You may or may not remember it, but I posted an article (that I didn't translate, so you actually don't remember it) a few months ago about the Self Helpless movie. The film was directed by a small team of friends from the East Coast of the U.S. that has decided to shoot a small independent film and make it available for free on Bit Torrent.
I must admit that despite its free availability, the trailer didn't make me want to invest an hour and a half of my life in The SelfHelpless. On the flip side, if the distributors of Alice in Wonderland or Iron Man depended on me to earn a living, they would be unemployed, so make an opinion for yourself...
A month after the movie came out, the producers announced proudly on their blog that SelfHelpless has been downloaded 60,000 times. They are now asking everyone who saw the movie for free to contribute financially by buying DVDs, ashtrays, T-shirts, etc. ...
A not-so-stupid strategy, that could be turn out to be profitable given the low-budget. Except that 60,000 free downloads on BitTorrent does not automatically mean that the film was seen by 60,000 Web users (you tend to take more of a product than you actually need or use when it is free), and even less that those who saw the film in its entirety have liked it enough to contribute financially after the fact.
Slightly more puzzling to me is the insistence of the producers producers to show they are not seeking any return on their investment nor to get hired by the Hollywood machinery by using this film as a calling card. Unless of course, this is only a facade, although I think they really are sincere in their approach.
Because, beyond basic human greed, if their little film is actually good but they don't care about accumulating debts without getting enough money back, how will they go about shooting a second?
Ask the Greeks, you always end up repaying your debts ...
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