NEWS / WINDOWS

YouTube Opens Screening Room For Indie Filmmakers

19 Jun, 2008, 11:00 am IST | AP | Windows

Google Inc.'s YouTube is setting up a virtual screening room to bring the work of independent filmmakers to a global audience.

Struggling filmmakers already use YouTube to kick-start viral marketing campaigns. The new feature, which debuts Wednesday, gives them an easy-to-find home - and makes them partners in drawing new ad revenue.

"Hopefully as they see thousands of people watching their films, it's going to be a very eye-opening experience," said Sara Pollack, YouTube's film and animation manager.

The screening room will highlight four new films a week, picked by a YouTube editorial panel.

Submissions are welcomed. The panel also will scour film festivals and work with partners such as the Sundance Channel to identify prospects.

Among the first eight titles to be showcased are "Love and War," a stop-motion puppet movie by a Swedish director; the Oscar-nominated short "I Met The Walrus," about an interview with John Lennon; and "Are You the Favorite Person of Anybody?" by performance artist Miranda July.

Filmmakers can choose to have a "Buy Now" button attached to their work for sales of DVDs or digital copies. They will also collect a majority share of ad revenue generated from views of their work.

YouTube said people whose clips regularly attract a million viewers can make several thousand dollars a month.

The bigger prize can be exposure.

When YouTube featured the nine-minute short "Spider" by Nash Edgerton in February, it became the fifth-best selling short on iTunes, Pollack said.

The creators of the full-length feature "Four Eyed Monsters," Susan Buice and Arin Crumley, got their break when more than a million YouTube views helped land them a TV and DVD distribution deal, she said.

"They ended up doing really, really well, ironically by putting their film online for free," Pollack said.
RELATED STORIES

Interactive canvas livens The Starry Night painting by Van Gogh

Interactive canvas livens The Starry Night painting by Van Gogh

Although a far fetched thought, stirring the starry sky with your finger tips or hands could be an exhilarating ...

Chinese mobile marketing company, Madhouse launches in India

Buying Metro tickets through NFC could be a reality by 2016

Citrix CloudStack 3 to offer Amazon-style clouds to customers

Protests erupt across Europe against web piracy treaty

Google is getting new test labs and 'Experience Center' at Googleplex

U.S government agency replaces BlackBerry with iPhone

 

Leaked Images, Availability, Pricing,
Specs, Pre-order

features

5 free operating systems that aren't Linux

5 free operating systems that aren't Linux

The war of operating systems started decades ago, and the first mainstream

By Rossi Fernandes

It's a great time to be a family

It's a great time to be a family

Microsoft has unveiled its first ever global, multi-product advertising...

By Advertorial

A look at MeeGo on a netbook

A look at MeeGo on a netbook

In a sea of operating systems with Windows 7, the upcoming Windows 8 and...

By Rossi Fernandes

MORE FEATURES

Lenovo ThinkPad X220 Review

Rahul Mukherjee

Wed Feb 15, 22:19:14

Top smartphones under Rs.10,000

Pintu Patel

Wed Feb 15, 20:14:09

Presenting TukTuk, A GPS Based Auto Fare Calculator

Sripad Vaidya

Wed Feb 15, 19:50:41

MORE DISCUSSIONS

Close