Independent filmmakers have a bevy of licensing options to extend the revenue life of their films, such as Netflix. But options to sell directly to consumers have so far been limited. Today, new ways for filmmakers to sell directly to viewers are beginning to pop up.
A self-distribution service called Pumit, whose parent company has offices in Beverly Hills, announced its U.S. launch last week at a film panel at the Directors Guild of America.
Made by French technology company UbicMedia, it has been available overseas for some time. But Pumit is now trying to make a big move into Hollywood – UbicMedia set up its local office earlier this year to make deals with L.A. filmmakers.
The technology has been tested on a select few American films so far, such as “New York Doll” – a 2005 documentary about the late Arthur Kane, a former member of glam band New York Dolls – produced by Seth Gordon and directed by Greg Whiteley.
The movies are converted by Pumit into secure files that can be e-mailed or posted online and then downloaded. Part of the idea is to make the movies available through social media.
For example, a link posted to the Facebook fan page of the New York Dolls – which has more than 100,000 members – gives the option to download the film for three viewings at a cost of $2.99 through PayPal.
Content owners decide the pricing of the movies and also can keep track of analytics, such as when and where people watch.
Currently, much of the digital paid download market is dominated by Apple Inc.’s iTunes, which has a model that shares 70 percent of download revenue with content rights holders.
Pumit is hoping to attract clients by ceding 100 percent of the download revenue to the rights holders. The service instead makes money by charging content owners annual fees of about $300, or $30 per month for the service.
Self-distribution has become a hot topic in Hollywood since comedian Louis C.K. generated more than $1 million in sales from a $5-per-download special he posted on his website late last year. Imitators have followed.
New Buyers
The American Film Market in Santa Monica is one of the largest markets for independent producers to sell international distribution rights. And when the week-long event kicks off Oct. 31 there will be more than 120 new film-buying companies in attendance.
The event’s organizer, Westwood nonprofit Independent Film & Television Alliance, said last week that the new buyers come from 23 different countries, including Argentina, China, Germany and Italy.
“We are seeing a shift in the way sub-distributors acquire film as they steadily rely less on local distributors and more on direct acquisitions,” Jonathan Wolf, AFM managing director and IFTA executive vice president, said in a statement.
The event is attended each year by thousands of filmmakers, financiers and other film industry types who come to watch screenings and hear panelists. But the number of film buyers is a key indicator of how strong the deal-making activity at the market will be.
Most of the new companies that will attend are international. About 90 percent of last year’s estimated 1,700 individual buyers were from overseas.
Thirteen new companies this year are from China, which has had a growing turnout at the market in recent years as a result of increased demand for Western content in the country.
There are also L.A.-based buyers attending for the first time, such as Hulu LLC and Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
Sun Screens
Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp., a Woodland Hills company that helps theaters switch from 35 mm to digital exhibition announced its first large-scale deal with theaters outside of the United States and Canada last week.
Cinedigm announced that it will arrange for the deployment of 290 digital screens at theaters operated by Caribbean Cinemas, a San Juan, Puerto Rico-based chain of theaters. It is the largest movie exhibitor in the Caribbean, operating 53 theatres with a total of 437 screens.
In most cases, Cinedigm acts as a middleman by providing theaters with financing needed to convert the screens and also contracting with digital projector manufacturers for the installations. The company has also done some smaller deals in Brazil, Australia and elsewhere around the world.
Almost three-fourths of screens in the United States have already been converted to digital, but the non-European international market is less mature.
Staff reporter Jonathan Polakoff can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 226.
