until now getting your short picked up by shorts international, the biggest short film distributor in the world, was about the only way to get your film on itunes, as unlike with music, itunes only deals with major aggregators when adding short film content.
however recently scott kirsner over at cinema tech reported that a new independent short film had made a deal directly with apple. scott has been (rightly) critical of apple not being more accessible to indies for selling content (as opposed to free podcasting), and this seemed like a major step:
"The Tribe," a short film on the connection between Barbie dolls and Judaism, will start selling on iTunes next week, according to filmmaker Tiffany Shlain's Web site. (It played at Sundance in 2006.) That makes it one of the first indie films to show up on iTunes without going through an aggregator like Shorts International. It'll sell for $1.99. Shlain worked directly with Apple on the arrangement.unfortunately it's not true. i tried contacting apple myself. this isn't easy to do as there's no contact information given on their site for short film hosting, so i did the next best thing and emailed the music contact. i received a short reply telling me to contact another person at apple, glen, which i did. he responded with this:
"Contact Linda at Shorts International"when i replied and explained i'd already done that but i'd heard tiffany schlain went direct, i got at little more clarification.
"She went through another aggregator - very much a trial case only."when i asked who the company she worked with was since i was looking at distribution options for my short film, i received the brush off:
"They currently only facilitate shorts we've arranged to add - mostly the Sundance shorts - so not really an option at this time. Shorts International is the right path."i've since learned that the company is mediastile. however nothing about their relationship with apple or itunes is mentioned on their site. in fact the "partnership" tab simply says "stay tuned for some exciting news..."
back in january it was announced that most of the sundance shorts would be available on itunes. the most interesting part of this deal at least to filmmakers, is this:
"Filmmakers will get the bulk of the $1.99 download price, with Apple, the Sundance Institute and cable television's Sundance Channel sharing the remainder. Filmmakers also will be free to make deals with other distributors, including the Sundance Channel."getting the "bulk of the $1.99 download price," whatever that is, ain't bad. but also of note is the non-exclusive aspect of the deal. i'd been under the impression that itunes required exclusive distribution rights. however even a post on the withoutabox boards by linda olszewski of shorts international is a little cryptic about this:
"If you want your film on iTunes, they will not approve it to be sold on their store if you are giving it away for free elsewhere..."the criteria seems to be that you can't post your film where its available for free - like youtube or revver. however that theoretically would still allow you to make distribution deals with organizations that charge for their content, like jaman.
so for now at least, it seems the only serious route to itunes for the independent short filmmaker who hasn't played at sundance is through shorts international.
17 deep thoughts:
But you can make it free on itunes if you make it a vodcast. No cash - but it is in the system as it were.
I know its what we're really driving at here - and I support Scott's campaign.
I also have a beef with Apple that they don't have the screenwriter's credit on the trailer pages. But they blame the studios.
We've been trying to find a way to get our short film on iTunes for a while, but the lack of information and contact details from Apple has always proven to be a hinderance!
Great article, very informative and will hopefully provide us with a way forward.
Although it's stated that Shorts International will not accept material available for free elsewhere, I wonder whether that would include exhibition at film festivals or short film nights?
Surely it could be argued that such showings can be viewed as 'promotional' and an aid to helping sell the film on iTunes.
All the best, David Cook
david - no festival screenings don't count against you. their concern is if the film is posted online somewhere free to view. that would be competition for them and they're not interested in that - which makes sense.
tiffany schlain's film played a ton of festivals - in fact, it's acceptance into all those festivals was part of the reason she was able to make the deal she did. the acceptances proved the viability of the film - same reason itunes made the deal for the sundance films.
I recently spoke to a filmmaker who has his film at Sundance this year and his film was put up on iTunes through that company you mention, he was promised the "bulk" of profits but has yet to see a penny and they refuse to give him metrics on how many times the film has been downloaded. Typical dodgy distributors! Apparently that company has not only stooged the filmmakers but also Sundance who have been trying to fight on behalf of the filmmakers.
What is strange is that when I started my blog iTunes was seen as a kind of underground self-distribution idea. This is clearly no longer the case. And as it now falls into mainstream distribution we find out about the same old bollocks going on with the money. It's a shame how quickly it has happened.
Integfilms has been in talks with Apple for 19 months! They represent 20 shorts (including mine) that are festival winners, etc.
Apple keeps telling them they are interested, but keep putting them off.
The thing is Apple won't say yes, BUT they won't say yes either.
Very frustrating.
I should have said the won't say "NO" either. My bad!
The Sundance Film Festival is joining the iTunes revolution, selling 32 of this year’s 71 narrative, documentary and animated shorts at the iTunes Store for $1.99 a pop.
Just how successful the trial partnership between Sundance Institute and Apple Inc. will be is a big question mark, partly because all of the downloadable titles (and 14 additional shorts) will be streamed free of charge on Sundance’s Web site through April 18. They will be available for purchase on iTunes for three years beginning January 22 alongside free podcasts featuring filmmaker panels and music performances from the fest.
