April 9, 2008 11:45AM

Watch a Movie for Free

By Alexis Glick

Yesterday YouTube released its FIRST feature film thanks to three close friends who wrote and co-produced a movie about their personal experiences. As they say, it’s a “call to action” for their generation to give back, create a dialogue and talk about issues. The name of the movie is the “Cult of Sincerity” and you can watch it for FREE on YouTube.

Two of the films co-producer’s and director’s came on Money for Breakfast this morning, Brendan Choisnet and Daniel Nayeri. You can see the interview below. They talk about how they created the movie and convinced YouTube to post it. How they make money and what this might mean for the future of Indie films. You may recall several months ago that Ed Brynes released a movie that he directed directly onto iTunes instead of to DVD. Is this the future of films? Films that can’t get the backing of the big name studios.

Brendan and Daniel were a little more candid about the dollars involved after the interview. They spent 18 days making it. All three of them (including Adam Browne who does not appear in my interview) paid for it together with some small financial backing. No major studios involved. The idea started when they participated in a project related to the recent Indie success “Juno.” They would not tell me how much they spent. They did say that they thought they would make back their investment in a couple of months assuming they get 100,000 hits and downloads. They made a deal with amiestreet.com to drive traffic to their site in return for which they get $2 for each person they send. You can also download the entire movie from their Web site for $3. You get two free songs to sample the site as part of this deal. It’s a very cool story and great for filmmakers who want to know how to make their dreams become a reality!!!