Birin Epstein’s recent biographyMidas man“A movie about the director of the Beatles team, not for the first time on a platform like Netflix or Amazon, but in a startup that tops itself as” Shopify for Movidmers “. So what, you might ask?
The answer is that the new platform, Olyn, claims to offer a new model for the distribution of films and video tends to the strength of social referrals to spread the broadcast content “à la carte”. Although any volume of production – from transparent Hollywood below – can use the platform, the company claims it may be changing in the independent film industry, which tends to struggle against the marketing budgets for the largest films distributed on the main broadcast platforms.
California-based Olyn-which was founded by Anna Maria Jeepa, Grimas Puero, Kiran Thomas, and Malcolm Wood-films to keep up to 90 % of their revenues while giving the masses access to the broadcast experience. Instead of selling movies to platforms such as Netflix, the model depends on the marketing budget for filmmakers themselves, along with influencers, film critics, and content creators who act as distribution partners by including purchase links within their content, blogs and social channels.
This approach is from counterpart to analogy that gets rid of the platform as mediators and turns the distribution of films into more participation similar to e -commerce.
JIPA, CEO of Olyn and co -founder, Techcrunch that the company provides filmmakers equivalent to the full broadcast platform. “We offer all the technologies that suggest: from DRM, 4K, casting, a complete intended page that offers the film in the same way that you may appear on Netflix or Apple TV, in addition to all other tools such as geological goal, analyzes, and audience data. It promotes their movie With public relations, journalists, bloggers, cinema critics, etc. ”, adding that a recommendation from a person you trust has a much greater weight than a algorithm proposal on a flow platform.
Olyn also gives directors analyzes of viewers, such as the country that the film does well, as well as minutes monitoring, and a database for users who have seen movies. “Film makers can spend years making a movie but do not meet or have their fans at all. So we see this as a very strong tool. Jeep said:” It becomes an audience that you can handle directly to your following films and then grow from there. ”
The question is, can Olin compete with the comfort and size of the main signs? Although its model provides much higher revenue shares for movie factories, it also means that all weight is placed on the shoulders of production teams to lead marketing and partnerships.
Perry Trainers, producer in Prisoner studio,, Which was used Olyn to distribute “Midas Man”, sees the platform a useful step in the right direction. “Olyn enabled us to think beyond traditional platforms, allowing us to become our broadcast service […] It comes to enabling filmmakers to market films and distribute them in a way that reflects the success of the direct e -commerce of the consumer […] “It is an opportunity to keep controlling our work and redefine how films reach their viewers,” he said in a statement.
One of the most urgent issues in the film industry is piracy. Many users resort to illegal sources simply because the film is not available in their country. JIPA argues that Olyn’s global arrival can help fight this problem, because if someone can pay for a movie and watch it immediately, he would likely do that.
Olyn’s France in Film Preming came partially when businessman and film director Wood joined as a co -founder of the platform, which was initially launched as a way to classify material assets. Wood launched his own movie, “Latest ice rivers“On the platform.
“Independent filmmakers have already served the financial risks of producing their films themselves. The prisoner studio is self -financing. They created the movie“ Midas Man ”. They have the freedom to be able to sell these rights to those who want. They concluded a deal in the UK market with Amazon, but they are, but they are They felt that it was more profitable to go directly to their fans in the US market using Olyn as a tool. “
Wood feels that Olin can think that “Shopify for the directors with the referral link”.
He pointed out that the average movie on Amazon in the UK gets about 2000 views per year. He added: “There is a group of films that get millions of views, but most of the films are less than the 2000 show.”
The main broadcasting services usually offer a cut license deal, which means that film makers are receiving one -time boost regardless of the number of times their movie is watched. Olyn turns this model on his head by allowing film makers to inover directly on the basis of viewers.
“With Olyn, one of the directors can still sell their rights in the American market and use it to represent the movie in advance, but then benefits from going to a consumer, for example, Asia,” Wood said.
But can the platform be used by the adult film industry to distribute pornography?
Jeepa confessed to the challenge: “At the present time, this is not the tone we want to control, and it will be easy to attract this category.” “Initially, we set the tone by making sure that the distinctive films on Olyn are of high quality.”
She added: “But in the long run, we aim to create a space where film makers, not the platform, decide what is distributed.” “We do not want to act as a gatekeeper. Our vision is to allow filmmakers to fully control what they distribute, and ultimately move to the full Saas model.”
Olyn has so far collected a small amount of financing – a total of $ 2.8 million – in a mix of $ 1.8 million from the American VC company Solid Yaka And a number of owners investors.