Albuquerque, New Mexico -- A new Internet film network aimed at independent filmmakers,
film festivals and media entrepreneurs launches this month.
"We've been incubating this for 18 months," said co-founder Anthony DellaFlora, a local
filmmaker and co-founder of the Duke City Shootout filmmaking festival. "We're excited to get the site
up and running."
The Filmmakers Channel has already working with a number filmmakers and other distribution channels.
That have been instrumental to it’s all ready developed network,
of filmmakers, fans, and other distribution networks.
The Filmmakers channel is offering filmmakers,
artists, musicians, instructors,
and businessmen a low-cost way to create their own internet broadcast channels, and connect
directly to their audiences.
"The solution we’re offering is based on combining the highest quality streaming, capable of
broadcasting any length film, or video in DVD quality without pause and a networked approach
to distribution. We don’t believe the ‘mega flix’ portal approach is in the best interest of the indie
filmmaker and is especially not suited for on line pay-per-view distribution," said co-founder Dan
Latrimurti, who has 30 years in the Information technology business.
Latrimurti said the focus of
The Filmmakers Channel is on helping independent filmmakers
find and connect with audiences by showing them how to collaborate with other website owners
and organizations that will have an intrinsic interest in their content.
"Companies like Netflix drive customers to a huge site. But independent films, for the most
part are like are like small fish in a giant ocean," Latrimurti said. "If movie viewers aren't aware
your film exists, it can be tough going on a site like Netflix, especially when competing with
Hollywood movies that have publicity and marketing campaigns behind them. We're
encouraging and teaching filmmakers to take control of their distribution and use social
networking and other on-line marketing tools to deliver their work directly to their audiences."
Latrimurti said the "Adopt A Film" program is just one example. Social action films for
example, will be offered for posting on the websites of non-profit organizations with similar
causes. The filmmaker then splits the profits of the pay-per-view offering with the organization.
The non-profit makes money, the filmmaker gets to expand his audience, he explained.
The Filmmakers Channel will serve as the distribution hub but the idea is to encourage
filmmakers to develop additional niche content channels, linked to the hub. He added that the
streaming video player provided by
Maxcast is "portable," so filmmakers can build their own
online distribution network by developing relationships with web based businesses.
Latrimurti said
The Filmmakers Channel is partnering with Florida-based martial artist Lee
Barden to create the Martial Arts Channel and Jay Weidner of Sacred Mysteries to offer their
entire collection, featuring movies about Mayan prophecies and other esoteric subjects.
Other partners include the International Social Action Film Festival,, which will launch early
next year, The Bleep Store, which is offering David Seredas, The Voice and Douglas Gilles and
East Beach Press who are broadcasting their critically acclaimed film “On The Edge”
There are a several thousand feature films made each year, with no distribution whatsoever,
DellaFlora said, not to mention a deluge of documentaries.
"There is a lot of frustration out there among working filmmakers who can't get their work
seen. The truth is, you can be doing some very interesting work, but if a distributor doesn't see a
way to cash in on it right away, you can pretty much forget about it. This way, even filmmakers
with small budgets can get their work out to the marketplace," DellaFlora said. "And with the
pay-per-view component, the nice thing is the filmmaker gets paid first, not last."
The same formula can work for anyone with instructional material. "You're going to come to
The Filmmakers Channel Network to find some stuff you won't find anywhere else," DellaFlora
said. Some of the channels already up or in the works include a belly dancing channel, a
meditation channel and an alternative news channel.
"This may all sound like small potatoes, but there are riches in the niches. With the right
marketing, your can find your audiences and your audiences can find you and they are
surprisingly large," DellaFlora said.
DellaFlora and Latrimurti believe the time has arrived for on line streaming PPV. "The TV and
computers are becoming more integrated every day. Soon it will be common for television
viewers to switch from the cable box to the internet and for the first time in history indie
filmmakers will have the opportunity to distribute their film directly to the television audience
through the internet without needing the blessings of the gate keepers.”
.jpg)
