I recently spoke with Openindie creators Kieran Masterton and Arin Crumley (an innovative filmmaker the Wall Street Journal has listed as one of the top 20 media moguls) and together they are trying to build a website that may change the way we view, support and sustain ourselves off of independent film.

As a filmmaker I was very interested to see what these two were up to and had a few in depth talks about the problems we face and how they intend to solve them. After getting a few details about how they envision Openindie I must say I’m extremely excited, not only as a filmmaker and a film fan but also for the far reaching effects this site could have on independent film.

Below are some of the responses to the questions I asked them.

What is openindie?

ARIN: OpenIndie.com is a place we are inviting 100 filmmakers to come join a new method of distribution that involves the very open approach to allow anyone to screen any film anywhere.

KIERAN: By March 1st these 100 filmmakers will be able to add their films details to the site and allow fans of their film the ability to “request” a screening with one click. Any movie theater, film club, festival or individual can then look at local demand for all of the films as well as preview the films themselves and consider booking a screening. Once a screening is booked, all the people who “requested” the film will get a message with pertinent details.

How did you guys come to work together?

KIERAN: Like so many of us I came to know about Arin after following the video podcasts he did with Susan for Four Eyed Monsters. At the time I had taken three years out from my career to study film theory at University. Given my profession as a web programmer I was incredibly impressed by how Arin and Susan were carving out their own distribution model using emerging technologies. In January 2008 when we first started discussing the project that would become OpenIndie. In March 2009 I emailed Arin to tell him I’d registered openindie.com and the planning began.

ARIN: I wanted to apply everything I had learned with our Theatrical Request Heart Map with did for Four Eyed Monsters to a new social network that would bring this ability to every filmmaker. I’d tried with From Here to Awesome with the idea people would click, “this seems awesome” and I did learn more about this model, but ultimately we needed the heavy weight software development power of someone like Kieran to actually really pull it off. As he’s had his full time job the past 9 months we’ve been working together he’s really impressed me in how he’s been designing the site and the feature wish list brainstorms have gotten me so excited that I really just want to see this work, if nothing else for my own films I’m working on and to get more screenings of Four Eyed Monsters happening again. So last month when a new film I’m working on had a successful kickstarter campaign exceding our goal of 2,500 dollars Kieran and I got the idea we could fund OpenIndie.com in the same way. We drafted up a budget and realized all we need was 100 filmmakers to contribute 100 dollars each and we could make this a reality. So now we’ve just launch the video and campaign today and we’ll see what happens.

What is the overall goal of openindie.com?

ARIN: Right now the goal is to reach our fund raising effort of 10,000 dollars. Every dollar helps and when people donate 100 dollars they get a free hour of consulting, which is a hefty commitment I’m making in an already jam packed schedule of my own filmmaking, but I just really really want to experience this new distribution reality rather then just imagine it. I’m really excited about the idea to get the funding for Kieran to be able to be full time making OpenIndie.com. I believe we can blow everyones minds as much as our brains have been cracked open by these really advanced ideas of how this site might be used once it’s working. It all builds upon all the work that was done in From Here to Awesome, much of what is talked about at DIY DAYS, in line with what is blogged about on The WorkBook Project and what all of the New Breed Filmmakers have been experimenting with. It’s the manifestation of all these ideas into a site that can bring us the new era of cinema right now for these 100 films. And do so as a community, designing this together. Changing and evolving as needed.

In my opinion the biggest challenges indie filmmakers currently face are the issues of profit and sustainability. Some filmmakers are making money in this new era of filmmaking but most if not all (anyone out there please correct me if I’m wrong) aren’t making enough profit to both pay off their film AND have enough to start a new project. When that day comes it will be a complete game changer in the world of filmmaking and many people and websites are searching for the solution. Is openindie.com going to implement ways a filmmaker can make money? If so do you think filmmakers on your site will honestly be able to generate enough profit to develop future work?

KIERAN: In short, yes. The Host of an OpenIndie screening will pass around donation jar at the end of the film. There will also be messaging before the film starts that the filmmaker can even customize if they want that lets the audience know that they are encouraged to donate if they like the film and will give them an easy URL to write down in case they want to make the donation on the site later.

ARIN: I think whether a film can make it’s budget back has a lot to do with how much they spent making the film. If films can be made for less, and seen by more people, and if the cultural vibe of these indie film screenings is really built around the idea of the supporting the filmmaker and collecting donations, then I think that a film can really make it’s budget back this way. So ideally films are made affordabley and lately that is very possible.

Can anyone join this website or is it just for filmmakers?

KIERAN: Anyone that likes independent films will be into this site, not just filmmakers. Members who join can see a list of the films they’ve requested as well as all of the films their friends on the site have requested.

ARIN: The service that is being provided here really is for general movie goers. It’s a way to notate films you want to see right when you hear of them and be sure that if an opportunity to see it emerges that you’ll be notified.

This might be a bit of an odd question but why are you doing this?

KIERAN: The reason I’m doing this is simple. I love film. I studied and made film while at University and I try and still write as often as possible. However, I have almost 12 years of experience developing large websites for media organizations and so it seems logical to me to put those skills to use while providing filmmakers with a means by which to get their films seen. Finally, I hope to soon shoot a script I’ve been working on for a few years now and my research and development work on OpenIndie building a community where I can eventually bring a film that I make.

ARIN: One of the most magical aspects of the Four Eyed Monsters experience was meeting people online through the video podcast and then having them appear in person at screenings. Selling screen printed shirts at screenings and signing posters and doing Q&A’s video conferencing with the screenings we couldn’t attend was all part of making the film be a full experience. I think it’s cool that Four Eyed Monsters gets pointed to for being unique in this way, but I don’t want this to be a unique thing, I want this to be part of indie film culture. Because I have new films I’m working on coming out in 2010. So I really want to be able to participate in the community that OpenIndie.com intends to create.

If you are interested in watching their Kickstarter video or supporting openindie please check out http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/972012474/openindie-100-pioneering-filmmakers-embrace-moder

If you want to simply learn more and keep up to date, please check out http://openindie.com/

To see some of Kieran’s more in depth answers, please check out http://www.kieranmasterton.com/

I would love to hear what other filmmakers and film fans think about this idea. Is this the ticket we’ve been looking for? Is there a better idea out there? Do you think this will work? The solutions may not be here just yet but every day we seem to be getting closer and closer.

Thanks again Arin and Kieran for your time and best of luck.