Benefilm

Dedicated to the fair treatment and protection of filmmakers

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		(This is a sticky post, please find current news items below) By Mr Benefilm in General

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BloodGood Films accepts submissions and co-production arrangments

		Saturday, 29 December 07 - 07:54 PM (GMT -07:00) By Mr Benefilm in General

BloodGood Films, the boutique film label dedicated to producing and distributing feature films for family, Christian and general audiences is accepting film submissions and partners for new-productions.  This is the tandem label to "Bloody Good Films!"  Both labels are distributing much of the same channels, (however "Bloody Good Films!" is remixing existing horror, sci-fi and thriller films) for broadcast and family venues, and BloodGood is more interested in making new movies for the Christian/family niche movie-market.  See www.BloodGoodFilms.com - the site is being developed, and updates are posted often.

New movie label

		Friday, 21 December 07 - 01:03 PM (GMT -07:00) By Mr Benefilm in General

"Bloody Good Films!" is now open for business. Opportunity #1. We are looking indie Sci-Fi, Horror and Thriller films that can be modified in order to appease the family-friendly buyers at outlets like Walmart. We will work with you non-exclusively - you retail all rights to your original work. Opportunity #2. If you own the rights to a movie that is on a commercially-replicated DVD (not duplicated) and packaged with a valid UPC code then we may have an opportunity for you to sell your products through our wholesale distributors. This is a tentative arrangement that we are developing with our distribution partners. We can do an initial screening of your movie online, but we'll need you to mail us at least (1) DVD. For more information please visit www.BloodyGoodFilms.com !

Watch more movies for free

		Friday, 26 October 07 - 08:31 AM (GMT -07:00) By Mr Benefilm in General

• Flixya: Our Romero "Tribute" gallery features all 8 parts of the Benefit for the Living Dead that stream in sequence without major interuptions.   http://www.flixya.com/gallery/4265/theseotitle
• BlipTV: We like the description and blog sections, but their autoplay feature can cause freeze ups.  http://zombietv.blip.tv/
• Revver: You'll see our Revver media on many of their affiliate sites, this collection doesn't play automatically in sequence.  No extras like a blog...yet. http://one.revver.com/collections/show/267515
• If you appreciate our efforts, then please use the PayPal donate button and give any amount that you are comfortable with.
  
  

Introductory-Trailer

• MetaCafe: They have a method of tracing hits with their producers program that just may pay off if our statistics prove worthy.  Watch the 2 minute intro on MetaCafe 
• Guba: Another great site that tracks play and promises to offer us a producers arrangement when and if our 2 minute introduction makes the grade.
• IFILM and IFC: Both film oriented sites offer features like embed codes.  http://www.ifilm.com/profile/Lachiusa/video/2904655  we'd prefer you visit our myspace page to add your comments and network with us.
• STAGE6: This is the place for Divx videos.  We used their converter, and it produced a clean video, but unfortunately with a stutter at the end -- we're working on it.  DIVX
  

Community and video feeds.

• MySpace: Please visit our page and add a comment and a friend, and watch the Benefit Project as we grow.  You may watch our 2 minute intro-video here too!   http://www.myspace.com/living_dead_benefit 
• Mefeedia and others.  Many video search and vblog sites are linking to our videos.  We always use the keyword NLDFILM, but if you don't find our videos on your favorite site, then please us know, email Dean Lachiusa at deanlach(@)yahoo.com

Free intro-video and Feature film links

		Monday, 22 October 07 - 11:19 AM (GMT -07:00) By Mr Benefilm in General

The Benefit for the Living Dead videos are available on several web services.  Because each site has their own metatag and classification system, you'll find the movie titled and/or categorized as a: zombie remix, Romero tribute, monster mashup, and "Night of the Living Dead Benefit."

Here is a link to the page that lists most sites with hotlinks and descriptions.

http://www.nldfilm.com/watch.htm

If you just want to watch the 2 minute introductory video, please visit the Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/living_dead_benefit and we hope that you comment and add us as friends too.

Movie stream free, Amazon displays old art

		Thursday, 18 October 07 - 07:43 AM (GMT -07:00) By Mr Benefilm in General

Hi, just a quick note,

The DVD cover displayed on the Amazon site is still the old-art, which is not bad, but not entirely up to date.  Don't worry, if you order the disk you'll still get the new/correct art that is supplied by Createspace. 

I've almost given up on trying to get Amazon to fix the Benefit's display page on their site, it's been months.  I'd rather you buy the DVD directly from Createspace.  Here is the link http://www.createspace.com/Store/ShowEStore.jsp?id=221615

Blip tv link removed

		Thursday, 18 October 07 - 07:29 AM (GMT -07:00) By Mr Benefilm in General

Sorry, but Blip.tv is in Beta, and my personal experience with their playback-engine has been plagued with frustrating freeze-ups, and I also cannot seem to get all my video clips (parts 1-8) to display in the correct order.

