(Black) Friday update
It’s been a while since we last posted anything here, so it’s time for an update and a bit of an explanation to the big question: when is this thing going to come out already?!
The film is done and has been for a while, at least from an editorial standpoint. Once the final edit was complete, we spent a bunch of time over the summer working on enhancing the picture quality so it would look as good as possible on screens big and small. After that we focused on doing the same for the sound; it took a lot longer than we hoped, and even now there are some improvements that still could be made. But a bunch of you got to see it in Eindhoven, so hopefully the wait was worthwhile.
Since the premiere we’ve been working to find a partner to help with distribution around the world and to be honest, it’s been tricky. We’ve had interest in selling it within North America and native English-speaking countries, but we also know that quite a lot of you (perhaps a majority) fall outside those areas and want to make sure you get to see it as well.
Without getting into an extended discussion of the ins and outs of 21st century film distribution (unless you really want to) the problem really comes down to the way the world has been divided. For example, putting the film up on itunes seems an obvious way to get it out to everyone quickly. But some of you may have noticed that there are actually separate itunes stores for different areas around the world and each of them has to be dealt with on an individual basis. What’s more, each store generally requires support for the native language of the region they serve, and it takes time/money to create all these different versions, even though it seems like most of you speak English as a second (or even third) language.
So what’s the solution? Well, we’ve found some folks who just may be the right people to help us distribute this worldwide. We’re hoping to make it available to everyone simultaneously (rather than country by country) because we’ve shared the frustration of not being able to check out a new film/video/album due to arbitrary region restrictions. In the meantime, we’re reviewing the option of releasing it digitally directly from the website for everyone to check out; the main concern is that it doesn’t have a negative impact on what our partners can do for us. The streaming service we’ve partnered with on the website supports Chromecast, Apple TV and Roku, so you should still be able to watch on your TV, rather than your phone or computer.
Those of you asking for a physical version will be happy to know that we’ve been planning a bunch of extra content for the disc. We’ve got extra interview segments, a commentary track, deleted scenes, outtakes…the hardest part is distilling it down to just the best stuff.
Slainte!