Indie Film Service Withoutabox Adds the Rights Stuff

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Withoutabox.com, the Internet company that helps independent and wannabe filmmakers connect to the industry, is taking a large box approach.


In a bid to become a one-stop shop for indie auteurs, the firm has partnered with rights management software company Rightsline and acquired online consulting and marketing firm Film Finders. The moves will further aid the cause of any aspiring D.W. Griffith who happens to have a camera and a computer.


Withoutabox allows filmmakers to submit trailers, production notes, synopses, bios, marketing materials and film fest applications online. All of that material had to be printed, packaged and delivered via special delivery or snail mail in the past, which accounts for the company’s moniker.


The company, which was founded in 2000 by Chief Executive David Straus and President Joe Neulight, today has more than 100,000 members from more than 200 countries worldwide and provides access to more than 2,000 film festivals.


“The whole mission of Withoutabox is to democratize and provide opportunity for the independent filmmaker so that they can connect to the audience and the audience can connect to them,” said Straus. Besides the networking and informational benefits, the site’s Rights creates an open marketplace for filmmakers to hawk their wares.


“It gives them more access to distribution channels and to buyers,” says Straus. “It provides access to the buyers who can help them monetize their product.”


In addition to a $75-$90 membership fee, Withoutabox.com also charges a small fee on any transactions. But Straus has no dreams of establishing a distribution network. “We’re facilitating self-distribution. If the system works, then it’s profitable for everybody.”


For 18-year-old rights tracking firm Film Finders, the deal provides a broader base.


“They’re going to help us an awful lot on computer applications,” says Film Finders president Peter Belsito, who runs the company with his wife, Sydney, the chief executive officer. “We’re very complementary.”


Russell Reeder, founder and chief executive of Rightsline, believes that his firm’s partnership with Withoutabox and Film Finders, creates a major force on the Hollywood landscape.


“With Film Finders expertise and Rightsline’s robust product offerings including in-house management coupled with a full-featured online licensing interface Withoutabox becomes the top advocate for independent rights owners,” said Reeder.



Good News, Bad News


Yahoo Inc. has upgraded the finance features of its Web site, incorporating more interactive stock charts and other features in a bid to help it consolidate its lead over rivals.


That’s the good news. The bad news is that visitors to the spiffy new site are seeing that Yahoo shares have plummeted. The stock fell 22 percent to as low as $25.04 on the Nasdaq Stock Market last week. That marked the stock’s lowest point since it traded at a split-adjusted $25.34 in May 2004 and it wiped out $10.4 billion in shareholder wealth.


Investors were reacting to the announcement by Chief Executive Terry Semel that the rollout of an improved automated system for selling ads and placing them alongside consumers’ search results would be delayed. The owner of the Internet’s most-trafficked Web site keeps raking in more money as advertisers continue to shift their spending online, but it still lags well behind search engine leader Google Inc. And now it appears the gap won’t be closing as soon as its management has promised.



Catching Fire


Agoura Hills-based video game developer THQ has launched a development team. Incinerator Games will be based in Carlsbad and will focus on titles for next-generation consoles. The games unit is currently working on console versions of Disney’s “Cars” for Xbox 360. THQ said that the team is made up from developers of Twisted Metal, NFL GameDay and MLB 2006: The Show projects from Sony’s 989 studios, as well as the Midnight Club from Rockstar.



SEC Fallout


A shareholder has sued Santa Monica-based Activision Inc. over its stock options practices, the company revealed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last week. Defendants include Chief Executive Robert Kotick and other top executives. Activision rival Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. disclosed earlier this month that it was under SEC investigation for stock option policies dating back to 1997.



Burn, Baby


Santa Monica-based Movielink, whose online service lets consumers buy broadband movie downloads, has partnered with Sonic Solutions to enable viewers to burn their own DVDs. The technology from Sonic will allow consumers to burn movies onto recordable discs for playback on a standard DVD player, rather than just their computers. Movielink is a joint venture of MGM Studios, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Sonic and Movielink said they would also collaborate on marketing Movielink’s service through Sonic’s retail and online distribution channels.



Welcome Wagon


Think of it as the 21st Century equivalent of the basket on the porch of your new home. But Westlake Village-based Move’s Welcomewagon.com, which just launched last week, has the potential to provide even more lasting benefits for small businesses and consumers than the traditional bread, wine and fruit.


Using the system, more than 12 million business listings, in more than 3,700 categories, are available by keyword, zip code and addresses. Consumers can also read and write reviews, make recommendations about local business and share local expertise with movers.


Staff reporter Dan Cox can be reached at

[email protected]

or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 230.

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