I came across something odd. I was searching Amazon Prime Video for something to watch and shockingly came across a short film that I had given someone permission to film a year ago and - wala - there it was on Amazon Prime Video.

Note: it was a pretty bad production so I really have no desire to market a viewing here -  - but the point being I was amazed that it was on Amazon Prime Video.

I did a bit of research and discovered this:  

https://videodirect.amazon.com/home/landing

Apparently, anyone can upload their film to Amazon Prime - thought I would share and also ask - has anyone done this with their films???

Wala...

One of my pet peeves.

Yeah, they can be short or feature length -- you do have to pay a monthly or something like that (I could be mistaken, but I know there's an ongoing fee). But I can tell which movies the filmmakers themselves paid to get on Amazon Prime by how cheap and shitty their trailers look, most of the time. The shorts are usually much better quality than the features, but I think you'd have better luck posting on Youtube and hopefully getting enough views to get monetized (if you have enough subscribers/watch hours). Or even charging like 99 cents a view on Vimeo for your short. You don't get jack shit back from Prime, at least with my experience RE: feature films, but that may be because it's through the distribution company. But, from what I'm told, even if your distributor is putting your movie on there, it's still shitty per view (in comparison to streaming services like Netflix, Shudder, Hulu). Can't imagine paying to put your movie on there and getting much of a profit, if any. But, I know a lot of indie filmmakers who do self-distribution who regularly post their films on Amazon, so I could be wrong.

I signed up for it Dave but have never quite got round to doing anything with it, having only made one short film myself.

A feature I'd written to order appeared on Amazon briefly but then the producers fell out and I think just the trailer is visible now.

Nice to see that one of your filmmakers has used it though, which one was it?

Quoted from spesh2k Yeah, they can be short or feature length -- you do have to pay a monthly or something like that (I could be mistaken, but I know there's an ongoing fee). But I can tell which movies the filmmakers themselves paid to get on Amazon Prime by how cheap and shitty their trailers look, most of the time. The shorts are usually much better quality than the features, but I think you'd have better luck posting on Youtube and hopefully getting enough views to get monetized (if you have enough subscribers/watch hours). Or even charging like 99 cents a view on Vimeo for your short. You don't get jack shit back from Prime, at least with my experience RE: feature films, but that may be because it's through the distribution company. But, from what I'm told, even if your distributor is putting your movie on there, it's still shitty per view (in comparison to streaming services like Netflix, Shudder, Hulu). Can't imagine paying to put your movie on there and getting much of a profit, if any. But, I know a lot of indie filmmakers who do self-distribution who regularly post their films on Amazon, so I could be wrong.

I think this makes sense.

Quoted from AnthonyCawood I signed up for it Dave but have never quite got round to doing anything with it, having only made one short film myself. A feature I'd written to order appeared on Amazon briefly but then the producers fell out and I think just the trailer is visible now. Nice to see that one of your filmmakers has used it though, which one was it?

Role of The Dice.  Horrible job.

My one short I produced (which was a proof of concept for a feature), I posted on Youtube and got several emails from other streaming services and apps to feature the short there without having to remove it from Youtube. They do pay you, but it's not that great and it's like every 2 months or so they pay you. Again, it's practically nothing. But at least I didn't have to pay anything for them to pick it up. Was thinking of putting it up on Vimeo, too. Think I may have looked into Amazon Prime, but I hate spending money so I think I backed off.

Quoted from spesh2k My one short I produced (which was a proof of concept for a feature), I posted on Youtube and got several emails from other streaming services and apps to feature the short there without having to remove it from Youtube. They do pay you, but it's not that great and it's like every 2 months or so they pay you. Again, it's practically nothing. But at least I didn't have to pay anything for them to pick it up. Was thinking of putting it up on Vimeo, too. Think I may have looked into Amazon Prime, but I hate spending money so I think I backed off.

Interesting.

This one was a mystery show up for me. Had no idea

Check YouTube Dave, I've had four shorts show up on there, filmed by students without permission... amazing where your work shows up!

Quoted from AnthonyCawood Check YouTube Dave, I've had four shorts show up on there, filmed by students without permission... amazing where your work shows up!

Will do

Quoted from eldave1 Interesting. This one was a mystery show up for me. Had no idea

Pretty nice surprise catching it on Amazon, at least it wasn't someone who filmed it without your permission.

Quoted from eldave1 I came across something odd. I was searching Amazon Prime Video for something to watch and shockingly came across a short film that I had given someone permission to film a year ago and - wala - there it was on Amazon Prime Video. Note: it was a pretty bad production so I really have no desire to market a viewing here -  - but the point being I was amazed that it was on Amazon Prime Video. I did a bit of research and discovered this:   https://videodirect.amazon.com/home/landing Apparently, anyone can upload their film to Amazon Prime - thought I would share and also ask - has anyone done this with their films???

I've done this with two of my films, No More Tomorrows and Surrender. You have to jump through more hoops than Youtube or Vimeo to get the content on there but yeah, anyone can do it. I'm pleased to say I earn about 10 cents a month from this!! WOO!

Quoted from MarkRenshaw I've done this with two of my films, No More Tomorrows and Surrender. You have to jump through more hoops than Youtube or Vimeo to get the content on there but yeah, anyone can do it. I'm pleased to say I earn about 10 cents a month from this!! WOO!

Sure. But after taxes it's only seven cents:)

Quoted from spesh2k Pretty nice surprise catching it on Amazon, at least it wasn't someone who filmed it without your permission.

For sure.