WHY INDIEHORROR.TV?
IHTV came about as a labor of love towards horror movies and specifically towards those who create Independent Horror Films.
There is a certain amount of awe inspired by the concept of someone committing everything they have to their passion. Many small time filmmakers sacrifice their financial well being taking their personal savings and investing it into their film. They take risks with their careers by taking time off to complete their project. They spend countless hours filming, editing, promoting their films. And in horror in general, outside of a few film festivals and a convention here or there, the movies fade into the background never truly reaching the audiences they deserve.
No more of that. What IHTV wants to do is to air your movies. We want to promote them on our website, our facebook and our twitter pages. We want to air their trailers even on nights they're not playing and redirect people to your site to possibly purchase your DVDs, Blu Rays or other Merch.
All we ask is the non-exclusive rights to play your movie as often as we can (or as often as you're willing to allow us to air them). You provide us with two video files: a trailer (if you have one) that shows your website address and the film itself. We will then schedule and air your movie(s) on a month by month schedule.
That's it. No costs to you. We're not doing this for money. We're not going to sell your films or anything of that sort. We just want material to air. In return, hopefully, we can get the word out about your film. Like I said, this is a labor of love and the least we can do.
This site exists to salute you, the Indie Horror Filmmaker. We applaud your effort and passion and we want everyone to know of your work. In some small way, our hope is that with us cheering you along, you'll be able to find wider distribution and of course graduate from our channel to retail outlets everywhere.
We also offer a Director Chats night where if you have a webcam, we can set up an airing where immediately after your movie airs we bring you into the stream for a live video chat with the viewers in our chat room. This gives a direct interaction between you and an audience. Similar to what you might find at a Film Festival. This of course, is purely voluntary. An optional way to help promote your movie and be shown on a featured night. All that is required is a webcam and some time for us. :)
If you would like to contact us about showing your film, here are three ways to do so:
Email: info@indiehorror.tv
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/indiehorrortv
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/indiehorror.tv
For a more detailed (and more legal) description of services, here is the MS Word Document.
The Process. A quick Q&A about how to participate.
Q: How do I participate or get films to you?
A: This is easy enough - send us your films digitally using Dropbox, Google Drive or Wetransfer (if 2gb or less) or via Vimeo with a Download Link setup. Send the share or invite to: info@indiehorror.tv. Don't have Dropbox? Give us an email and we'll create a temporary shared folder where you can upload your movie. If you do not have the ability to make a digital copy, send us an email and we'll give you an address to send a disc to.
Q: What file format do you prefer?
A: MP4, h.264 format, 720p at least for quality. We run on a Windows based system so MOV files actually have caused issues for us and converting them perfectly has been hit or miss. Also please do not send Blu Rays as converting those to video files have also not been the smoothest experience.
Q: Will I be compensated for airing my work?
A: Unfortunately not at this time. The channel has no incoming revenue streams. We work for free to promote your work and are building an Independent Horror Community that might be more interested in helping you fund or promote your next project. Also all Director's Chats are recorded and put on YouTube. Feel free to share far and wide. You can use this in your promotional materials on your site! When/if we change our model to start accepting advertising revenue, we may at that time institute a profit sharing plan with filmmakers of some sort. That however is not possible for the time being.
Q: Will you do reviews for our film?
A: We are often asked if we will review a film, specifically to be quoted on the films or press materials. That's not really what we do. We approach every film with neutrality. Why? Because we don't want our site to advocate for certain films or against certain films in a way that promotes favortism. Remember, there are TONS of films and filmmakers out there and our audience is a very diverse Horror audience. So if I, the owner of IndieHorror.TV, don't like, say... found footage movies and don't give the most glowing review to one of those films, I don't want to offend a filmmaker and prevent them from airing their work on our channel because there could be a lot of our audience that enjoys the film. Our audience is what counts and we air everything because you never know what people will or will not enjoy. Short answer: No, we do not/will not do reviews officially from the channel.
Q: Why are you not on 24/7?
A: We would love to be able to do that but we'd need a LOT more content and a different backend system built out to handle slotting films in while the current ones are playing as well as listing the timeslots we're dropping files into. I suspect a buildout like that could cost $10k at least. So for right now we keep it to Fri-Sat-Sun evenings, with Fridays being our marquee nights. We have considered this as a major goal for the channel in the future.
Q: Can I air my film just one time only?
A: Yes! And we've had a number of one and done films that we have aired. I personally think though giving us more airs to work with works to your benefit. The audience seems to be different from one night to the next so while we'll have a very strong audience one Friday, the next Friday you could end up with a handful of people. That means putting your eggs into one basket showing-wise could prevent a sizeable audience from checking out your film. It's always your call but to maximize the impact of showing your film on the channel, you usually want to get it in front of a decent amount of audience members.
