UNITED STATES OF FREE

     Remember person to person sharing sites like Napster?  It is clear now that this concept of free media going mainstream was ahead of its time.  This is the age of celebrities hosting free podcasts, and advertising based free TV and movie streaming services such as Pluto TV, Tubi and Crackle.  With piracy looking like an insurmountable problem, movie studios, film producers and music recording artists have adapted to stay alive.

     This is the United States of free, and yes it has cut into profit margins, but it does give power to the consumer, which in turn will bring people to these platforms in droves.  How does a filmmaker continue in this new climate?  Glad you ask, the following is case studies that should help you find the answers.

- Give for free then you’ll get back, you’ll see.

     There are many cases of artists giving away free content in order to earn a living from related work.  Filmmakers Adam Green (Hatchet, Frozen) and Joe Lynch (Everly, Mayhem) host one of the most popular podcasts on filmmaking called The Movie Crypt. This podcast started as a temporary way to promote their TV series Holliston, but it was such a hit they kept doing it for two years now. They make money off of the podcast by having a Patreon where loyal fans subscribe to get secret episodes and perks like getting to ask questions of their guests on the show.  They sell the bundle of their first 200 episodes since those are no longer on I-Tunes.  This podcast of course, also promotes the career of these two indie filmmakers, so it is a win-win for everybody.

     Filmmaker Ashley Scott Meyers has his weekly podcast, Selling Your Screenplay to drive traffic to his website to promote services he offers such as script consulting or an email blast to over 1,000 producers on his mail list.  Full disclosure: I was a guest on Selling Your Screenplay and worked with Ashley Scott Meyers doing some Visual Effects for his movie The Pinch.

     Alex Ferrari produces a mountain of free material under his Indie Film Hustle brand, including two weekly podcasts, a YouTube channel and a blog.  All this to promote his own script coverage service and Indie Film Hustle TV “The first streaming service designed to help Indie Filmmakers”.  Alex also makes money by having sponsors that he promotes during his podcasts and the two features he made, This is Meg and On the Corner of Ego and Desire occasionally becomes part of the curriculum he gives his large filmmaker audience.

     Many artists and creators have found ways to make their free content profitable.  For example, The guys at Red Letter Media have a popular youtube channel where they drink beer and give entertaining movie reviews.  Yes, they make money from Youtube advertisements but they also sell pint glasses, bottle openers and shirts with their logo on them through their website.

     Famous podcasters and youtubers sell tickets to live performances of their shows or even fan events.  The sponsors of the show also pay to be promoted at these events.  I Heart Radio, the largest radio/music streaming App put on one of the largest live music events each year, the I Heart Music Festival.  If you build the audience, they will come.

- Making the promise of free.

     This one is unusual, but no doubt has worked for some artists. When filmmakers Jeremy Gardner, Adam Cronheim and Christian Stella finished their ultra low budget, survival comedy Tex Montana Will Survive, the first thing they did was not let people see it! What!?  You see, they had been disappointed with the results of traditional distribution with their first movie The Battery.  So they launched a kickstarter showing clips of the new movie and said it will be released everywhere for free once they reach their goal.  It was a huge success, they raised $53,889 from 759 backers.  Within days, Tex Montana Will Survive was up on YouTube, websites and even uploaded to torrent sites by the Filmmakers themselves!  They knew if they reached their kickstarter goal it would mean a good profit from the movie right away.  Being an indie filmmaker myself, I can say it can take a while collecting royalties each quarter, chipping away at what was invested in the movie.  There is something poetic about getting one big lump sum from your audience and then releasing it out into the world like a baby bird.

- The Proof of Concept

     For Paul Solet, strapping a doll made up like a demon into a baby Bjorn and wearing him on was the smartest thing he ever did.  He did this when he attended major film festivals where his short film Grace premiered.  That visual ploy and the quality of the short film got a lot of buzz going.  Filmmaker Adam Green eventually saw the Grace short and then Produced the feature.  Paul Solet had the feature script all ready to go and made the short to create an opportunity just like this.  Making a short film or trailer for a feature not yet made is a common thing.  They call it proof of concept.  If you have a script you feel is the one, and you haven’t tried this method yet..... you really should.  It worked for Evil Dead, Office Space, Boogie Nights, Saw, Bottle Rocket, Hatchet and Napoleon Dynamite.... just to name a few.

     The proof of concept can take many forms.  For example, the hit novel Warm Bodies and the movie based on the novel all started from a blog.  Author Isaac Marion published the short story I am a Zombie filled with love, the story went viral and the rest is history.

• The future of free

     The path is clear, it has no sign of stopping.  It is a buzz word that makes your ears perk up.... say it with me.... FREE. That word gets almost as much attention as sex, and the industry knows it.  So what does the future hold for movies and television?  Television will eventually go a-la-carte.  I know Sling TV is getting close, but I mean you will not only be able to buy packages of channels, but each channel will have it's own price if that is all you want.  As the bottom line shrinks enough, the major networks and cable providers will have to adapt to the demands of the consumer. Obviously, they will delay this happening as much as possible. With Disney launching their own screaming service, ESPN and their other channels can be an exception to this and always bundled together.

     All of this means more power to you the consumer.  This sea change is a good thing, we should embrace it.  There will be a proliferation of these different streaming platforms, some will die off, many will thrive.  The reason these platforms will last is because they fill a nitch in the market, like Shudder is all things Horror or how Crunchyroll draws people in by being a one stop shop for Anime.  Other companies will flourish because they offer a huge library of movies or TV shows.  This means it will be harder for small indie films to stand out, but it also means more viable options will be there for filmmakers to distribute their movies.  Self distribution through aggregators like Distribber will grow stronger and never go away.

     Once the devices we use to watch all these platforms can search them all within one second and show us what our options are, that will be a game changer.  Apple TV and the Amazon Fire TV are very close to this, it will be no time at all.  I see most of these channels also existing two ways, one that is free with ads, and one that consumers pay for in exchange for not having to see ads.  A growing number of content will only be available exclusively on certain platforms, because these companies will pay a premium for it.  One thing is for sure, the future of this United States of Free looks bright, so sit back and enjoy.

What are your thoughts on this?  Please comment below.

Curt Wiser is the writer/director of the suspense movie Cam-Girl. He is also an author and writes movie reviews for OCmoviereviews.com