FlickLaunch Showcases First Movie Distribution Platform Built on Facebook® for Viewing Independent Films

BERKELEY, Calif., May 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- FlickLaunch, the first movie distribution platform built on Facebook for independent filmmakers, announced today it would begin showing independent films for 7-day rentals on the filmmaker's Facebook fanpage. This new platform enables independent filmmakers access and the ability to market to a global audience through Facebook without the prohibitive costs of traditional and outdated distribution.

Starting today, FlickLaunch will offer the urban crime thriller "Blues," distributed by Level 33 Entertainment.  The movie can be viewed in its entirety and in full screen here, on the Blues movie fanpage. "Blues" was written and directed by Brandon Sonnier, one of the youngest filmmakers to premiere a film at the Sundance Film Festival. The first 1,000 "movie goers" can view the movie for free. Go to the Blues movie fanpage, hit the "LIKE" button and the movie begins. Once the first 1,000 "LIKES" are exhausted, the movie will be only $1 to view.

"We see a great opportunity to help these filmmakers get their films seen by offering this powerful direct-to-consumer distribution platform," remarked Craig Tanner, Co-founder and CEO of FlickLaunch. "Currently, many independent films cannot secure distribution from a major distributor and rarely have a marketing budget to reach a mass audience. FlickLaunch provides an immediate solution to filmmakers for both of these issues."

With FlickLaunch, filmmakers can offer their movies on Facebook in minutes, not days or months as is the case for other Internet platforms. The FlickLaunch player and application quickly uploads the filmmaker's movie to the Facebook fanpage. Using the "LIKE" button, the filmmaker can give away a predetermined amount of free views to "movie goers" to promote the movie or set the rental price to start making money right away. Once the predetermined number of "LIKES" is exhausted, "movie goers" will use Paypal (Facebook Credits available soon) to rent movies at a price of $1-$5 depending on the film, while engaging with their Facebook friends.

"The FlickLaunch player is the easiest interface to use by filmmakers to upload and stream their movies in a highly scalable, SaaS platform for an optimized viewing experience on Facebook," commented Pinaki Saha, FlickLaunch CTO. "Users can watch in full screen, stop, pause, and resume within the 7-day rental window, all while posting comments and updates to their page."

"These days, in order for an independent film to have a shot at success in this competitive environment, each actor, director, and producer must use their Facebook friends and Twitter followers to drive traffic to their movie," commented Erik Moore, Co-founder of FlickLaunch. "It's much easier when the movie theater and marketing arm reside on Facebook."

Of the 3,812 movie submissions to the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, only 118 feature-length films were selected. A limited number of those official selections will secure any meaningful distribution. The other 3,694 may never be seen by an audience. With FlickLaunch, that story is about to change.

"Blues" stars Sydney T. Poitier (Quentin Tarantino's DEATH PROOF), Ty Hodges (EVEN STEVENS), and Ari Graynor (CONVICTION, NICK & NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST).

FlickLaunch is currently working on its Android, iPad, and iPhone apps. FlickLaunch 2.0, which will be released soon, includes the first movie genome project based on the social graph.  

About FlickLaunch:

FlickLaunch is a streaming platform for film distribution built on Facebook. FlickLaunch allows a filmmaker to market and distribute a film directly to their audience and receive up to 70% of the revenue. FlickLaunch will offer its secure platform for major studio distribution.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FlickLaunch

Website: http://www.FlickLaunch.com

Twitter: @FlickLaunch

About Level 33 Entertainment:

Level 33 Entertainment is a Los Angeles-based distribution company that provides innovative sales, marketing and distribution services for feature films and entertainment content. Level 33 provides filmmakers with an innovative and flexible distribution solution for all platforms, including Theatrical, Home Entertainment, Digital and Broadcast.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Level-33-Entertainment/222748346296?ref=ts

Website: http://www.level33entertainment.com

Twitter: @level33_ent

Media Contact:

Kim Bardakian
[email protected]
510-499-5723

Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.

This press release was issued through eReleases(R).  For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE FlickLaunch