Amazon looks to Sundance for New Content
Amazon is pulling out its wallet with a no haggle offer for filmmakers whose movies are official selections of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival — if they agree to make their movies available on Prime Video for two years. Under the new program named Amazon’s Film Festival Stars, all films screening as official selections at this year’s Sundance will be eligible to opt-in to a special Prime Video distribution package, which includes a one-time cash bonus and enhanced royalty rates.
The program, which is an extension of Amazon Video Direct, will be offering $100,000 for U.S. dramatic films and premieres, $75,000 for U.S. documentaries and documentary premieres and it’s offering $25,000 for World Dramatic, World Documentaries, Next, Spotlight, Kids, Midnight and New Frontier selections.
To be eligible for the program, filmmakers must grant Amazon worldwide streaming video-on-demand rights to their movies for 24 months, with the first 12 months being exclusive.
“Amazon Video Direct believes that expanding distribution options for filmmakers will result in a larger number of great films reaching a bigger audience” the company said in a statement. “[Which] is a win for filmmakers and customers alike,”
Amazon will also double the royalty rates their movies will earn on Prime Video versus the regular AVD rates. Film Festival Stars titles can expect to earn 30 cents per hour if viewed in the U.S., and 12 cents per hour if viewed internationally. Amazon Video Direct’s regular royalty rate for titles included in Prime Video is 15 cents per hour viewed in the U.S. (and 6 cents elsewhere), with a cap of $75,000 per year; however, Amazon said, there will be no royalty cap for Film Festival Stars titles.
Amazon plans to pay Amazon Video Direct participants a share of a $1 million monthly bonus pool to the top 50 movies, top 10 TV seasons and top 25 digital content providers published in Prime Video.
