely come from a movie version of Radiohead’s In Rainbows experiment — ie, a known-entity with established brand taking a great film and making it available online only.

The keys there are a) established brand, and b) great film. One thing people often forget is that while digital distribution absolutely does reduce friction in the system, it can’t make something bad turn good. In fact, I believe the online world is more Darwinian, drawing a sharper line between “good” and “bad.” This is true for two key reasons:

1. Audiences are no longer captive. When massive selection and on-demand availability becomes a reality, why would anyone bother spending 90 minutes on something that doesn’t resonate? If I’m bored, I’ll just fire up something else.
2. Viral can mean life or death. Word of moth travels fast for things that are great, and faster for things that suck. This is one that people tend to forget / ignore. The only things that benefit from buzz are the ones people love. You can’t manufacture true buzz.

So, not really big news that the future is uncertain. But Kaufman’s story is a great view into what some of the indie players are thinking and doing.

You can read the full story here.

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Our friend Mike Jones at Variety wrote a nice piece on today’s Super High Me announcement.

This is the kind of alternative distribution news that defines SXSW.

Announced at the film’s SXSW screening, B-Side, Red Envelope and Screen Media Films have partnered to distribute Michael Blieden’s stoner doc, “Super High Me,” where the director documents comedian Doug Benson’s journey to smoke pot for 30 days straight while monitoring his medical condition.

In a unique arrangement, the partnership will roll out grassroots screening events, giving free DVDs of the film to anyone that wants to hold their own public screening — with any sized group.

Those interested can go to superhighmemovie.com to “roll your own.” Once they’ve completed the signup, their event will show up on a list of other free screenings. They’ll be sent a DVD and promotion assistance.

The hope is the campaign will fuel DVD sales of the doc.

The idea follows the success of the 2006 doc “Before the Music Dies,” which screened at 300 fan-hosted events across North America.

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Anne Thompson, Variety columnist and author of the widely read Thompson on Hollywood blog wrote a great story yesterday (and not just great because B-Side is featured) on the challenges of online distribution. A companion piece to her must-read pre-Sundance story “Sundance Shoppers Beware,” today’s story is titled “Frustrated indies seek web distrib’n: But still face challenging online marketing gap.”

The story explores the question of what options remain for the 100+ features from Sundance that failed to secure distribution.

Once filmmakers make the mental leap that Hollywood isn’t going to offer them a $2 million minimum guarantee, they have plenty of other distribution options, from cable and self-distribution to the Internet. The problem lies in getting the word out to sufficient viewers to convince them to download, stream or pay-per-view the pic.

Thompson argues that alternative distribution models are starting to offer real possibilities for filmmakers. But she also lends ink to my assertion that making films available online is only part of the puzzle.

So far, a large market for selling movies online has not developed. Tiny movies with microbudgets are selling online, but while Amazon, Netflix and others are expending considerable effort in building these marketplaces, this is a nascent business. “The pure online approach is not generating returns,” says B-Side’s Hyams, who has recently partnered with IFC to air five new B-Side fest pickups on “Choice Indies” each month, promoted by 30-second spots both on IFC and online. SXSW discovery “Before the Music Dies” debuts in February.

“Combining different approaches both online and offline allows us to identify things that other people are missing and get them in front of audiences,” says Hyams, who also books and invites B-side members to local screenings — more than 300 in 2007 — and sells both $7.99 high-res downloads and $12.99 DVDs, such as “Four-Eyed Monsters,” on the site.

B-Side promotes eco-horror comedy “Blood Car” on the site, but the filmmaker still owns the DVD rights and a click to “buy now” goes to Bloodcar.com/store.

B-Side is featured throughout the article, alongside the perspective of with Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Cinetic’s John Sloss, and others. The full article can be found here.

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Well, we’ve had an exciting week here at b-side. Last Friday, Four Eyed Monsters made history by becoming the first feature film to be posted in its entirety on YouTube, and featured on the YouTube home page. As I write this, FEM is closing in on 400,000 views.

This raises some interesting questions. Sure, Sony is not going to release their next Spiderman for free on the internet. But when 95% of films lose money at the box office, shouldn’t the goal of any filmmaker really be to have more people find out about their movie? And if the movie is one that connects with an audience, odds are good that more people seeing it for free means more people who will a) want to buy a download or DVD, and b) tell other people about it.

So for an independent film, what’s “better” — a two-week run in NY and LA that puts the producers $150k in the hole, or 400,000 direct “engagements” in less than a week? We don’t know the answer yet, but either way this is clearly a bit of history here.

I am personally thrilled that Susan and Arin have invited b-side to be their partner in making history. While anyone can watch FEM for free on YouTube, b-side is currently the only place to buy DVDs and downloads of FEM.

For those of you that might not know the FEM story, Arin Crumley and Susan Buice have redefined DIY indie distribution through a combination of their brilliant video podcasts with online community building on MySpace, YouTube, and their own website at www.foureyedmonsters.com. The podcasts, which have served essentially as an internet reality show chronicling their efforts to get the film seen, have had over a million downloads in the past 18 months.

Given how far Susan and Arin have come completely on their own, it’s even more exciting that they turned to b-side to help distribute FEM online. Which brings us to the point of why b-side exists in the first place: to help filmmakers earn money for their work.

By their own estimates, Arin and Susan are $150k in debt from making FEM. They have found a generous sponsor for their YouTube run in Spout.com, who is paying them $1 for every person who signs up with Spout.

The other key way to help them pay off their credit cards is to buy FEM on b-side. I am thrilled we can support them, and am asking you to do the same.

If you watch FEM on YouTube, or watch the preview and podcasts on b-side, and you like what you see, please support these filmmakers by buying a DRM-free download or DVD. As with all b-side films, they earn a generous cut of every single sale.

Due to the overwhelming success of this first week, Susan and Arin have decided to extend their YouTube run for two months. And we’ll be here right alongside them. Check it out, tell a friend, and be a little part of history.

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