The current Brian Epstein biopic “Midas Man,” a movie concerning 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 would possibly 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 ability of social referrals to unfold “à la carte” streaming content material. Though any measurement of manufacturing — from Hollywood blockbuster downwards — can use the platform, the corporate claims it could possibly be a recreation changer for the impartial movie business, which tends to battle in opposition to 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 Wooden — permits filmmakers to retain as much as 90% of their income whereas giving audiences entry to a streaming expertise. As an alternative of movies being offered to platforms like Netflix, the mannequin hinges on the advertising funds of the filmmakers themselves, mixed with influencers, movie critics, and content material creators appearing 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, informed TechCrunch that the corporate supplies 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} advice from somebody you belief carries way more weight than a suggestion by an algorithm on a streaming platform.
Olyn additionally offers filmmakers analytics on viewership, similar 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? Whereas its mannequin affords a lot increased 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 best route. “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 the crucial 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 will help fight this difficulty, 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 took place partly when entrepreneur and filmmaker Wooden joined as a co-founder of the platform, which initially launched as a method to catalog bodily property. Wooden launched his personal movie, “The Last Glaciers,” on the platform.
“Independent filmmakers have already taken the financial risk to produce their movies themselves. Studio POW is self-financed. They created the “Midas Man” film. They’ve the liberty to have the ability to promote these rights to whoever they need. They did a deal within the U.Okay. market with Amazon, however they felt that it was extra worthwhile to go direct to their viewers within the U.S. market utilizing Olyn as a instrument,” he mentioned.
Wooden feels Olyn will be finest regarded as “Shopify for filmmakers with a referral link.”
He famous the typical movie on Amazon within the U.Okay. will get solely round 2,000 views per 12 months. “So there’s a bunch of films that are getting millions of views, but the majority of films fall below the 2,000 view mark,” he added.
Main streaming providers usually provide a lump-sum licensing deal, that means filmmakers obtain a one-time fee no matter what number of instances their movie is watched. Olyn flips this mannequin on its head by permitting filmmakers to monetize instantly based mostly on viewership.
“With Olyn, a filmmaker can still sell their rights to the U.S. market and use that to pre-fund the film, but then also capitalize on going direct-to-consumer in, say, Asia,” mentioned Wooden.
However might the platform be utilized by the grownup movie business to distribute pornography?
Jipa acknowledged the problem: “Right now, this is not the tone we want to set, and it would be easy to attract that category,” she mentioned. “At the beginning, we are setting the tone by ensuring that the films featured on Olyn are high quality.”
“But in the long term, we aim to create a space where filmmakers, not the platform, decide what gets distributed,” she added. “We don’t want to act as gatekeepers. Our vision is to allow filmmakers to have full control over what they distribute, eventually moving to a full SaaS model.”
Olyn has up to now raised solely a small quantity of funding — a complete of $2.8 million — in a mix of $1.8 million from U.S. VC agency Exhausting Yaka and a variety of angel traders.
