Finding an Audience: Distribution Notes for 5/22/09

Home Video

Fox TV released the DVD set of the seventh season of “24″ the day after the finale aired, setting a new land-speed record for such a release. The speedy turn-around was in part due to the writer’s strike, which meant all the episodes were done and the discs could be produced ahead of time so it’s not expected that this will become a trend. I’m all for this becoming a model for the movie industry, of course.

I can’t recap the whole thing, but Patrick Goldstein has a great State of the Industry-type piece on how the home video market is doing and how it’s fortunes are impacting Hollywood as a whole. Well worth carving out some time to read this.

Online

Staunch supporter of film preservation – and legendary director – Martin Scorsese has announced that films restored by his World Cinema Foundation will be available online through TheAuteurs.com and iTunes as well as on DVD through iTunes. The idea, of course, is to not only make sure the films are available to future generations but to get them seen by people as well. The organization will also make them available to museums and film clubs.

Snagfilms gets a nice write-up detailing how it’s trying to expand the niche audience for documentaries to reach everyone on the web while also trying to help filmmakers get paid for their works, both by allowing them to make DVDs available for purchase and by splitting the revenue from ads placed within the streaming films.

On-Demand

Cable companies are obviously pushing for a continuation and expansion of initial tests of making movies available for VOD the same date they come out on DVD. They get to coat-tail on the marketing of the DVD, reaching an audience that has the movie at the top of their mind.