New Era of Film Arrives With Extended YouTube Feature Launch and Spout Fundraising Success

New Era of Film Arrives With Extended YouTube Feature Launch and Spout Fundraising Success

Survey Points to Consumer Desire for More Independent Features as Spout.com Campaign Raises $23,000+ for Independent's Future

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., June 18 /PRNewswire/ -- One week after YouTube's first ever feature of a full length film, Four Eyed Monsters (www.foureyedmonsters.com), the future of films and filmmaking has made a dramatic shift. According to a new survey conducted by Spout (www.spout.com), a gathering place for movie-lovers spreading word about great films, this shift is in line with consumers' desire for more independent films and their dissatisfaction with current film choices.

The success, and subsequent extended feature of Four Eyed Monsters on YouTube through August 15, 2007, points to a future where audiences can not only choose where they find films, but how they interact with filmmakers and become a part of an evolving story. And, as part of this story, spout.com has added a new dimension of filmmaker financing by donating $1 for each of the 23,000+ film fans that joined this online dialogue via www.spout.com/foureyedmonsters. The campaign has raised $23,644 to date and will continue through the YouTube run.

"In one week on YouTube, Four Eyed Monsters was seen many times over by more than the amount of people who saw it in two years of traveling to over a dozen film festivals and self-distributing the movie," says Arin Crumley, co- creator of Four Eyed Monsters.

The YouTube launch of Four Eyed Monsters, and Spout's monetizing support, has been heralded by the likes of Wired, Cinematech and others as the future of film and media distribution. And it could not have come at a better time. A Spout consumer survey of 1000 consumers uncovered that 80 percent of filmgoers today are dissatisfied with the current selection of Hollywood movies, and 50 percent of those surveyed would rather take in an independent feature than a hyped-up summer blockbuster.

"Filmmakers have long fought for this day. The success of this film and the number of fans viewing it is proof that filmmakers can reach audiences through methods outside of the traditional Hollywood model. And, according to our survey, mass consumers are seeking out them out as well," said Rick DeVos, CEO of Spout. "If we can build community around movies like Four Eyed Monsters and come up with creative ways to help filmmakers make more movies, then we're fulfilling our mission at Spout."

Four Eyed Monsters, which blurs the lines between the audience and creator, speaks directly to Spout's vision of taking the experience beyond the film itself, making the two perfect partners in this next step of film distribution. Following a premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival and an Undiscovered Gems Showcase Sundance Channel Audience award, Susan Buice and Crumley, creators of Four Eyed Monsters, broke new ground as the Internet video sensation of 2006 when their short podcasts about making the movie were viewed millions of times all over the world. To further spread the Four Eyed Monsters word, they also created software where their audience could request the movie to play in different cities. But still, this innovative method of do-it-yourself movie distribution left hundreds of thousands of potential fans unable to view it, until the YouTube premiere.

For more details about Spout and Four Eyed Monsters go to spout.com/foureyedmonsters.

About Spout:

Spout, which was founded in 2005 by four filmmakers and film fans in Grand Rapids, MI, is an online community where users can find films, meet people and have a much richer Internet community experience. A blend of technology, personalization and passion ignites and differentiates the spout.com community and gives consumers a unique place to buy, discuss and organize their favorite films. Spout's mission is to close the large time and marketing gaps that exist between film festivals, multiplexes and living rooms. In addition, Spout draws people from throughout the film value chain to build a robust online community, with the goal of building an alternative, grassroots promotion and distribution channel for filmmakers.

About Four Eyed Monsters:

In September of 2002, Arin Crumley & Susan Buice met on the Internet and decided to make a rule to not speak when they met in person as they built their romance. This lasted for four months while their relationship solidified communication through drawings, notes, videos, instant messaging, and having sex but never speaking. In November of 2003, they began creating a film based on their non-verbal life experiment and a year later it was accepted into the Slamdance Film Festival where it premiered to sold out audiences and went on to tour over 20 film festivals winning audience and jury awards along the way. October 12th, 2005 they launched their video podcast on the same day Apple Computer released the video iPod which launched them into the spotlight as filmmakers embracing a new medium and their subscriber base flourished. In January 2006, in collaboration with the Withoutabox Distribution Lab, they launched a "quest for requests" asking the subscriber base of the video podcast to provide their zip code if they were interested in seeing the feature film. In September of 2006, the film played in the six cities with the most requests every Thursday evening and each week pulled in a stronger crowd than the last proving a new model for theatrical exhibition. Now, with over one million total views to their ongoing video podcast, they will soon be posting Episode 9 to their video podcast. Most recently they won the Undiscovered Gems Showcase winning the Sundance Channel Audience award which entitles them $50,000 cash they are putting towards their credit card debt as well as $50,000 dollars to further distribution of the film.

Source: Spout

CONTACT: Maggie O'Neill of Peppercom, +1-212-931-6181,
moneill@peppercom.com, for Spout.com

Web site:

http://www.spout.com/
http://www.foureyedmonsters.com/
http://www.spout.com/foureyedmonsters

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