Can The Net Free Film From Hollywood's Clutches?

The persistent myth of the Internet, despite its near-complete commercialization, is that it remains a diverse, inexpensive and largely egalitarian creative space. The obverse myth of the film industry is that its preoccupation with profit inhibits all but the most banal forms of creativity, even in the seemingly fertile territory of independent, non-Hollywood cinema.

If we accept that all myths are in some sense true, what are we to make of the recent efforts by would-be Web moguls to turn the Internet into a film distribution apparatus? Should burgeoning auteurs and their potential audiences (the rest of us) prepare for radical innovations in filmmaking and movie-going based on this new business model, or should we just expect the same old thing on a smaller scale?

The answer, unsurprisingly, is a little of both.

More surprising are the ways in which the current batch of Internet film sites mimic the values of their Hollywood brethren — and, increasingly, rely on industry capital and cachet to survive. This troubling relationship has the unfortunate side effect of undermining the diversity, amateur enthusiasm and slapdash spontaneity that make the Web such a promising film venue in the first place.

Because truly independent movies boast a similar enthusiasm and spontaneity, it stands to reason that film and the Internet would be a match made in heaven. For now, though, the two forms don't converge on anything like a large scale. For much of the world, where analog telephone-line connections to computers with slower modems, older processors and limited RAM are the norm, watching even the shortest digitized film on a Web site can be a lesson in tedium. Like other forms of entertainment disseminated over the Internet, movies are best enjoyed by a small, select group of broadband-equipped aficionados — some of whom have the capital and connections to launch filmmaking careers.

What the Web-as-movie-theater lacks in watchability, the theory goes, it makes up for in visibility. On Internet film sites of every stripe, works that might otherwise never be released are given the kind of exposure that could take years — not to mention phenomenally good fortune — to achieve through traditional means. This is particularly true for artists who aren't working in filmmaking meccas like Los Angeles and New York, or who otherwise lack the proximity to career-boosting industry contacts. Indeed, short films from all over Europe make up a significant portion of many U.S. sites, while the English site getoutthere and Ireland's Midnight Pictures bypass the North American bottleneck altogether.

But as any homegrown filmmaker (or Webmaster) can tell you, visibility is effective only when an audience can find your work. That's where film sites have shown the greatest promise. Distribution sites like AtomFilms solicit and post short films and work to secure licensing deals for the shorts they exhibit with U.S. and European cable networks, video distributors, airlines, and other lucrative outlets. Other sites, such as The New Venue, serve primarily as exhibitors and eschew agency functions. The biggest enticement to new talent, perhaps, is that most sites pay for the films they post: the independent-film news service indieWIRE reports that filmmakers can make between $500 and $2000 for each film they sell to a site and anywhere from 20 to 40 percent of ancillary sales.

Coming to a 1-inch by 1-inch Box Near You: AtomFilms

This is also where the process loses some of its "art for art's sake" altruism, however, even without the benefit of Hollywood influence. The more sites pay for the works they exhibit and market, the more creative control artists are likely to have to concede. Many, if not most, sites require filmmakers to sign over all distribution and exhibition rights to their films, provided they agree to buy them at all. Some sites, such as MediaTrip, offer more generous contracts, but none guarantees that the shorts they post will be vigorously marketed or even prominently displayed on their homepages.