Saskia Wilson-Brown

An important new weapon in the arsenal for filmmakers who are bucking the system and choosing to self-distribute, VODO is incredibly subversive. Its success, after all, is predicated on human generosity, not to mention the radical (and counter-intuitive) act of letting your film loose in the P2P world… Believe me, it’s probably there already.

With all that said, the benefits are tangible: In its first few days of existence, this new brainchild of filmmaker Jamie King has already proven to be very effective.

So what is VODO? Simply put, it’s an additional distribution option for filmmakers, one that utilizes and consolidates existing file-sharing systems -- as they put it: ‘a distribution system for the post-copyright age’.

What VODO proposes is that P2P filesharing services (such as The Pirate Bay) can be utilized by filmmakers to reach an unprecedented amount of potential viewers. What makes VODO’s service special is its use of the ‘Distribution Coalition (DISCO)’–  a coalition of the P2P/filesharing sites. VODO acts as a pipeline of content, populating the various P2P services with the films it represents. This, in turn, allows filmmakers to get their content released in the P2P universe in a cohesive way, with the chance of an income through crowd-sourced donations. The purpose, then, of  VODO is to harness the filesharing world and distribute content in it in a way that benefits filmmakers (and, eventually, creators of all stripes).

What this means – in layman’s terms – is that if your film gets selected for VODO, it will get a cohesive release across across a wide selection of filesharing sites and services, complete with an actionable donation capability which will allow people who watch your film to support you with money.

So, my ask to you is that you go support this new tool for independent filmmakers today. Here are several ways you can help:

• By checking out Ivo Gormley’s documentary: US NOW (don’t forget to donate some cash back to the filmmaker)
• By subscribing or donating to VODO
• By spreading the word to your independent filmmaker friends
• By submitting your own film for this.

If you doubt the reach of filesharing, note that VODO launched a few days ago (on the 14th of October, specifically) with the documentary US NOW, and, at the time of writing, has already obtained 100,000 downloads for filmmaker Ivo Gormley.

That, my friends, is a hell of a lot of downloads.