The latest Brian Epstein biopic “Midas Man,” a movie in regards to the supervisor of The Beatles, debuted not on a platform like Netflix or Amazon, however on a startup that payments itself as “Shopify for filmmakers.” So what, you may ask?
The reply is that the brand new platform, Olyn, claims to supply a brand new mannequin for movie and video distribution that leans on the facility of social referrals to unfold “à la carte” streaming content material. Although any dimension of manufacturing — from Hollywood blockbuster downwards — can use the platform, the corporate claims it might be a sport changer for the unbiased movie business, which tends to wrestle towards the advertising budgets of the larger motion pictures distributed on mainstream streaming platforms.
California-based Olyn — based by Ana Maria Jipa, Jeremias Buireo, Kiran Thomas, and Malcolm Wood — permits filmmakers to retain as much as 90% of their income whereas giving audiences entry to a streaming expertise. Instead of movies being bought to platforms like Netflix, the mannequin hinges on the advertising price range of the filmmakers themselves, mixed with influencers, movie critics, and content material creators performing as distribution companions by embedding buy hyperlinks inside their content material, blogs, and social channels.
This peer-to-peer strategy does away with the platform as a intermediary and turns film distribution into extra of an e-commerce-style engagement.
Jipa, Olyn’s CEO and co-founder, instructed TechCrunch that the corporate gives filmmakers with the equal of a full-blown streaming platform. “We provide all the tech that implies: from DRM, 4K streaming, casting, a full landing page that presents the film in the same way that it might appear on Netflix or Apple TV, plus all the other tools such as geo-targeting, analytics, and audience data. They promote their movie with PR, journalists, bloggers, film critics, etc,” she mentioned, including {that a} suggestion from somebody you belief carries way more weight than a suggestion by an algorithm on a streaming platform.
Olyn additionally provides filmmakers analytics on viewership, comparable to which nation the film is doing effectively in, in addition to minutes watched, and a database of customers which have watched the films. “Filmmakers can spend years making a film but don’t ever get to meet or own their audience at all. So we see this as a very powerful tool. It becomes an audience that you can directly address for your next movies and then grow from there,” mentioned Jipa.
The query is, can Olyn compete with the comfort and scale of main streamers? While its mannequin gives a lot larger income shares for filmmakers, it additionally means all the burden is positioned on the shoulders of manufacturing groups to drive advertising and partnerships.
Perry Trevers, a producer at Studio POW, which used Olyn to distribute “Midas Man,” sees the platform as a useful step in the fitting course. “Olyn has enabled us to think beyond traditional platforms, letting us become our own streaming service […] It’s about empowering filmmakers to market and distribute films in a way that mirrors the direct-to-consumer success of e-commerce […] It’s a chance to retain control over our work and redefine how movies reach their viewers,” he mentioned in an announcement.
One of probably the most urgent points within the movie business is piracy. Many customers flip to unlawful sources just because a film is unavailable of their nation. Jipa argues that Olyn’s world attain might help fight this situation, as a result of if somebody will pay for a film and watch it immediately, they’re more likely to take action.
Olyn’s foray into movie streaming happened partly when entrepreneur and filmmaker Wood joined as a co-founder of the platform, which initially launched as a approach to catalog bodily belongings. Wood launched his personal movie, “The Last Glaciers,” on the platform.
“Independent filmmakers have already taken the monetary danger to provide their motion pictures themselves. Studio POW is self-financed….
