This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I will try and add to this as I come across resources and will comment when I have more info.
1. Createspace.com - created by Amazon, this is the granddaddy of on-demand. You can reach a huge marketplace through Amazon. However, they charge about $4 per disc - not terrible but not great (see below). The on-demand feature may be cool, but you have to send them a DVD which they encode from on their end, meaning you will end up with an SD streaming version instead of HD.
2. Kunaki.com - This may be the coolest, greatest thing EVER for indie filmmakers! Kunaki is a bare bones print-on-demand company that only charges $1 per DVD - that's right $1! Customers can pay with credit card OR Paypal. You design a full-color DVD sleeve AND color printed face! Here's the catch: NO customer support, except via email. You have to upload your files via PC (not Mac) to their server. If you are a Mac person like me and have mostly friends that are Mac, this is a HUGE pain in the ass! The upload kept stopping and starting and I have to babysit this thing for SEVERAL DAYS to get it finally completely uploaded. That caveat aside (PC users should have no problems) this looks like it may be the best option, at least for sales directly from your website. They even send you a free DVD for your evaluation, how cool is that?
3. Film Baby - this looks like a companion/offshoot of CD Baby. They charge $40 to get you up and running and charge $4 per DVD and have other non-exclusive distribution options. If you use Kunaki (above) that eats up about $5 of profit per DVD - again not terrible especially if your DVD can retail over $10. (Most DVDs on the site are priced in the $15 range.)
4. Flixfling - This seems to be an indie film alternative to Netflix. You can contact them about carrying your movie and they will ask you to send them a DVD.
5. Casimero - this site offers to stream your film for a monthly fee to Facebook.
6. Film Club - Just stumbled on what could be a cool way to network your movie. I'm thinking you can search for film clubs that might be interested in screening your movie.
7. Meetup.com - here's another idea: type "indie film" and your zip code and find film groups that might be interested in screening your film.
8. Withoutabox.com - This is the the behemoth that controls most of the entry process into the various film festivals in the world. Sure, you can pay $50 a pop (and up) to enter your film in Sundance et. al. but I suggest using the search engine to find fests that don't charge anything to enter.
9. Don't forget your hometown newspaper! In addition, AOL has created Patch.com - which focuses on hyper-local news for each of its many "patches." The La Mesa Patch did a great article on The Great Intervention.
10. Tubemogul.com - this site has a free service that helps you distribute videos to the many different sharing sites across the web. This can help you place preview videos on sites you never knew existed. Using the site, however, has proved pointless and frustrating, as none of its stats seem to work for me.
11. Openfilm.com - This looks very enticing! For as little as $2.95 a month you can get your site on Boxee and other TV/Web hybrid systems. I use Boxee, and if you could get a video on their service they say you are now in 11 million homes. You can turn on and off your movie as well, in case you decide later to sell the rights or whatever. Upon further investigation, I could not find an Openfilm app within Boxee. I emailed them to find out what was up and they said that some of their films are located in the the user's Movies section and that the app is "coming soon." We shall see.
Filmmaker Defeats Depression by Faking Intervention
Jan 18, 2011 – 7:30 AM
As it was for many people, the 2008 recession was a bad time for filmmaker Steve Moramarco.
"My life was literally in the toilet for about a year, personally and professionally," he told AOL News. "Everything was dead. As an actor, I had no auditions and there was basically no work. I was so underwater on my mortgage, I might as well have been a scuba diver, and my girlfriend left."
In better days, Moramarco had worked with Jack Black on films like "School of Rock" and was an associate producer on "Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny." He also had the honor of appearing on the flip side of Beck's first single "MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack."
Moramarco, a former precocious child, found himself suffering a serious depression and midlife crisis at the age of 41 -- at least two years before it usually happens.
"I looked at the instability of my life and had nothing to show for it," he said. "I never felt like I had to hide the knives, but I definitely felt like I'd be happier if I weren't alive.
"I thought about jumping off a building, but was afraid I'd fail at that," Moramarco said.
Instead, Moramarco decided to try something even more dangerous: "I tried to make art of my pain," he said.
Moramarco, who has worked as a musician, actor, director and occasional editor of wedding videos, decided to write a movie about how he got where he is and called it "The Great Intervention."
"The main character is this 42-year-old man-child whose parents are worried about his behavior and want to get him on a show like [the A&E reality show] 'Intervention.' However, his problems aren't bad enough for that show, so they hire a documentary crew to follow him in hopes of getting enough material so the producers will accept him.
"I always wondered how the producers of that show get the people to agree to be followed around, and I figured they must flatter the participants by telling them they're these undiscovered geniuses."
Moramarco didn't have to look far to find an actor capable of understanding the deep undercurrents of emotion of this character. Rather, he looked within and cast himself.
In the interest of realism (and, to be fair, budget) Moramarco also cast his college girlfriend, real-life friends and even his dad in the film.
"I did stage an intervention and I told the cast, 'Just write what you want -- real or not -- whatever you want to say,'" he said. "A few of the quips hit close to home, like when a friend of mine mentioned that my dog, Supermercado, died of neglect."
