Art is FREE; Audience is Priceless

We’re smack dab in the middle of the most opportunistic moment in history to be independent filmmakers. 

The confluence of emerging technologies, social trends and shifts in our consumption habits has created a perfect storm above the landscape of our digital age.  We’re mobile, we’re interactive and we want it right now in real-time, and when copyright owners fail to deliver--when, where and how the audience demands it, someone else does.  Despite industry’s best collective antipiracy efforts to thwart peer-to-peer sharing with lawsuits, security firms and content protection, virtually everything digital is already FREE.  Such is the digital revolution—we’re all insurgents.

Filmmakers who aspire to make money must first adapt their business model.  Simply speaking—if you’re not passionately committed to the  Art of movie making for the long haul, turn and run like hell--because it’s about to get ugly.  Trim the fat; dump the dead weight; stop searching high and low for more money and become highly-effective with even less.  This may sound counter-productive to some and par for the course for others (be thankful for this invaluable skillset).  When costs are low, profit potential is high, and when Art is FREE, your audience denotes the sum of your intangible assets:

1. Connect with like-minded creatives;
2. Stockpile your resources;
3. Collaborate co-operatively;
4. Engage your audiences collectively.
5. Repeat.

Sustaining this process channels numerous opportunities to generate alternative revenue streams as a direct result of your command of a loyal captive audience.  With a vested interest in your body of work, they will gratefully repay you for your artistic contributions for their social benefit.  Techdirt founder Mike Masnick formulates this best:

CwF + RtB = $$$

Connect with fans (CwF) 

give them a reason to buy (RtB)

and you’ll eventually turn a profit ($$$)

The idea of sustaining a long illustrious career doing something I love to do sounds beautifully bright to me—despite the doomsday profiteers who claim independent film is a dying art form.  Perhaps the demarcation between true independent film and ‘indie filmlike’ will grow more distinct and discernible, and that’s a good thing. 

I have a lot riding on ‘Brown Baby’ but I don’t foresee a theatrical release.  Alternatively, I see the reward in sharing a story I care about with people I care about--and ultimately caring about more people who discover the film and choose to care about me and my Art in the process.  But how will I reach them?  How will anyone know my ‘little movie that could’ even exists?  If nobody knows Miles Maker to begin with, and nobody knows the Actors (relatively speaking) in my brilliant little film, how might I possibly compete for your time and attention without a traditional ‘push’ marketing campaign?  My little "Brown Baby" wasn't born with a mammoth advertising budget, a dedicated promotional staff or strong ties to media outlets.  The ‘Brown Baby’ marketing strategy isn’t even broad audience--but technology enables me to deliver compelling resonant experiences through perpetual conversations with relevant users in a direct and meaningful way.  How?  You’ll see.  But even then, considering everything digital is already FREE, how will I convince someone unfamiliar with me or my work or my Actors to spend money for my movie?  Now consider the fact I rented ‘Wolverine’ starring Hugh Jackman from Redbox yesterday for $1 and I can watch Hollywood movies on my mobile phone for $4.99 and I can find any of this for FREE somewhere else on the Internet.  What in the hell am I thinking trying to charge money for my first movie?  Why would an emerging filmmaker release a debut a feature film looking backwards anyway?

 

A totally FREE movie makes all the sense in the world in light of everything we know about the digital age—where we are today and where we’ll be tomorrow, and this is nothing new: ‘Sita Sings the Blues’ is a totally FREE movie, yet animator Nina Paley has made over $55,000 from the movie—and that’s net profit, not gross revenue.  Over half of her profits have come from direct donations via her website and ‘honor’ contributions from cinemas screening the movie.  “It turns out that audiences really want to share money with artists,” Paley explains. “Who knew?”

"Brown Baby" is a totally FREE movie you can share, remix, re-use and rediscover.  Rediscover?  That’s the film's transmedia component.  As for the rest--it's courtesy of a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 unported License.  Will the movie be FREE to everyone?  No.  It all depends on where and how you discover it!  You will discover "Brown Baby" everywhere Online—


P2P (peer-to-peer) Networks:
BitTorrent
Vodo
P2P network Vodo accepts donations for FREE films.  As for Vodo's effectiveness--Ivo Gormley's documentary, "Us Now" was downloaded more than 10,000 times on its first day on Vodo. 


You'll also discover "Brown Baby" on FREE and paid Web distribution platforms for VOD and DVD:
CreateSpace (via Amazon)
EZTakes
Film Annex
FilmOn 
Flixster
HDMT 
Jaman
MovieFlix 
SurfTheChannel 


Theatrical Event Releasing:
OpenIndie
IndieScreenings


The size of Brown Baby’s audience is potentially enormous; my daunting challenge is in conceptualizing an effective strategy to easily (and affordably) reach them.  My objective is to convince as many people as possible to watch ‘Brown Baby,’ because Art is FREE; Audience is priceless.  Some will watch "Brown Baby" for FREE, while others will discover "Brown Baby" on a paid platform--while others may discover Brown Baby" for FREE and decide to DONATE.  However the "Brown BabyMaker Collector's Edition" DVD will NOT be FREE--it will feature all the extras (behind the scenes, cast & crew interviews, trailers, viral videos, music videos and transmedia installments) including a ‘FREE Brown Baby’ case study about the totally FREE film.  Stay tuned for DVD sales on our site through NeoFlix and merchant affiliates via IndieClix.  
Stay tuned!  "Brown Baby" is currently in development and will be released next Spring 2010.

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