by Gillian Shaw.

Movie buffs in Canada don’t have as many choices as their American neighbours when it comes to catching a recent flick at home.

However, a California company could be changing that with a new Internet movie service that gives you all the selection and features of renting a DVD from your local store or kiosk.

Except the movies are a bargain two bucks a pop or $1 per movie if you pay for packs of 10, undercutting the price for most new-release DVD rentals and digital-on-demand services from iTunes, cable companies and others.

The DVD doesn’t sit in the player in your living room but instead at Zediva headquarters in California’s Silicon Valley, where DVDs by the hundreds of players are waiting for you to choose one and take over the controls, just as if you had picked up the DVD at your local rental shop.

Read the rest of this article from the Vancouver Sun.

Sign up now for your own FREE monthly subscription to “The Director’s Chair” filmmaking ezine and get the first 30 pages of my 220 page Film Directing Multi-Media Online course, “The Art and Craft of the Director Audio Seminar.”

This article was written by Heather Menicucci.

After a little break last week, we’re back today to share a post I’ve been really excited about. When we first began planning this blog series I knew I wanted to interview an established filmmaker who could share their experience producing videos for the web versus other more traditional venues like television. Someone who has worked professionally across platforms definitely has some insight into what makes producing for the web unique and how it fits into a filmmaking career.

This week, I’m happy to introduce Clayton Long, producer for the Bajillionaires Club, which has worked on television and web projects for companies like Cisco, Kodak, Travel Channel and made over 30 shorts for Howcast. Clayton grew up in Dallas and currently lives in Los Angeles.

Read the rest of this article from Broadcasting Ourselves.

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This article was written by Paloma Vazquez.

“In an effort to generate excitement for a new series, Fox will be offering the entire first episode of its new series Lone Star – in advance of the series premiere – to some Vanity Fair readers, cruise line passengers, hotel guests and iPad owners. Contrary to previous logic, Fox learned that previewing a series before its official premiere date would not cannibalize the television audience subsequently measured by Nielsen.”

Read the rest of this article from PSFK.

This article was written by Seth Weintraub.

“You may be wondering what that little red circle is doing behind the YouTube logo these days.  Well, YouTube is sponsoring an experimental film concept that will put its users behind the camera for a day of documentary filmmaking. The project is called Life in a Day.”

Read the rest of this article from CNN.

This article was written by Vadim Lavrusik.

“Blip.tv is sending out more checks to its content providers than ever. The New York-based independent web shows platform has increased the number of payouts to its content creators by 77% between Q1 to Q2 of this year, Co-founder Dina Kaplan told Mashable in a recent interview.

Blip ().tv, which aims to be “the next-generation television network,” recently celebrated its five-year anniversary. It has seen substantial growth in the last year, attracting 96 million video views a month and increasing its payouts by 119% from Q4 2009 to Q2 of 2010 with a 50/50 split for content creators.

“We’re seeing more shows making more than $10,000 a quarter than ever before,” Kaplan said.”

Read the rest of this article from NextMedia.

This article was written for One Way Link Site.

“The way films are promoted and marketed has been dramatically changed by the prevalence of film clips & reviews of top indie movies on the internet. The number of web sites and blogs devoted to independent films has grown. There are no longer barriers to entry in starting such an internet presence. With this new paradigm, the convergence of personal computers, cell phones, and portable media players have replaced the studio marketing department.”

Read the rest of this article from One Way Link Site.

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Sign up now for your own FREE monthly subscription to “The Director’s Chair” filmmaking ezine and get: (1) Day One of my 201 page mutli-media Online film directing audio course, “The Art and Craft of the Director Audio Seminar” and (2) the first 24 pages (plus mp3 audio) of my 137 page “Script Breakdown and Film Scheduling Online Course For Independent Filmmakers.”

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This article was written by Anastasios Papapostolou.

“He is the Greek – American who “beat the system” of the entertainment industry. Like so many others, he could have been waiting for the day to meet the “right producer” or studio executive to start his career. Instead, Matt Koval took a risk. Although he was a “nobody”, that didn’t stop him. He decided to grab a camera and expose himself and his talent to the online world. The result? He has one of the most famous YouTube channels and is living his dream… online. In one year, his channel has grown from 50 subscribers to almost 60,000, with only 20 videos.

Koval’s webseries ,The Fuplers, has grabbed the attention of a regular following audience on the online world. Some of his videos have received more than 1,100,000 views. His Greek family name is Kovalakides, but he goes by “Koval”, since it is easier to pronounce. His Greek half is from Thessaloniki, as he told us in an exclusive interview.”

Read the rest of this article from Greek Hollywood Reporter.

The Ten Commandments of Filmmaking
How to Work (and Survive) in the
Film and Television Industry
by Peter D. Marshall

With the boom of the World Wide Web or what is commonly known as the internet, age old Hollywood is undergoing a drastic change with the strong emergence of the independent film makers.

Internet teamed along with the digital technology has paved way to several new markets for the films. Also it offers plethora of phenomenal tools to the modern age film makers. Most significantly, the internet has come up with effective solutions to some key problems that were earlier the major hurdles in the development of the independent film makers. These are:

- Marketing
- Distribution
- Development

Read this article from Screenwriting Basics.

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Sign up now for your own FREE monthly subscription to “The Director’s Chair” filmmaking ezine and get: (1) Day One of my 201 page mutli-media Online film directing audio course, “The Art and Craft of the Director Audio Seminar” and (2) the first 24 pages (plus mp3 audio) of my 137 page “Script Breakdown and Film Scheduling Online Course For Independent Filmmakers.”

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“Since release in May The Hunt For Gollum has been seen by over 4 million people all over the world. Made on a tiny budget of £3000 and distributed via the Internet, the film is an astonishingly high quality 40 minute movie made in England by unknown director Chris Bouchard.

Millions of Lord of the Rings fans have shocked Hollywood studios by hailing unofficial movie The Hunt For Gollum as the next big thing in the Tolkien film franchise, with many viewers proclaiming it’s beats even Peter Jackson’s trilogy.”

Read this article from Spero Forum.

The Ten Commandments of Filmmaking
How to Work (and Survive) in the
Film and Television Industry
by Peter D. Marshall

“Do you love scripting and shooting movies? Do you have a movie that has a spellbinding storyline but not quite sure how to market it? Well, you have probably heard about YouTube.com and their phenomenal success hosting virals on their web site. It started out very small, on a shoestring budget, and grew over just a few years into a business worth millions.

Shooting video for fun has been a commonplace global pastime for years. Even back in the 80s there was ‘Candid Camera’, and a host of video clip shows on TV. The clips shown on TV like UK’s ‘People do the Funniest things’ are no more than 1 minute in length. Soon, broadband speeds allowed for the hosting and transmission of these clips on the web. No advertising costs, just a web site with a video clip embedded.”

Read this article from Screenwriting Basics.

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Sign up now for your own FREE monthly subscription to “The Director’s Chair” filmmaking ezine and get: (1) Day One of my 201 page mutli-media Online film directing audio course, “The Art and Craft of the Director Audio Seminar” and (2) the first 24 pages (plus mp3 audio) of my 137 page “Script Breakdown and Film Scheduling Online Course For Independent Filmmakers.”

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