INFINICINE: In the last 2 years in DVD production, have you noticed any changes? Have you had to make more DVDs to stay at the same revenue levels?

BRIAN SHIREY: There hasn’t been much change in actual DVD production, other than trying to get HD materials as our source when it comes to new films. For Blu-Ray, HD masters are a given. For DVD, if you start with an HD master and then down-convert to Standard Def, you get slightly better quality, plus a good selling point. This is something we do in DVD that in effect anticipates Blu-Ray before actually doing Blu-Ray. But once we start doing Blu-Ray on everything, it’s a moot point. The costs of making more DVDs, while low compared to Blu-Ray, still can offset the revenue, because the DVD market is currently bad. I wouldn’t say for certain that making more DVD keeps our revenue level — but our Sales Director would know better.

I: How much effort do you put into extras? Has that changed over the last few years?

BS: The effort we put into extras varies depending on how accessible they are, and on the title. Classic titles and new films that are genre are good choices for extras, but austere, artier films are often more appropriately released with minimal fuss. Then there are the most obscure titles, for which simply being on DVD is enough. We will often release films that would never see the light of day without us, and we hope that consumers will appreciate the DVD on that basis alone. Not to mention that, the more obscure the film, the less likely that extras would be available. Ultimately, we much prefer doing extras to not doing extras, and pursue adding them as much as we can. But if distribution ends up turning into a primarily VOD market, I wonder if consumers will even care about extras after a while… They’ll just click one button to see a film, then when it’s over, move on to the next one.

I: Do you have to do anything in the production process to satisfy buyers like Netflix or Amazon.com or box stores like Best Buy?

BS: Primarily, no. The more mainstream the outlet, the better it is to have extras. And if it’s a new genre film, having an eye-catching, easy-sell cover is often very helpful.

I: What is a typical range of sales for DVD- what is a small run for you and what is a hit?

BS: A small run is under 5000. A hit is over 15000.

I: What do you think are the end-user¹s favourite aspects of watching a DVD?

BS: How user-friendly and versatile they are. Being able to have the multiple subtitle options, or audio options, and the extras, all on one disc. And now, since they are less expensive to produce and buy, the possibility that more and more movies will be available on the format. As far as I’m concerned, the more films that can actually get released and seen is more important than the quality of how they are seen. This is a debate about Blu-Ray. I think Blu-Ray emphasizes sharpness and absolutely unassailable quality, but by so doing it will exclude entire eras of film (i.e. films before 1950) that might not have the greatest source material available, and hence that distributors might not be willing to transfer to HD. Despite the current dip in the market, I think DVD is the best format for both sides — consumers and distributors.

Readers: Are you still making DVDs? How much longer can you see this format lasting?

Recent news:
Netflix and Film Independent have joined up to create a $150,000 contest to support the creation of a feature film, which will have “distribution” through Netflix Watch Instantly (rather an increase from their standard WI license- see below for why the value of that may be changing).

Not unexpectedly, the numbers for home media in ’08 were not so great.

Spout, the movie website, has partnered with an online market called MeDeploy to help filmmakers offer download services, and put a marketing page on the site to supplement the effort.

A somewhat subdued CES, the tech playground/showcase took place in Las Vegas last week; among the announcements in the digital distribution field were various streaming televisions and Blu-Ray decks, many of which had Netflix as a partner. Another partner of Netflix, Roku, announced Amazon VOD would now play on their box, but strangely you can not purchase the box at Amazon.

But for small distributors and independent filmmakers, BR feels still far off. Licensing and royalties involved in the patented manufacturing process make a BR disc at least double the cost of a standard DVD- and if you will only be selling 5-30K copies, the return can’t really justify the expense, especially since the major studios have set the BR price point pretty low.

Nevertheless, indies are going to have to make the leap in the next year- there is simply too much at stake to hold back, and most probably learned their lesson from the last time, when companies who waited around on DVD lost significant revenues. For now, we can look to Sony Pictures Classics as the example, since they (presumably by virtue of their relationship with Sony, a major stakeholder in Blu-Ray technology) are one of the only “arthouse” distributors with a significant number of BR releases. (I hope to talk with someone there about their strategy in the upcoming weeks).

And greater demand will no doubt lead to greater competition and better pricing, though with a new technology it is always good to be careful of going too budget. For small projects you can now find Blu-Ray burnable discs for around $15 or less and a burner is about $400. If you have any hot BR tips, share them in the comments.