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The future of how films will be bought and sold is here and it's called the Virtual Film Market. Industry veterans David Blake and Peter Sterling have paired up to launch the biggest innovation in film sales and delivery since conference calls and videotapes. Public company American Internet Entertainment provided Virtual Film Market with its six-figure operating capital and gave co-CEO's Blake and Sterling the opportunity to launch their visionary, utilitarian, full-screen, full-motion digital sound and image delivery system at the AFM and wow the hard to excite world of "been there, done that" film buyers and exhibitors.
VFM operated out of a suite at the Loew's Hotel, just like any other film exhibitor. Anyone who wandered the hallway outside suites 316/317 couldn't keep themselves from getting sucked into the powerful vortex caused by the future's technology operating today in the form of sound blasting, eye-catching projected images of Maverick, Goose and the Ice Man playing in their boy-toys, zooming through the skies with the Kenny Loggins' tune Danger Zone keeping score. Buyers knew the music of Top Gun, but they'd never seen or heard the film played from a laptop computer before. Yes, a laptop computer. An eclectic group of techies, webheads, salespersons, investment counselors and filmmakers all donned VFM badges and combined their knowledge of MPEG encoding, video conferencing, web-page design, film sales, filmmaking and market schmoozing to create the most impressive technological display of simultaneous service to film buyers and sellers ever assembled at the AFM.
The idea behind VFM is so simple it's genius. The VFM aims to be the cyber equivalent of a huge database containing information on every film being developed, produced or completed. Organized by company, the VFM contains detailed information on hundreds (and soon thousands) of films accessible within seconds at the click of a mouse button. VFM, free of charge, loads as much or as little information about projects as a distributor will provide. Buyers log-in with their own identification number and can then access information about individual projects from any company they desire. VFM has either mirrored the distributor's own web-site home page or created a new page for the distributor within the VFM site. Buyers can obtain cast lists, story summaries, cross-reference other films of actors, directors or producers involved in the project, available territories, sales prices and anything else the distributor will provide. Most intriguing, however, is the ability to load full-motion, full-screen trailers and (soon, very soon) entire films. Remember, all this is coming to you through your computer screen. Witnesses to the VFM suite (and to a chic mid-market ballroom press conference and demonstration of the site to web-o-phobes, techno-fraidy-cats and anyone else who hadn't yet made the effort to get to the suite) saw the quality of the images sent from the laptop to the projected screen and heard the quality of the sound sent the same way and were awed, amazed and otherwise blown away.
OK, you point-click-and-wait(ers) are already savvy to the snore-time that awaits you (or the benefits of multi-tasking if you occupy your time doing something else, like, let's say, write AFM profiles) when you try to download a few megs full of a lil' quick-time video clip from your favorite movie-related web site. Well, you know the worse thing is that it takes 27 minutes or so to download that 1:26 crumb from the movie (maybe even from the movie Crumb ) and you get an itsy-bitsy-teenie-weeney-scrunched-just-a-bit-smaller-than-a-telecine video block that is never as fun to watch as you thought it might be when you decided to devote your modem to the download. That's what's great about the VFM. It's the type of software that invites hardware purchases that will bring us all closer to having full-screen, full-motion video access from our desk, lap or palmtops soon! The 10BPS LANcity modem zips one-minute of film clip in one second. Yes, Virginia, a satellite link can deliver a full-length motion picture in just 90 seconds. Again, technology is awaiting human response. All the VFM needs now is for the film community to wake up, log-on, dial-up and download!
VFM has already set up homepages for all exhibitors at the AFM. We're not just talking text either. There are company logos, artwork and lots of trailers. The site is located at http://www.moviemarket.com. Even though VFM uploads information about all distributors and projects at no charge, the proprietary nature of much of the information necessitates a virtual lock on the VFM front door. Not to worry. Webheads reading here about the site can go to the URL and email VFM requesting entry. Your status in the business will probably determine your level of access. However, even if you're not a seller or a buyer at this time, Blake and the VFM staffers are so excited about their product that any passion you may show regarding their incredible idea will probably go a long way toward earning you at least a temporary password. If you visit the site now, you'll be able to check out details from each offering company including project details, trailers, contact persons and anticipated release dates per territory. Rights and territory availability may also soon be addressed, although such information often changes so rapidly that a distributor providing such information would almost need to be supplying such information online itself.
Of course, Blake and Sterling want as many buyers and sellers to visit the site as possible in order to (1) eliminate fear of the unknown that may be plaguing many people not yet on the net and (2) to let them experience for themselves the great potential VFM holds as being a global electronic clipboard that film sellers and buyers may share. The VFM is examining a number of secure transaction devices available online. Eventually films may be ordered, paid for and delivered via the VFM. Blake and Sterling know it's just a matter of time and they're convinced they'll be positioned to be the ultimate service provider in this regard.
