VOD Spotlight: John SlossJanuary 12, 2010

FilmBuff

John Sloss is the founder of Cinetic Media and Cinetic Rights Management, which launched the Cable On Demand channel, FilmBuff in 2009. On Demand Weekly interviewed Sloss regarding his first foray into Video On Demand and what he hopes FilmBuff will accomplish.

On Demand Weekly: You've had a notable career in helping independent films find their way to the big screen with other film distributors. What prompted you to create FilmBuff?

John Sloss: TV is the greatest impulse medium and I believe Cable VOD (Video On Demand) is a sleeping giant. With the crisis in the independent distribution market, I saw that even though distribution was challenged, VOD offers filmmakers a way to make real money. And, for audiences, the whole idea behind FilmBuff is to offer exclusive film selections culled from the very best new releases, festival winners and box-office sensations..

ODW: What makes for a successful VOD release?

JS: Two things: what the content is and what you do with it. The content has to be high-quality, relevant programming. Relevant is a big deal for us. Since VOD is such a time-sensitive medium, that is films are only up for 90-120 days, we take seriously the goal of curating great content that is appropriate for that time period.

For example, Boondock Saints 2 is coming into the VOD window; we programmed the original film to appear alongside it. Another example is day-and-date films where the VOD window has attention drawn to it by the simultaneous theatrical release. Then, once you have the content, it comes down to what you do with it. We have a highly specialized internal marketing team who focuses solely on driving awareness for each of our VOD releases.

ODW: What was your most successful VOD release in 2009?

Tags:

filmbuff,

vod,

paranormal activity,

sundance film festival,

SHOCK DOCTRINE - On Demand Direct from the Sundance Film FestivalFebruary 04, 2010

Sundance Selects

Updated...

The Sundance Selects film label as part of the Direct from the Sundance Film Festival initiative chose three films being screened at the festival that simultaneously became available nationwide On Demand. "The Shock Doctrine" was one of them and made its North American premiere at Sundance and simultaneously On Demand January 28, 2010.

Directed by Mat Whitecross and Michael Winterbottom, based on the best-selling book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein, this documentary seeks to illustrate the central thesis of the book: that the embrace of Milton Friedman's free market economic theories, mainly by the right has led to increasing exploitation of crises for profit by big business and governments in a manner analogous to insidious "shock therapy treatment."

The filmmakers put forth that followers of Friedman's ideas are very aware of the "utility of crisis." That is, shocks (war, natural disasters, etc.) make for a perfect environment to install free market policies where they were having trouble before.

Tags:

sean mcphillips,

sundance selects,

sundance film festival,

the shock doctrine,

michael winterbottom,

mat whitecross,

naomi klein,

milton friedman,

Page 1 of 1 pages