“I have (always) felt that if people really care about independent film, they should pay particular attention to short filmmakers, who are the best indicators of what is coming down the creative pike,” Sundance Institute president and founder Robert Redford said. Previous directors in the Sundance shorts program include Wes Anderson, Spike Jonze and Alexander Payne.
ITunes will take a 30% commission from each sale, with the filmmaker earning 67% of the remaining income and the Sundance Institute and festival divvying up the rest. Filmmakers retain all rights and can sell their shorts to other outlets or withdraw their titles from iTunes at any time.
“All the shorts are very progressive, stylistically and storywise,” said John Cooper, the festival’s director of programming. “They’re ahead of the curve creatively — some have a mix of animation and narrative, while others might follow a weird secondary character you’d see in a feature-length film.”
Shorts for sale include the German motorcycling documentary “Motodrom” and “One Rat Short,” the computer-animated tale of a street rat that falls in love with a lab rat.
According to Cooper, the idea for the partnership arose after filmmakers at last year’s fest expressed an interest in making their shorts more widely available. Talks between Sundance and Apple execs began soon after.
Filmmakers were informed they could participate in the program when they were told of their admission in early December. Some didn’t participate, Cooper said, because of rights issues, concerns over getting into other fests and Academy Award-qualification rules, and the time iTunes needed to bring each film up to its technical specifications.
“It’s a year-only experiment,” Cooper said of the program, which could be continued. “There’ll be a big learning curve for all of us.”
copyright © 2006 Reuters. All rights reserved.
Tags: sundance, itunes, apple, short films
I would expect that Apple, if they are clever, and they are, to accept video and maybe pdf written up content (books) from any registered artist (video artist/filmmaker/writer) soon in much the same way that they accept (and *review*) Software Apps now. They are the one company that has the widespread platform (iPod, iPhone and soon iPad) as well as infrastructure (iTunes & servers) and working copy protection and revenue sharing system in place and operational.
My first film was taken up my Shorts Int, and it
landed on iTunes a month after it was made, thanks to a lucky quirk with my genre and their release that month. I'm not earning a mint at present, but it's exciting none the less! Maybe I got lucky... But I did pump a lot of my saving into it! Check it out: "Sacrifice: A Vampire Tale".
P.S - maybe try Amazon's indie option via withoutabox!
P.S - Shorts Int, is supportive of festival screenings, there is no clash with the iTunes contract! Also I can sell it on DVD via Amazon, which I will do to have a 5.1 audio obtainable!
as of a discussion 3 years ago in 2008, Shorts Int. wanted 50% of profits...
this is tough to agree to if you;ve shot under SAG.. because it becomes a LOSS LEADER for yourself... as SAG expects you to PAY all the actors for that day they worked, plus residuals AND health/comp.... as if you're some BIG studio film... SAG needs to get with the times.
so does i-tunes. in THIS day and age Apple should give more power to the ARTIST.
did you know that MUSICAL BANDS can contact Apple directly?? how come they can do that but not with film makers??
makes no sense that Apple is ignorning this. its 2011 and there STILL is no way to contact them about this directly...
and my film is STILL not in their database as a result..
I dont need to pay 50% to an interloping 3rd party to do something I can do myself!
I agree Anon. Unfortunately short films (and I guess very indie films in general), just aren't attractive enough from a revenue standpoint to justify Apple making it happen. Makes you wonder if there's a market opportunity there if someone can figure it out. I know other sites have tried.
I must say that overall I am really impressed with this blog. It is easy to see that you are impassioned about your writing. I wish I had got your ability to write. I look forward to more updates and will be returning.
Festival structure
Hah. Well I haven't written much in quite awhile. Twitter and FB, et. al, have reduced the need for a blogspace - although of course they're no substitute for a more involved treatise - but obviously I've either been too busy or not motivated enough to pontificate lately. :)
But thanks for the kind words. I've had an idea for a post that I've been ruminating on for awhile now - perhaps I'll get around to actually committing it to bits soon.
I made a short film a year and a half ago entitled NOT YOUR TIME. It has an all star cast including JASON ALEXANDER -- and is a musical. Although it was not accepted to Sundance, it has played to over a dozen other festivals and has won three -- BOSTON INTERNATIONAL -- NEW MEDIA (in Los Angeles) and THE ATLANTA JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL. Since the PALM SPRINGS SHORT FEST -- it seems to have found new life on the Jewish Film Festival circuit -- though I didn't particularly see the content as particularly Jewish. I am being to explore itunes and amazon and have found this very helpful. So, is everyone saying that the only way onto itunes is through shorts international? And is this the same with amazon?
Hi Jay. This information is three years old now and I haven't kept up with developments, so I couldn't say. Love to hear how it goes for you though. Best of luck. I would think with an all-star cast you should have a better time of it.
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