For Fred Moramarco, the idea of giving his son an intervention wasn't really a joke, even though the film is being marketed as a comedy.
"With Steve, there was always this frustration about him not getting his act together," Fred Moramarco admitted. "But I wouldn't have said the stuff I say in the film -- although I might have thought it."
To the elder Moramarco, "The Great Intervention" is as much about his son's depression as it is about a common problem among people who live in Los Angeles.
"A lot of people move there when they're young, trying to make it in movies and, at some point, they're in their 40s still trying to make it," said Moramarco, a retired English professor from San Diego State. "In the movie, there's a scene where I tell him, 'You're 42. When I was your age, I had published four books.' "
Moramarco raised $5,000 for the film, finished filming last July, edited it down to 90 minutes, and is now trying to get it into festivals.
"I'd like to get it past people who know me, because the question is, would anyone who doesn't care?" he said.
Still, he says people who've seen it have found the film profound, which he finds amusing, since his production company is called "Vaguely Profound."
"The actual film does take a surprising turn," he said. "It was amazing to tap into things in my 42 years on earth and put them in a little package. I mean, this is me. I just hope people don't think it's a 90-minute wank-off."
Of course, this is the part of the story where you, the reader, are supposed to find that, as a result of making the film, Moramarco's life is now in perfect balance.
Ah, but in real life, happy endings aren't so obvious.
"In a strange way, nothing has changed," he laughed. "I am still single, I don't have a steady job and I am still underwater on my mortgage. The only thing that has changed is my attitude. I've realized that how we react to everything is in our minds."
"My life was literally in the toilet for about a year, personally and professionally," he told AOL News. "Everything was dead. As an actor, I had no auditions and there was basically no work. I was so underwater on my mortgage, I might as well have been a scuba diver, and my girlfriend left."
In better days, Moramarco had worked with Jack Black on films like "School of Rock" and was an associate producer on "Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny." He also had the honor of appearing on the flip side of Beck's first single "MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack."
Moramarco, a former precocious child, found himself suffering a serious depression and midlife crisis at the age of 41 -- at least two years before it usually happens.
Eva Spelbrink-Izarry
Filmmaker Steve Moramarco tried to make light of his depression by staging a mock intervention for a new comedy "The Great Intervention."
"I thought about jumping off a building, but was afraid I'd fail at that," Moramarco said.
Instead, Moramarco decided to try something even more dangerous: "I tried to make art of my pain," he said.
Moramarco, who has worked as a musician, actor, director and occasional editor of wedding videos, decided to write a movie about how he got where he is and called it "The Great Intervention."
"The main character is this 42-year-old man-child whose parents are worried about his behavior and want to get him on a show like [the A&E reality show] 'Intervention.' However, his problems aren't bad enough for that show, so they hire a documentary crew to follow him in hopes of getting enough material so the producers will accept him.
"I always wondered how the producers of that show get the people to agree to be followed around, and I figured they must flatter the participants by telling them they're these undiscovered geniuses."
Moramarco didn't have to look far to find an actor capable of understanding the deep undercurrents of emotion of this character. Rather, he looked within and cast himself.
In the interest of realism (and, to be fair, budget) Moramarco also cast his college girlfriend, real-life friends and even his dad in the film.
"I did stage an intervention and I told the cast, 'Just write what you want -- real or not -- whatever you want to say,'" he said. "A few of the quips hit close to home, like when a friend of mine mentioned that my dog, Supermercado, died of neglect."
For Fred Moramarco, the idea of giving his son an intervention wasn't really a joke, even though the film is being marketed as a comedy.
"With Steve, there was always this frustration about him not getting his act together," Fred Moramarco admitted. "But I wouldn't have said the stuff I say in the film -- although I might have thought it."
To the elder Moramarco, "The Great Intervention" is as much about his son's depression as it is about a common problem among people who live in Los Angeles.
"A lot of people move there when they're young, trying to make it in movies and, at some point, they're in their 40s still trying to make it," said Moramarco, a retired English professor from San Diego State. "In the movie, there's a scene where I tell him, 'You're 42. When I was your age, I had published four books.' "
Moramarco raised $5,000 for the film, finished filming last July, edited it down to 90 minutes, and is now trying to get it into festivals.
"I'd like to get it past people who know me, because the question is, would anyone who doesn't care?" he said.
Still, he says people who've seen it have found the film profound, which he finds amusing, since his production company is called "Vaguely Profound."
"The actual film does take a surprising turn," he said. "It was amazing to tap into things in my 42 years on earth and put them in a little package. I mean, this is me. I just hope people don't think it's a 90-minute wank-off."
Of course, this is the part of the story where you, the reader, are supposed to find that, as a result of making the film, Moramarco's life is now in perfect balance.
Ah, but in real life, happy endings aren't so obvious.
"In a strange way, nothing has changed," he laughed. "I am still single, I don't have a steady job and I am still underwater on my mortgage. The only thing that has changed is my attitude. I've realized that how we react to everything is in our minds."