In contrast to Atom Films and iFILM, a few other sites have adopted unorthodox business plans and a more grass-roots approach in attempting to lure viewers and filmmakers. Launched in the summer of 1999, San Francisco-based Eveo (www.eveo.com) is an independent video network that enables aspiring filmmakers to create short videos (dubbed "Eveos") that will premiere on the Web site. Most online entertainment companies, such as Atom Films, have a competitive selection process that’s not unlike those used by traditional film distributors and festivals. What sets Eveo apart is that the site offers any individual an opportunity to showcase his work, as long as it hews to a simple requirement: a running time of three minutes or less. Eveo will also not accept home videos or pornographic material.
As a predominantly DV-based site, Eveo has assembled a creative advisory board that includes independent DV pioneers such as Bennett Miller (The Cruise), Todd Verow (Frisk) and Haskell Wexler, ASC (Bus Rider’s Union). Eveo president and CEO Olivier Zitoun, who has more than 14 years of experience in the high-tech industry, has a very individualistic attitude about what his site will provide for filmmakers. "The Web has been very successful as a tool [for] letting people express themselves since the first days of the Internet, [from] chat rooms and bulletin boards to home pages and MP3s, [and] now video," Zitoun says. "Like the Internet, Eveo is truly about people and self-expression."
Based in New York and Los Angeles, Nibblebox (www.nibblebox.com) is another of the more interesting online entertainment sites on the Web. Created by TV executive David Bartis and film director Doug Liman (Swingers, Go), Nibblebox gives college students around the country cameras, sound equipment, funding and mentoring to allow them to create video, radio and animated content to be showcased on the Web. During their student days at Brown University, Bartis and Liman founded an organization called The National Association of College Broadcasters. They created Nibblebox for 18- to 24-year-old college students, who are usually the early adopters and innovators of the Internet.
The site has built a network of content creators by developing partnerships with campus TV stations, radio stations, film clubs and other creative groups. Students submit proposals for projects, which Nibblebox then puts through a selection process. The chosen projects are assigned mentors, who assist in the development and creation of the content; this program has already benefited from the participation of world-class filmmakers such as Steven Soderbergh (The Limey, Erin Brockovich) and Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire).
A good example of the type of programming Nibblebox offers is a show called Virtual Rob, which is both episodic and interactive. Each installment of the show features Rob, the first clickable human being, standing in the middle of a different environment that is also clickable. If you click Rob’s arm, something strange happens to it, and if you click a vodka bottle in the background, Rob will drink it, fall over and slap himself to sober up. Bartis firmly believes that Nibblebox has the strongest grass-roots philosophy of any site on the Web. "Nobody is out there developing grass-roots content, and nobody is giving people the tools to create content like we are," he maintains. "We like to say that we’re [providing] both the physical tools and the intellectual tools."
In terms of profits, most Web sites have standard deals with filmmakers, although many of them differ. Eveo has a two-level agreement. The first is a non-exclusive deal via which Eveo pays the filmmaker $100 to stream his or her work on the site. Every time the film is viewed, the filmmaker makes 5 cents. If the film is one of the top picks, it will be acquired for exclusive rights, for which Eveo pays $750 in up-front costs. On top of that, the site offers the filmmaker 55 percent of the revenue for online and offline syndication. According to Zitoun, a filmmaker can make $100 on the low end and $1,500-$2,000 on the high end. Nibblebox requires the assignment of the rights to Nibblebox, but the site attaches the name of the creator permanently to the show in case he makes a deal to take the show offline into a TV series or feature film. Thus the filmmaker will always have an ownership position for the life of the project.
The press has given extensive coverage to the fact that many online entertainment companies are experiencing financial difficulties because of the lack of broadband in the mainstream and the general instability of tech stocks. Recently, Pseudo Programs Inc. (www.pseudo.com), one of the early pioneers of Web-based entertainment, announced that it had laid off all of its 175 employees after running out of money. "It’s a little early to do what we do, but it’s probably not too early," said CEO David Bohrman in a press release. "I think the funding paralysis that’s out there in the economy, [which] happened after April, is what really stopped the flow of financing into this kind of company."
Perhaps the most well-known demise of an online entertainment company has been the turbulent saga of Digital Entertainment Network (DEN). During its short life span, the site raised over $26 million in its first round of financing but suffered financial woes, massive layoffs, management reshuffling, business-plan changes and a sexual-misconduct lawsuit that led to a filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this year. According to former DEN President David Neuman, the important element for success is to have financial backers with the will to succeed. "Every successful major media corporation of the past 20 years is inevitably a story of mistakes and/or patient investors who go through years of losing money," said Neuman at this year’s Streaming Media East conference. "The venture capitalists in the Internet marketplace do not have the enthusiasm or patience anymore." Even Steven Spielberg’s Pop.com, which was to Webcast video, animation and other programming created by big industry names, shut down before streaming even one byte of content.
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