YouTube Brings Sundance Films Out for Rental Until Jan 31st

YouTube Rentals is now live, and one of the offerings is a selection of films that screened at Sundance this year (and last). Dig it:

As you may have heard, we recently introduced YouTube Rentals. We’re very excited about this new offering as it will add to the great selection of movies already available on YouTube, including a group of independent films we’d like to tell you about now.

Until January 31st, you can rent five feature films from the 2009 and 2010 Sundance Film Festivals on YouTube. From last year’s documentary hit “The Cove” to selections from the brand new NEXT Category, there should be enough to keep you busy through the end of the Festival. The films available are:

“Children of Invention” explores the American Dream as seen through the eyes of a Chinese American family living in suburban Boston.

In “Homewrecker,” a prisoner on work release and a live-wire kook take a day-long ride in a seemingly stolen vehicle that neither of them will soon forget.

In “The Cove” an elite team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers embark on a covert mission to penetrate a remote and hidden cove in Japan, and shine a light on a dark and deadly secret.

When humble Linas, kicked off of his friends couch and spurned by his lover, finds a forgotten van on a llama farm outside Seattle, he begins lurching east with nothing to lose in “Bass Ackwards”

In “One Too Many Mornings,” Fisher and Pete are two dudes with dude problems — one drinks too much and one just got cheated on by his girlfriend — and few prospects of helping each other out.

Head on over and check out the rentals. They’re 3.99 a piece looks like.

“Bass Ackwards” Film to Premiere on VOD February 1st

UPDATE: the film is currently available for rental on Youtube – Rent “Bass Ackwards” on YouTube for $3.99

“Bass Acwkards”, a new film recently screening at Sundance, is set to premiere in the US on VOD one day after the film fest comes to a close: Feb 1st, 2010. Check it out:

In an unprecedented distribution maneuver that will bypass theatrical and other traditional windows, the highly anticipated film, Bass Ackwards, which will have its World Premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, will be available nationwide one day after the festival closes. Through this unusual distribution deal with New York based New Video and Zipline Entertainment, Bass Ackwards will be available for purchase and download in tens of millions of homes via major digital retailers, cable VOD and DVD on demand beginning Monday, February 1, 2010. A full retail DVD release in the spring will include in-depth bonus material documenting the unique distribution strategy. This ground-breaking deal is a first of its kind for a feature-length film out of a premier festival like Sundance.

The film, executive produced by Sundance veteran Mark Duplass and marketing executive Marian Koltai-Levine, produced by Thomas Woodrow and directed by actor Linas Phillips, also stars Phillips as a man who embarks on a lyrical, strange and comedic cross-country journey in a modified VW bus after ending a disastrous affair with a married woman.

There’s also a short video from the film’s producer discussing why they’re going this route for distribution.

For more info, check out the Bass Ackwards website. Apparently they were trying to raise money for the premiere, though they have only met 10% of their goal. It is not clear whether or not that has impacted the release. Still, a step in the right direction if it happens.

Thanks Rotten Tomatoes.

Netflix Streaming Goes International in 2010

Foreigners rejoice! No more VPN tunneling and proxy hacks. If Netflix streaming is your bag, you might see it expand to your country in the second half of 2010. Here’s the word:

CEO Reed Hastings unveiled the company’s plans to take its business international next year—albeit streaming-only, not mail-order rentals. “We’re looking to the second half of 2010 to make our streaming offering international,” he said, during the company’s Q309 earnings call. “The plan is to start small in one market, prove out our model, and expand into other countries.”

The article also features some interesting statistics that Netflix has gathered about their customers. Netflix also estimates that postal costs for their operation will weigh in around $600 MILLION. Unreal. Read the full article at PaidContent – Netflix To Take Its Streaming Business International Next Year.

Get Splattered: New Webseries “Splatter” to Debut on Netflix For Free

That’s right, the genius that brought you Gremlins is back with a new webseries called “Splatter“, starring your favorite Goonie Corey Feldman. The series, produced by B-movie legend Roger Corman, will debut for free on Netflix (no account required). The first episode will go up on October 29th, with a second following on November 6th, and then the finale on November 13th (a Friday too, nice). Here’s some more info:

Directed by Joe Dante, “Splatter” is about a musical genius who accumulated as many hit records as he did enemies while climbing up the fame ladder. Johnny Splatter’s sudden death, ruled a suicide, brings a small circle of professional parasites and hangers-on to his Hollywood Hills mansion for the reading of his last will and testament.  But as his “frenmies” come to pick the bones clean, Johnny has returned for a deadly encore long after what they thought was his final curtain.

The Splatter website already has a trailer and some nice bonus features. Go check it out! Thanks to Hacking Netflix again – Netflix To Present Free Webisodes of ‘Splatter’ Starting on October 29th.

FedFlix – National Technical Information Service Library of Commerce

FedFlix is a new initiative by the “National Technical Information Service (NTIS), a bureau within the Department of Commerce that operates on a self-sustaining basis without annual appropriations, and Public.Resource.Org, Inc.” The site allows you to peruse “588 Fine Federal Films” for your enjoyment. Some of the interesting ones include some pretty unintentionally hilarious docu-dramas called The US Postal Inspectors. There’s plenty of stuff to watch, so if you’re bored then headover to FedFlix.

Thanks to Hacking Netflix for the tip.