Q: How can I avoid piracy with your channel?
A: This is important to filmmakers and with the number of media screeners ending up on torrent sites, we understand why. Here are the precautions we have in place that might help.
1. We never store your film online. All streams are done from a local PC, NOT from an online server that can be easily hacked.
2. We watermark the file. You'll know if it was ripped off of IHTV because either our watermark will exist in the top right corner or the pirater will have blurred that out. Also we usually run tickers on the bottom.
3. We run most streams at 720p which is good quality but not exactly 1080p Blu Ray or best DVD quality.
4. We don't upload to a storage site like YouTube. This means the only way to steal the film is to run a region ripper like Snagit. Those look terrible and will likely shrink the quality down even further.
To this date we have NEVER had a film pirated off of our channel. Here's hoping that continues.
Q: Where do my fans chat for the Director's Chats?
A: There is a chat room on the right side of our player. That chat room is run by Chatwing. Also Twitter users can chat by using #IHTVChat during our Director's Chats to be a part of the conversation.
Q: Can I come in the chat even if I don't have a Director's Chat that night?
A: Everyone is ALWAYS welcome to chat with us! We're trying to build a community of like-minded fans AND filmmakers. I personally think filmmakers hanging with the fans and watching movies helps build their brand up when it comes time for their next film.
Q: I don't have Skype, can I do a Director's Chat?
A: At the moment, Skype is our only recordable option. It stinks but it works. If you are worried about the technical part of signing in and such, we can help walk you through it. If a camera is an issue, there might be ways to hook your regular video cam up to your PC via a USB cable and use that. There are always options, so let's figure it out.
Q: Can we do a pre-recorded chat?
A: We don't do the chats as interviews so much as fun, casual Q&As with our audiences. We've turned down some pretty well known horror names because we want the chats to stay interactive. It's the entire draw of the event. You interacting with fans about your work. It's so casual and pure and better than convention Q&As or straight media interviews. We believe it's one of our trademark features. So at this time, we're declining pre-recording in favor of a much more vibrant, energetic chat that can help showcase you the person in addition to you the Director or you the Actor.
OUR WISHLIST: OTHER TYPES OF PROGRAMS WE ARE LOOKING FOR
For those of you who are creative and want to help out, we have a couple of different things we're looking for in addition to always wanting Full Length Features and Short Films (call it a "wish list") aside from films and shorts.
CONVENTION REPORTER - INTERVIEW SERIES
Horror Conventions are the life blood of the Industry. I want to promote these events as a major part of the horror lifestyle and I know some of you attend a bunch of these things. Filming the cons (at least the ones that will let you) isn't hard... I want people to see the vendors and the kinds of things they offer. I want interviews with con-goers, some of the higher profile guests (if they are willing to chat for a few minutes), Con Organizers and pretty much anyone willing to talk. Give us the FEELING of these conventions. These don't have to be 2 hour documentaries. Hell they could be 10-15 minutes long but I have a serious feeling that a lot of Convention organizers would jump at the chance to allow us to film things at their con since it will help promote them in the future.
FICTIONALIZED HORROR TV SERIES
This one I want to be scripted, fictional with a season and episodes and such. I am sure there are people out there contemplating doing a series for YouTube or someone who has already done this but it would be cool to have our own episodic programming in addition to films.
INSIDER SERIES 1: SPECIAL EFFECTS
One of the cooler aspects of running a channel promoting Independent Horror is that I'd like to give people a jumpstart and maybe help inspire future filmmakers. It works not just to get more movies made in general but of course we're hoping that inspiration creates a cycle where we always have material to air. That being said having a 30 minute series with makeup effects as well as any other types of practical or CG effect how-tos would be invaluable to people just starting out. Not to mention very informative and fun.
INSIDER SERIES 2: HOW TO MAKE AN INDEPENDENT FILM
This series is more about the nuts and bolts of the process. I'd like each episode broken down by a theme. One can be about Scriptwriting and storyboards. One can be about the process of raising money. One can be about location scouting. One can be about casting. One can be about principal shooting. One can be about post-production. One can be about movie promotion. I mean seriously there are a ton of aspects left out here that could warrant their own episodes and each season could feature a new movie and the process behind it. I'd love to follow one filmmaker, especially if he has success with the first film, for two seasons. The differences in the second production and how receptive financiers and distributors are as well as different actors that want to be a part of the next project. It would be completely eye opening. I straight up love this idea. We need to do it.
AN ANIMATED SERIES
Okay so we're getting greedy here but I would love nothing more than to have an animated horror series of our very own to air. I know animated television is a complicated process but hey, this is a wish list, right?