@ZakForsman Genius! DIY 'How To Build Your Own VOD Portal (in a matter of hours for less than $100)' #infdist

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"WHY DO THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE?

About a year ago, there was a lot of talk about the merging of broadband internet and the televisions in our living rooms. That has since been subplanted by a shift in focus toward the creative process and making better films. However, when Google TV was announced not long ago for a Fall release, I found myself revisiting the importance of discovery and distribution for a 24 hour period in which I built my own video on demand portal. If Google TV is able to populate amongst our TVs and other home theater devices as quickly as Netflix Watch Instantly did, we could be having some interesting conversations a year from now. In anticipation, I began digging into what it would cost in time and money to launch such a portal online for the films of Sabi Pictures and the films we’ve curated via the CINEFIST Screening Series. We’re calling it CINEFIST TV.

First I looked into services offered by Youreeka, Maxcast and others – disappointed at the cost, how little of the purchase price would go into our own pocket and the fact that the customers had to start accounts with these other companies. So then I began to look into doing what they do, but on our own site. I wanted to mimic the Netflix Watch Instantly experience — streaming video, a simple interface, a way to pay for the content with the option to make it free, and I wanted it cheap.

Now, I’m sure there are a few of you that are ahead of the curve on this one. This might not be for you as these are the discoveries of someone who has never done this before, but maybe you could offer some insight that would improve it a bit. That being said, this article assumes you know how to compress videos for the web and that you’ve got a handle on building web sites, registering domain names and setting up a hosting service. What follows is just the first incarnation of our VOD portal. It will evolve.

THE FOUNDATION AND PORTAL INTERFACE

First I needed a platform that would work in any browser. I’ve long been using Wordpress for all our sites and have become a great admirer of the premium video-based themes designed by Jason Schuller at Press75.com. For purposes of this VOD portal, I chose the appropriately named “On Demand” theme. They have a number of themes that would work equally well...."

read the full detailed DIY post:

http://workbookproject.com/newbreed/2010/06/21/build-your-own-vod-portal/

Seriously? DirecTV plans $30 Premium VOD charge for films 8 weeks post release. Really? Piracy AHOY!

THEATER OWNERS VS. PREMIUM VOD VS. NETFLIX

Movies and television may be media’s most volatile business arenas, with battles opening up on a variety of fronts.

Theaters owners and studios are inching toward open war as D-Day nears for Thursday's DirecTV launch of premium VOD -- Hollywood’s daring move at last to reconfigure release windows by making current movies available sooner for home viewing.

Through DirecTV’s looming “Home Premium,” Sony, Time Warner's Warner Bros., Comcast-controlled Universal and News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox are aiming to accelerate movies to home screens eight weeks from theatrical release -- shrunken from an average of 12 -- at $30 per VOD rental.

Also read: Theater Owners Ready to Retaliate Over Premium VOD

Worried that moviegoers might skip the megaplex for the home couch, some top circuits reportedly are privately considering retaliation, including killing movie previews and lobby posters of upcoming movies as well as other financial counterattacks.

Read Johnnie L. Roberts' excellent, long & detailed post on thewrap.com

http://bit.ly/gOXzGj

James Cameron Siding With Theater Owners Against Studios' Premium VOD Plan - The Hollywood Reporter

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Excerpt:

"On Wednesday, Cinemark Entertainment told the four studios it won't carry trailers, or put up signage, for any movie until the studio notifies it in writing whether the title will be part of the premium VOD offering down the road. Cinemark also could refuse to play a film.

"We are not here to market movies for DirecTV and VOD. We are demanding they tell us upfront what movies those are," Cinemark CEO Alan Stock told The Hollywood Reporter. "Our goal is to promote and advertise movies for their theatrical run."

Cinemark's stern warning came one day after Regal Entertainment told the four studios that it is slashing by half the number of all trailers it plays from them. Nor will it play a spot for any film that's slotted for premium VOD. The policy takes effect April 15.

Representatives from AMC Entertainment met with studios Wednesday to discuss the steps it plans on taking...."

cont.

"...Last week, director Todd Phillips spoke out against the premium VOD service when attending CinemaCon, the annual convention of theater owners. He was there as part of the Warner Bros. contingent, promoting his The Hangover Part II.
Phillips told theater owners he makes his films for the big screen, not for the small screen. Otherwise, he would be have been a television director.

Cameron also attended CinemaCon to discuss the future of digital cinema and give a demonstration on frame rates. He repeatedly told exhibitors that the theatrical experience can't be repeated in the home, particularly when it comes to digital 3D and new technologies....

Future of Film - Timing & Access - Couldn't agree more| Exhibition and Distribution in the Digital Age

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Excerpt from Todd Wagner's post on Tribecafilm.com:

"Personally, by the time a movie is out on pay-per-view or DVD, I often don’t care about it anymore because it’s simply off my radar. People aren’t talking about it, and I’ve got new movies or other entertainment choices that are more top of mind at that moment. So they’ve lost me as a potential customer. The goal here is to grow the customer pie, and share it.

