The Power of the Internet?
The announcement this week that Vertigo Films (those responsible for The Business, Human Traffic, the Football factory) were going to finance their next film Outlaw via the Internet at first made me more excited than Archimedes on bath day. 
However even the discovery of displacement couldn’t really subdue my usual doubt and cynicism especially when I remembered the other unsuccessful internet money raising schemes that have been concocted in recent years.
Remember when Stephen King promised to revolutionise the way we bought books? He had a novel idea (apologies for the pun) and put the first chapter of The Plant on his site and promised only to write more if people paid him money. Of course the book industry went nuts fearing King would single handedly destroy their multi-million dollar business. (Un)fortunately King stopped writing half way through the novel through lack of interest (and money).
Recently Star Trek fans have attempted to raise money to fund another series of Enterprise (why..of why?!). Unfortunately they fell short of the $30 million demanded by the film networks (they managed 10% of that). Both failed because they forgot how greedy people are. People will only pay for exclusiveness, and not even those wishing to live in the utopian world of Star Trek can usurp their instinct to only pay for things that only they can receive. It’s what economists call the free rider problem. Why pay Stephen King for his book when I can read it for free? Why pay to get Enterprise back? (yeah why indeed?) If it’s back on TV I get to watch it for free, if not I can watch the thousands of hours of endless repeats on TV for free. This is why recent Star Trek fan films have been successful. They enable groups of fans to get together and write, direct and produce a film. The latest one even had Sulu in it. The freerider problem is an issue Vertigo have attempted to surpass by offering contributors an opportunity to appear in the movie and have a credit as a producer. Lets hope this is a big enough of an incentive.
However the real challenge Vertigo faces is that people do not know what they are buying. With King’s book, you can read the first chapter and if you think its good enough then you can help pay for the rest. Star Trek fans know what Enterprise is about and know what another series is going to be about (in fact some of the fans are so infatuated they would watch any crap with the Star Trek name on it). Vertigo’s new film carries greater risk than the other projects. Yes it has a reputation of producing quality films, but I don’t believe this is enough. Films are hugely risky because of the cost of producing them. You can not stop half way through and still have something to sell like with TV series; it’s either all or nothing. Films usually only have one opportunity to make a good impression and that’s at the cinema. If it fails then its tossed unceremoniously into the bin of cut priced DVDs at your local HMV.
These are some of the challenges Vertigo and others face. The internet promises so much but often delivers so little. Maybe Vertigo will get it right