The Golden Age of Internet programming has begun.

We have entered the Golden Age of Independent Series over the Internet

All media and formats have their Golden Age where artists flock to the new and—unbound by rules, standards, or precedent—create a great variety of amazing and original artworks.  The trouble with a Golden Age is that they are awfully hard to recognize when you’re in the middle of them—and even harder at the beginning.  But I’m here to tell you that the Golden Age of Independent Series over the Internet is beginning.

My bold prediction:

Within two years an independent series airing on the Internet will be generally recognized as being as good as any of the better content on broadcast television—and better than much of the network dreck.

Depending on where you see the state of independent series, this statement is either ludicrous or obvious—I doubt there’s much middle ground.  To me, it’s so plain to see that I worry that I’m pussy-footing around the issue—I should probably shorten the time period to one year and expect a half dozen independent series to be recognized in this way…on the cover of Newsweek.  However, many people are understandably stuck in a Fred/machinima/montages-of-cat-photos mindset when they hear the words “web series” or anything similar, so it’s hard for them to see past the current glut of user-generated content.

(continue reading…)

The future--and present--of visual storytelling. Get with the program.

I’m changing the focus of this blog to creating Internet-based television series and distributing them to an audience.  In the past I spoke about independent film because that was what I was interested in and where I thought I had some experience worth sharing.  The fact that I’ve become an infrequent blogger reflects my waning interest in independent film.  I’ll always love indie films and may even be fortunate enough to make more.  But I’ve come to believe that there are better formats for both audiences and content creators—namely, serialized long-form stories distributed over the Internet.

I’ll be posting more about this soon, but in short, I believe we’re entering a golden age for visual storytellers and audiences where the confluence of new production tools, new modes of internet-based distribution, and new socio-economic realities are coming together to allow experienced filmmakers to create series for web-based audiences that rival the quality of network shows without being reduced to the least common denominator in order to satisfy a network-sized audience.

Of course, people have been talking about this possibility for several years now, without it yet becoming a reality.  I believe that’s about to change.  Changes on all three of these fronts: better cameras and software, more effective web distribution channels, and a recent societal and economic shift all push this closer to reality.  All of this will be the topic of several posts to come as I lay out my vision of what seems to be coming and how filmmakers can reap the benefits.

I hope you’ll join me on this journey of discovery.  I believe that this is going to be the most fecund and rewarding time that filmmakers have seen in decades. I’ve spent the past three years creating a media company—Popular Uprising—to explore and exploit these rapidly emerging opportunities.  Popular Uprising is the product of untold hours of work from myself, my business partner Dan Southworth, and a few other amazing collaborators.  We would not have put the time into this if we did not see a very real opportunity.  We’ve learned a lot along the way and I’m sure we have much, much more learning ahead of us as we release our various series.  The first series, DIVERGENCE will begin airing in 2012.  I want to share what I’m discovering in the hopes that it paves the way for other filmmakers looking to play in this sandbox.  I also want invite you to share what you’re learning to keep the dialogue going.  I’m here to learn as well.

Hi Doug.  Your site is kick-ass.  When I grow up I’m going to have one just like it.  My question for your wise counsel: my independent film, which was mostly shunned by festival programmers for being “too light,” and then was handled briefly by a sales rep who went belly up in the latest financial meltdown, has attracted the interest of an online distributor that is one of the top two most reputable such organizations.  They are asking for a six month exclusive window, are promising a nice launch with splash promos, and tie-ins with a major market, where they are a presence.  Please give me your thoughts about what you would look for in any deal of this kind, I know you’ve been through this circus ride a couple of times.

Yeah, I know that circus ride well.  My feature Entry Level was considered “too light” by some festival programmers.  Often, I think that’s indie film code for, “a film that audiences will actually enjoy.”

Before I mention what I’d look for in an online release deal, I want to mention that there are probably three routes open to a filmmaker at your stage of the game.  Depending on your film, these are the options you could consider:

Go big

If you’re burdened with a lot of extra money, you could remedy the situation pretty easily by hiring a publicist and/or film rep to try to give your film a higher profile.  I’ve seen a number of indie films that garnered the acceptance and publicity they needed largely because someone had the funds to buy some attention early on in the game. (continue reading…)

Want to watch Full Disclosure for free? Someone's pirating it on YouTube...if you can stand the quality.

I’m very interested in the future of in online distribution for independent films, so I’m trying a quick experiment. (This experiment isn’t pure science.  It has the potential benefit of clearing out a box of DVDs under my desk.  But mostly, it’s science.)

The other day I found a pirated version of Full Disclosure on YouTube.  It’s a really bad version shot with a camcorder off Italian television.  The sound is horrible, as is the image, (on the plus side, however, there are Italian subtitles!).  YouTube has a procedure for removing pirated content, but it’s arduous and I don’t have the time at the moment.  Besides, it’s the free availability of this pirated version that makes the experiment possible.  So for the moment, I’m going to leave it there.

There’s this theory going around that people pirate what they like but can’t buy when, how, or in the format they wish to.  Mostly, this theory comes from people trying to justify their illegal downloading of content, but it also comes from some really smart folks who think a lot about all things digital, like my friend Fred Chong Rutherford.  Personally, I have my doubts about this, theory, but hell, the only thing I know for sure is that I don’t know everything.  So I’m going to try an experiment. (continue reading…)

From my guest blog on IndieFlix.

Excerpt from 6 Ways to Make People Watch Your Movie – Part 2: Make Them Laugh.

We filmmakers need to get people excited about our films.  Rather than hoping to stumble across a successful marketing approach for a film, it’s better to plan one from the very start–ideally before you commit to making the film–and tweak it based on what really gets people to pay to watch movies.  “6 Ways” is about those things that motivate someone to say, “I’ve got to see that!”

So how do movies like Napoleon Dynamite or The Hangover rocket from obscurity to national reknown in the blink of an eye.  Is it the big stars?  The special effects?  The action scenes?   Actually, it turns out these movies are really, really funny.

From my IndieFlix guest-blog.  Read the rest.