Starting today, Four Eyed Monsters is officially available via Peer-to-Peer!

Here’s how to do it:

  1. Install the BitTorrent software from their site.
  2. Download our “torrent” and double click, opening it in the BitTorrent software where it will begin to download.
  3. For best playback results also download the VLC player.
  4. If you’re really excited about the film, hook up a projector and screen it in your backyard with friends.  Or use OpenIndie to set up a public screening!

While the established media infrastructure continues to worry about how peer-to-peer affects their bottom line, we’d like to simply embrace the change.  The truth is that as independents we have no other choice.  The barriers to filmmaking have fallen but the gates around distribution through traditional TV, theatrical and VOD remain locked.  So we either innovate using open solutions to distribute our films or we have no audience.

I love their spirit & vision but in practice IFC struggles to do what they contractually promise.

I tried to play the conventional game and signed a TV deal with IFC TV for Four Eyed Monsters in 2008. Not only did they neglect to pay the promised fee, the company continued to sell downloads on iTunes, air the film on television and sell DVDs. There was no choice but to threaten them with a lawsuit in order to reach a settlement and get our rights back. The blessing in disguise was that we are now able to release Four Eyed Monsters in any way we’d like, including peer-to-peer networks.

You guys are the best!  Thanks for all the exposure!

What excites me the most about peer-to-peer distribution is that technically it’s the most efficient way to move large, high quality files. The more people who download Four Eyed Monsters the more seeds are created to help others download the film even faster.  With peer-to-peer file sharing the load is distributed across the entire network rather than creating bottlenecks on any one server.  This is what makes it possible for users to efficiently share feature film downloads with each other at no cost beyond their normal Internet connection.  Due to it’s unparalleled efficiency, peer-to-peer keeps growing and growing. If media creators can connect with this worldwide audience and find a way to sustain themselves then there is a real alternative to the mainstream studio system.

Jamie King and the rest of his savvy team have been forging relationships for years with a variety of peer-to-peer networks and have recently launched VODO as an online community and distribution platform that puts the distribution of films into the hands of the audience.  People are encouraged to make donations to the films they like and get incentives such as DVDs, posters, mp3s and artwork, but what excites me the most is the Studio.  My company, The Co-Create Inc has joined a pilot project hosted by VODO aimed at getting monthly donations from audiences in exchange for access to rough cuts of new work, deleted scenes, scripts, music, storyboards and more.  *UPDATE – the pilot project has ended and we no longer are offering the studio experience on Vodo.

 

 

About these ads