Let's build a permanent home for films

Okay, hear me out. It's 2026. And as a filmmaker, distribution is still tough. Like really fucking tough. So tough that shitloads of films are lying on hard disks. Catching dust. You can't really release them on YouTube. Netflix or Prime won't buy them. Or if they buy, it's buried under their endless content after a week, pushed under stuff they've commissioned. Or they'll do a rev-share arrangement with no real sense of who is watching or how many times, and what should be a fair revenue per stream. Or the revenue report 3 months later brings tears to your eyes (in a bad way!).

Vimeo was a hope, but they haven't focused on this use case. I went through the last 4 years' earning calls - not a mention. And now with their acquisition, God knows what their strategy will be. Mubi is good, but with such a limited catalogue that 99% of the movies can't make it. And with their limited pay-outs, most folks do it for the prestige (rather than to recover any meaningful money).

And did I mention the randomness? Tired of people just saying fucking no, or saying yes but meaning no, or saying yes and ghosting, or saying yes, and then burying the film, or saying yes, and then, after a week, burying the film.

All this kills film funding, especially for independent cinema. And that kills vibrancy in the stories we tell. And it kills serendipity too – why can't your film make 10X more? Have you done everything to find its audience?

It's time to build a permanent home for your film (features, documentaries, shorts, TV episodes, vertical cinema etc.)

What would the world's most filmmaker-friendly platform look like?

• Global + look and feel A global launch that allows simultaneous release in multiple countries with a UI/UX that matches top players like Netflix / Prime.
• No subscription costs Free uploading of up to 20GB per film (with some restrictions to avoid abuse).
• The highest possible revenue distribution Something that leaves enough $$$ for filmmakers to market their film while ensuring the platform can reinvest enough into the tech/QC, etc. We figured out the lowest cost possible after taking into account streaming costs (HD, across the globe), developer/designer costs, QC team, marketing the platform, etc. With Brew, the filmmakers will keep 80% while we keep 20% of the net revenue (gross of movie rental + purchases less payment gateway charges).
• Intelligent paid marketing You should know how many sales happened for every $1 spent on Instagram/YouTube ads. Many filmmakers send visitors to their VOD link or a ticket booking app, with zero sense of whether that ad is converting into paid customers. The rest of the time, they are happy to get reel views or followers on their profiles with little or no impact on theatrical or VOD revenue. For this stuff to work, you need real-time data, the platform needs to be 100% transparent, and the campaigns must be scalable (advertise in different geographies, experiment with varied creatives, and spend some portion of your sales if you are making money).
• Avoid intermediaries Most platforms don't deal directly with filmmakers (for various reasons, logical and illogical). But the 20-30% that the intermediaries take eats into the producer's share (and therefore the marketing budget). While intermediaries play an important role – QC for the platform, and a single place to upload your film on multiple platforms, to make this whole thing viable, we're enabling a self-serve platform for filmmakers. We'll still have a QC team at our end.
• Move fast We can go live in 48 hours (that's our goal) – no waiting for months and being ghosted.
• Connecting with the audience Due to GDPR and other laws, while we are unable to share the contact details/email IDs of the customers who have watched your film, we will enable you to reach out to them via the platform (email campaign etc.) with guardrails. This helps you build a direct connection with them and market your next film to them.
• Bake in creator marketing Some creators are more trustworthy than others, and they can have a real impact on your film's perception and even sales. The platform should have film influencers baked into it so that a filmmaker can easily engage with the influencers that are right for them – and ideally do a mix of paid and affiliate campaigns with them.

Okay, this sounds good. What's about the customer side?

• Our pitch is simple - Watch hidden gems.
• We imagine the B2C discovery and experience to be more like Reddit (where users can control their feeds fully or are super engaged with specific sub-reddits), Substack / Patreon, rather than like Netflix or Prime. This is one aspect that will also evolve as we get more users. However, this won't impact the tool-like ability of the app/website to have your film's homepage and get revenue for you.

But what do you do about promoting the film?

Any movie that is approved and curated by our team receives full support from our side (depending on scale and audience of the film etc.) - this includes emails, notifications, social media posts, discounted deals with influencers etc. But at the same time, YOU - the filmmaker, producer, cast, crew, etc. of the film - have to put in the effort to market your film too. We'll be creating multiple guides on what works, what doesn't, how not to waste your money, etc., but overall, the only person who can successfully market your film is you. If you are up for it, we'll fully support you in trying out new markets, share insights to make your marketing more effective, and overall, allow serendipity to happen.

So, are you ready?

Watch a demo – and if you have feedback or suggestions, please email us at [email protected].

If you are ready, just fill out the New Film Onboarding Form. And we'll get back to you within 48 hours.