According to the Nielsen study, avid moviegoers – those who go to 10 or more movies per year – said they would go to a theatre even if movies were available simultaneously on DVD or for download. So your bread and butter (the aforementioned 80 percent of revenues) aren’t leaving, but yes, you must sell to the lighter movie-goers or risk losing them to the alternatives. I think that’s healthy, and I think that with things like IMAX, 3D and all sorts of new enhancements on the horizon, there will be even more reasons to go to the theatre. But exhibition cannot afford to ignore the changing marketplace. The Nielsen study goes on to state: “The data highlights an interrelationship between movie-going, DVD sales, DVD rentals, suggesting that multiple platforms for movie consumption could be expanding total revenue, bringing once active, now inactive, or potentially never active, movie consumers into the family, as opposed to cannibalizing and shrinking revenues. Movie fans are likely to consume a greater frequency of movies as complementary platforms emerge to accommodate their lifestyle and preferences. If the movie industry can overcome the short-term business issues and resolve to empower consumer choice in what today feels like a risky proposition, it might very well be rewarding in the long run...”

Another Big Shift: New Film Site Fandor: A Cross Between Sundance and Netflix, Only Smaller #infdist

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Tim Appelo's full article is on Hollywood Reporter

"What the film industry desperately needs is a merger of social networks and content," says Ted Hope, the celebrated producer of American Splendor and dozens of indie hits at Sundance and elsewhere. That's why he just joined former Facebook chief privacy officer Chris Kelly on the board of Fandor, the indie film streaming site built by Dan Aronson and Jonathan Marlow, a veteran of Amazon and GreenCine. After several months in beta (trial-run mode), Fandor made its full-fledged debut Wednesday.
Fandor streams about 2,500 films, far fewer than Amazon or Netflix. But instead of having users discover movies through mainstream studio marketing and "people who bought this also bought that" algorithms, Fandor concentrates on indie (and international) movies -- no TV -- and relies on human expertise to curate, like a film fest programmer or the proprietor of a great video store like Chicago's Facets or Seattle's Scarecrow Video -- to pick the good ones, from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to the latest, weirdest Oscar-nominated foreign film, Dogtooth. "It isn't just a simple algorithm," says Marlow. "It's an actual individual who can distil the reasons why you might be interested in the movie." Then you can read learned essays about the films, and plunge into the discussion youself. For $10 a month (or a free first-month introductory trial) you can watch all you want on Fandor, and rave (or pan) them with friends on Facebook..."

Love that 202 pirates participated in study: Premium VOD Is Doomed If This Piracy Study Is Correct | paidContent

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Read Andrew Wallenstein's full article on paidcontent.org:

Excerpt from the Feb 15, 2011 article:

"The PwC study, which surveyed 202 adults last September who engaged in piracy, found that while 76 percent of respondents said “they are somewhat willing to pay a nominal fee if the content can be accessed closer to its release date,” consumers said they were willing to pay no more than $3 to download a movie and less than $1 for a TV program.

Note that’s “download,” which means to own, not the premium-VOD rental model. And it gets worse because even if the pricing was remotely comparable, two months is too long a wait: 83 percent of those willing to pay want the content within one month or less...."

Finally!: Gosling/Dunst film goes straight to V.O.D. THEN Cinemas with success at box office

Hollywood Wonders, How Soon Is Too Soon for V.O.D.?

Excerpt from original article:

“All Good Things,” which cost about $20 million to make, performed in spectacular fashion on V.O.D., selling over $4 million in rentals priced at about $10.99, according to Magnolia, which is a division of 2929 Entertainment, a media company co-owned by Mark Cuban. Eamonn Bowles, Magnolia’s president, said that total makes “All Good Things” one of the top nonstudio V.O.D. releases of the year. (Unlike box-office statistics, video-on-demand sales are not closely tracked by independent sources.)

When “All Good Things” finally arrived in theaters, including prominent independent places like New York’s Angelika Film Center, ticket sales averaged about $19,000 a theater — a strong performance by specialty film standards. To date, “All Good Things,” playing in 35 theaters nationwide, has sold about $200,000 in tickets, according to Magnolia. The film, an awards contender, will expand to a much wider release in the weeks ahead.

“The idea is to turn V.O.D. almost into a paid word-of-mouth campaign — early adopters and people interested in the subject matter will find the film and hopefully tell their friends it is worth seeing in a theater,” Mr. Bowles said.

Could that sort of word-of-mouth campaign also power a Hollywood blockbuster?

Hollywood Eyes Shortcut to TV - New Films to Hit Homes in 30 Days

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very very very interesting

During a cable industry convention last week, executives from Time Warner Cable Inc. made the first formal pitch to the Hollywood studios for what is known as "home theater on demand." The cable company presented a variety of scenarios. But the main one, which has received early support from some studio executives, would allow consumers to watch a movie at home just 30 days after its theatrical release—far earlier than the usual four months—for roughly $20 to $30 a pop.

That proposal is still being debated and talks are fluid. People close to the matter say that several studios could sign on to a version of it as soon as the fall, making the first movies available on such a system by the end of the year or early 2011.

Among the studios who have reviewed the proposal are Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros., Walt Disney Co.'s Disney Studios, General Electric Co.'s Universal Pictures, Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures, Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures and News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox. News Corp. is the parent company of The Wall Street Journal....