Comcast to Expand Streaming VOD

Comcast looks to expand the streaming service out to PCs, as long as you’re getting your internet through them too. Dig it:

Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) On Demand Online will move from trial to reality later this year but not as the TV Everywhere wonderland all the hype might lead subscribers to expect: the streaming on demand will be limited to some cable shows and movies, access will be limited to in-home computers—and, at first, access will be possible only through Comcast’s own ISP, barring anyone who does not pay Comcast for video and broadband. But, as promised, the actual service will be free to cable subscribers; access will bethrough Comcast.net or the company;s video portal Fancast.

Sounds pretty weak. If you’re a Comcast subscriber, read the full story at PaidContent – Comcast Will Expand Streaming On Demand This Year; Not Quite TV Everywhere.

U2 Can Watch U2 Perform Live on U2ube

Sorry about that title. This Sunday the Irish rockers U2 will perform a show in California that will stream live on YouTube. From the BBC:

Fans in 16 countries, including the UK, the US, Australia and India, will be able to watch the show at 0330 GMT.

It will be the band’s penultimate concert of the year.

YouTube said it would place adverts around the video “in the normal manner”, and that clips from the concert would be available on the site after the gig ends.

The site will also offer viewers the ability to chat to one another using Twitter, or to give money to Bono’s RED charity via a “donate now” button, while they watch the show.

If U2 is your bag, enjoy the stream on Sunday. Read the full article on the BBC – U2 gig to be streamed on YouTube.

Day-and-Date for Disc Based Media and VOD Strategy is Working

Sure, maybe it is a bad example because it’s “Twilight”. It’s something you wouldn’t understand unless you’re a teenage girl. However, Summit Entertainment is reporting that their fears of digital copies taking precedence over the obsolete disc formats are still not yet a reality. Observe:

When Summit Entertainment released the vampire hit simultaneously on DVD and video-on-demand, it broke the oldest taboo in home entertainment: No other studio had released a pic grossing more than $100 million at the domestic B.O. that way, fearing VOD transactions would cannibalize disc sales.

As the entertainment biz inevitably moves toward a day when discs will give way to product delivered directly to TVs and computers, the business is poised somewhat uneasily on a tightrope. Summit and some majors like the day and date VOD and DVD release strategy; others are worried it will cut into DVD sales.

But that didn’t happen with “Twilight”: The March release became — and still is — the year’s top home entertainment title. Almost 8.5 million copies have been sold on disc or via download on sites such as iTunes, while rentals have exceeded 14 million transactions on all formats, with VOD accounting for a healthy portion of that.

Summit Home Entertainment prexy Steve Nickerson is convinced the release strategy paid off in greater overall coin.

The article goes on to explain more on the decline of DVD sales and where the market is at. It’s a good read, so check out the full article on Variety – The upside of a DVD and VOD day-and-date release.

The End of the Line for Hollywood, What On-Demand Means for Studios and Cable Companies

Recently there’s been a slew of articles outlining the future of VOD and the doom it spells for the Hollywood studios and the cable companies alike. The first article is an interesting one pertaining to some anti-piracy reforms currently going on in the MPAA camp and some of the major Hollywood studios’ slow reaction time to the rapidly changing VOD market. Here’s a snip:

But if you’re really inclined to wag a finger, there is nothing disrupting your business more than the Internet. The MPAA has worked hard to force file-sharing sites out of business or push them to the Web’s fringes. At first, the studios tried to kill file sharing with lawsuits. Then they hired security firms, such as MediaDefender and MediaSentry, which promised to discourage file sharers by blocking or slowing the sharing process. None of that worked.

Maybe that’s one reason the MPAA overhauled its “antipiracy” operations three weeks ago. CNET reported on Friday that the studios’ trade group decided to change the name of the “antipiracy” unit to “content protection” and fired three leaders, including the MPAA’s general counsel.

Read the full article over at Cnet – End of the world as Hollywood knows it.

The second article pertains to TV specifically, attacking the outdated distribution and revenue model for the shows. The main point that the author is making, albeit indirectly, is that viewers value two things above all else: quality and convenience. Quality is two-fold: that’s to say the artistic quality of the show (why you like it) and the visual quality of the content (HD). Convenience is a no-brainer. It is far easier for people to pirate a show and watch it at their convenience without interruptions (commercials) than it is to catch it on the tube or deal with using a Tivo. Here’s a snip from that article:

What I’m doing is downloading TV shows and sending them to a media player near my TV. I’m doing this because there exist two separate infrastructures that interface imperceptibly at one key point – the official cable and online distribution networks and the shady underworld of pirate distributors. Right now that interface is a trickle, but it will soon be, pardon the pun, a torrent.

The first infrastructure is the studio system. While I’m talking specifically about TV here, we can also extrapolate to talk about movies and music. This infrastructure is based on the advertising or distribution model in that they make all their money placing advertisements around their content or by placing their content onto physical media. But what is important to note is that the TV industry is in a completely different business from the music and movie industry. They’re not “selling” a product. They’re selling the space around a product. They they commission artists to make that product better in hopes of raising the price of the space around that product. They sell DVDs, sure, but that’s a sideline.

I think the true testament to all of this is the fact that it is no longer (or maybe never was) a faux paux to admit you’re pirating TV shows and films because “everybody else is already doing it”. Indeed. Read the full article at CrunchGear – What “on-demand” media really means and why your cable company should be scared

“Stingray Sam” Premieres Tonight Online @ 7pm PST!

A new independent feature film entitled “Stingray Sam” is premiering tonight at 7:00 pm PST for FREE, following a live Q&A with the film’s creators. Imdb describes Stingray Sam as a “Musical/Sci-Fi/Western/Comedy” – sounds interesting enough to us! The film can also be purchased in a few different formats, including an iPod version and a HD quality file. Trailer after the jump.

… Continue Reading