Waterborne Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Waterborne's director declares Google Video release a success
Filed under: Drama », Independent », Distribution », Newsstand », Home Entertainment », Cinematical Indie »
In early January, we reported the news that
director Ben Rekhi had turned down six figure distribution offers in
favor of releasing his 2005 SXSW hit, Waterborne, on Google Video. Under Rekhi's
agreement with Google, the movie could be watched via streaming video for free (for its first 10 days of release), or
downloaded for less than $5.According to Rekhi, his movie was viewed over 25,000 times in its first two weeks of release, and was downloaded hundreds of times every day. The film's producer, Smriti Mundhra, told The Hollywood Reporter's Anne Thompson that the decision was an unequivocal success: "The exposure we've gotten though the Google Video distribution model vastly exceeds what we would have gained through traditional theatrical distribution." Furthermore, the movie's presence on Google Video and the associated publicity have led to DVD preorders (currently at about 15,000) that greatly exceeded Rekhi's expectations. All in all, Waterborne has become a great advertisement for the concrete advantages of online distribution to the makers of independent films.
Waterborne comes out on DVD in two weeks.
Waterborne to debut at Google Video Store
Filed under: Drama », Deals », Sundance », Tech Stuff », Distribution », Newsstand »
Waterborne, Ben
Rekhi's directorial debut about "the fictional aftermath of a bio-terrorist attack on the water supply of
LA," was very popular at last year's SXSW Film Festival, where it was the runner-up for the Narrative Feature
audience award. Though the film's producers were offered $125,000 in exchange for distribution rights, they turned the
unnamed suitor down in order to become the first feature made available under the Google Video Store's "new
'download-to-own,' distribution model."The film, which made its online debut yesterday, will be available to view free in a streaming format for a week; in addition, it's available for download at the price of $4.99. According to Google, what sets their approach apart from those of other downloadable video sources, is that once a customer pays for a download, their use of the file is completely unrestricted - it can be moved to an iPod, or burned to DVD forty-seven times. Whatever the customer wants to do is fine, because they own the file. In addition, Google is reportedly splitting profits with the creators of content in an unusually friendly way: 30% for Google, 70% for the creators. This, if nothing else, should earn them looks from filmmakers who are searching for cheap ways to reach new audiences.
What do you think - are the guys at Google stretching themselves a little bit too thin with this new venture, or is it yet another great new step for an equally great company? Also, is the profit structure really as good as it sounds? Input would be appreciated, particularly from frequent users of Google Video (personally, the reliance on Flash is such a pain for me that I rarely use it).
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