Therefore, here is a link to the Flixya service.  They are using the clips I have placed on Revver, in a "gallery" that should play back well for you. 

http://www.flixya.com/gallery/4265/theseotitle

Flixya also hosts a related blog, but it is not hot-linked on my Flixya-Gallery page, therefore I think that you'll find the forum on this site to be suitable.

Free Downloads, sponsored by Revver and Blip.TV ad partners

		Thursday, 04 October 07 - 08:57 AM (GMT -07:00) By Mr Benefilm in General

I'll post the complete URL for the series here as soon as all the content is active.  The streaming video looks pretty good in Flash, and some of the sites that Revver and Blip.tv utilize also offer QT, WMV and other downloads.

You'll notice a small NLDFILM (c) statement on the content, this is because I would like folks to enjoy the movie, but not capitalize upon it.  Any money that is made from Advertising or DVD sales must go to the Benefit Project.

Here's a link to part one, the rest of the movie-segments are from 10-12 minutes long, this is done because of the 100MB limit on most sites.  If you don't like fussing with mulitple streams/downloads, then of course you can purchase the DVD from createspace.  (By the way, Amazon hardly pays squat for sales via their site!)

http://revver.com/watch/415200

Createspace still slacking...Indieflix will be active soon.

		Monday, 17 September 07 - 09:11 PM (GMT -07:00) By Mr Benefilm in General

Opera doesn't support Wysiwyg! Firefox and IE work. Oh yes...about the On-demand DVD stuff. CreateSpace still hasn't fixed the Amazon page for the Benefit Vol.1 DVD. It's okay I guess, because soon Indieflix's on-demand services will soon be active, and eventually a distributor will take up the task of replication, etc. Over a year ago a rep at Waxworks said they were interested in the Survivor's Cut, and if I could arrange to use Victory or ProActive or another company, then they would distribute the disk. But as you already may know, the Survivor's Cut was never really supposed to be a commercial release. Don't get me wrong, I tested it yes, but the disks that were distributed were all printed with a copyright-control statement (ie - promotional use...blah blah blah...) This whole thing makes me want to pull my hair out. (By the way - I'm bald!) Get it? Hey, you ever wonder why Russo and his clan or GAR's buddies didn't ask me to take the SC and mash-it-up again with some of their material and then do another DVD release? This really is one of the few ways that they can re-capture their lost copyrights. Until later...

Customflix is now CreateSpace, is it any better?

		Saturday, 18 August 07 - 03:57 PM (GMT -07:00) By Mr Benefilm in General

 

I've used Customflix to launch my movies for 2 years now. And recently, they decided to change their name, and a bit of how they operate.

Createspace is the new name for this On-Demand publisher that helps you promote and sell your self-produced DVD or Book.  I'm not crazy about the name change, it doesn't really work for me, because I produce movies.  To me, this new name sounds more like a community blog.

Okay, so I'm over the name.  Maybe that doesn't bother you too much.  Here's what you should know about their wacki royalty structure and how they handle problems.

The service allows a DIY producer to sell a product via the Createspace services.  They do the credit card sale, all the duplication, and the shipping.  What's cool is that they will host a webpage for you, and they will list your product on Amazon too.  I don't know about you, but I think an Amazon point-of-sale is a worthy venue.

But here's the clincher -- these guys continue to change their royalty agreement.  A few months ago I was paying customflix about $8 for every DVD sold.  This recently has been adjusted, now the cost to sell my product via their Amazon-connection is a whoppin' 45% plus a wacki assortment of affiliate fees and applicable discounts.  Next week it may change again.  And I'll update this blog asap - because really, I don't want to bad-mouth these guys.

Earlier I mentioned that you can use them to promote your product.  Well that's pretty much what I use them for.  What I like to do is produce a DVD and then test it.  I'll produce the art, upload it to them, and then if I need to tweak it a bit, then I simply upload new art.
When I am satisfied that my art and product description is up-to-par with commercial products on the market, that is when I start promote the final product online -- to magazines, etc.  But here's the real bummer...

Updating your content with Createspace is an online process that is almost instant -- however, it can take "up to 21 days or more" to have these changes migrate to Amazon.

Dang!  They don't lie, in fact 45 days ago I updated my DVD art, and my description with Createspace.  I expected a couple of weeks before seeing the changes appear on Amazon.

22 business days later I let Createspace know that Amazon had not posted my new art and description.  Now, after a half dozen emails to the support division, Createspace has managed to update my description on the Amazon -- but not the DVD art.  Dang it X2!!!

What a frustrating situation.  Next time, it's Indieflix.  Yep, they're looking real good about now.  Heck, even Lulu is looking good at this point.  More about them later - hopefully all good.

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