I saw this Vanity Fair article/interview come across my Twitter feed this morning and it's a nice, quick read about someone other than Kevin Smith four-walling his film.

From the piece...

Be willing to get doors slammed in your face and not take no for an answer?

Well, you have to both not take no for an answer and know how to take no for an answer. How to have no’s not affect you at some level, to know the no’s can be temporary, that they’re not a permanent door closing in your face.

Definitely check it out.

-Blake

Enough has already been said about Kevin Smith's foray into self-distribution with his latest film "Red State", but I would probably just add that I have no problem with him giving the finger to "the system". While he likely could have done it in a softer or more welcoming manner (of course this IS Kevin Smith), the overall strategy is actually quite smart... for this film.

But all the rhetoric that Kevin Smith is imploding or done I find amusing. The guy has an extremely loyal fan base that already buy tons of his merchandise, pay to see him speak, and see his movies. He really doesn't need Hollywood, bloggers or the press for any of this today, as he's recently said concerning social media, etc.

I wish him luck (and he'll need it to recoup $4 million).

-Blake

Good list of lots of shows up for their awards...



-Blake

Good read from NewTeeVee regarding Redbox (possibly) now feeling the affect of Netflix streaming.

Direct link:
http://gigaom.com/video/redbox-q4-miss/

From the piece:

For years, Redbox has been flying high with DVD kiosks that offered cut-rate movie rentals for $1 a day. But Redbox might want to launch a digital rental service soon, before it sees its DVD kiosk business affected by Netflix and other services that allow consumers to rent and purchase movies from the comfort of their own homes.

The writer notes that Redbox is hoping their new Blu-ray offerings at $1.50 a rented disk would create more business. To me though, this goes against the demo that I see using Redbox. I'm not privy to their marketing data, but my belief is Redbox caters to less tech savvy folks, and in a lot of cases, less affluent folks. Most probably don't have Blu-ray players.

Heck, I'm personally very tech savvy (and a filmmaker) and I just in the last six months bought a Blu-ray player. Funny thing too, the main reason I bought it was for its Internet capabilities. I primarily use it to stream Netflix movies (and I don't do this very often either - I mainly watch AT&T U-Verse free VOD). I think I've rented one Blu-ray from Netflix when I first got the player.

Personally, and this is really for another post, but I've always though that Blu-ray will be a short lived format. Everything is obviously going VOD via Netflix, AppleTV, iTunes, "The Cloud", etc. Who really wants to rebuild their DVD movie collection from scratch?

Although I will say I do think physical disks will be around for many more years (primarily DVDs). I mean, when the US gov't switched all TV broadcast to digital back in 2009 I was shocked at how many people still got their TV over the air - do you think these folks have Blu-ray players (or even an Internet connection)?

-Blake

Tubefilter just did a nice story (and quick interview with me) on my WB web original "Exposed" being part of a series of AT&T national TV spots. Check it out here.

Direct link:
http://news.tubefilter.tv/2011/01/10/exposed-web-series-cameos-in-att-u-verse-ad/

They also do a very quick update on my upcoming show "Continuum".

Thanks,
Blake

Found out yesterday that the podcast Indie Intertube has created it's 1st Annual Awards... and the teaser trailer from my upcoming sci-fi series CONTINUUM has been nominated.

So, you might be thinking... Another awards show? And the thought crossed my mind too, but the thing I really like about what they do is feature actual indie content.

Nothing wrong with studio produced shows (I've done one), but the main stuff being produced on the web is by indie producers. It's like the late 90s indie film boom all over again, but this time told in 3 to 5 minute bites.

Of course this is one of the things that pissed a lot of folks off with the Streamy Awards, all the larger scale studio fare getting a lot of the spotlight. Rightly or wrongly, there was a lot of debate about it. I personally didn't have an issue. I mean indie films compete with studio films at the Academy Awards too, so why not in the web space? But, I digress...

Even though I don't have a problem with the two competing, it is very nice to have a podcast and awards show geared towards only indie content (sort of like the Indie Spirit Awards in the feature world). And it's also very nice they nominated the teaser trailer to CONTINUUM too. :)

Oh, btw, Blip TV has done a really cool thing by compiling 42 episodes of the nominated series into one player (including CONTINUUM), so definitely go and check that out.

-Blake

P.S. CONTINUUM's post-production is going very well and I'll have info in the near future regarding its release!

Interesting article from Tubefilter on Kevin Rose's (from Diggnation) new show Foundation. He's doing a "freemium" model, which I am becoming more and more a fan of - although it has rarely been used successfully.

Here's a link to the article:
http://news.tubefilter.tv/2011/01/03/kevin-rose-launches-new-web-series-foundation/

I'm currently in a Twitter discussion with Marc Hustvedt (the author of the piece) and several other folks debating the merits of the model.

I personally think it's a great way to go for producers. You offer the content for free to everyone (eventually), but to those willing to pay they get the show earlier or perhaps in HD or with "extras", etc. So really you're providing the best of both worlds.

The main thing though - and this is the thrust of our Twitter debate - is you really need to have a built in audience or an existing fan base to make this work. A brand new show by unknown folks likely won't work on the pay side of things. But then again, it couldn't hurt either since you're still offering it for free too.

Look for more of this model in the future, especially from those of us who think rev share is pretty much a joke (even with Blip's good CPMs).

-Blake