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A new streaming service called Olyn has launched to give indie filmmakers the ability to sell their movies directly to audiences by tapping critics, content creators, and fans as a paid-marketing engine via affiliate links.
The Big Picture: Indie film is in a tough spot, with titles from top markets like Sundance and Toronto looking for distribution sometimes a year after they premiere. By using a streamer that relies on (a compensated) word of mouth over an algorithm, films could break out from two simple factors: the strength of the movie and the strength of their grassroots marketing.
Behind the Scenes: Olyn can best be described as a mix between Shopify and YouTube.
- Olyn boasts that it gives filmmakers all the technical specs they want from a streamer: digital-rights management, 4K quality, a splashy landing page, and plenty of analytics (including geographical viewership breakdowns and a database of users who watched).
- But what makes it truly unique is an e-commerce component — filmmakers are able to sell their movies directly to audiences, taking 90% of the revenue.
- They can also allow influencers, journalists, critics, creators, and others to embed affiliate links for the movie across their content, including blogs, web pages, and social media posts.
Closing Credits: Olyn, which has only raised $2.8 million so far, has already scored its first buzzy film on the platform, the Studio POW-produced biopic of Beatles collaborator Brian Epstein titled Midas Man. Producer Perry Trevers told TechCrunch that the British film inked a licensing deal with Prime Video in the UK but has the ability to sell the film in other markets however they choose, so they decided to give Olyn a try.
The movie, backed by good reviews and a well-known cast, serves as a great test case for the platform’s potential. If successful, it could put Olyn on the radar of the indie market at large and maybe inspire other productions to pre-sell their films in select territories to fund their projects… then distribute them through Olyn in others once completed.
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