Amazon, Microsoft release 1,000 indie films on HD DVD

Joint program will give producers free manufacturing for movies on format

By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 7/2/2007

JULY 2 | UPDATE: Hungry for more high-definition content, Amazon.com has partnered with HD DVD backer Microsoft Corp. to bring more independent filmmakers into high-def DVD by offering free manufacturing through the retailer’s DVD-on-demand site CustomFlix.

As part of the "1,000 HD DVD Indies Project," announced Monday, the two companies will provide free authoring and setup services for up to 1,000 selected independent film titles. Films will be authored using Microsoft’s VC-1 codec and will use HDi technology for interactive features. They will be offered for sale through Amazon.com.

The Sundance Channel will screen selected films for potential TV broadcast. Sundance also will make eco-series Big Ideas For a Small Planet available through the HD DVD program.

“By working together with Microsoft and leveraging the proven CustomFlix DVD-on-demand model, we can lower the entry barriers for independent filmmakers and dramatically increase the selection we offer our customers,” said Amazon.com VP of music and movies Peter Faricy.

The retail partnership for HD DVD comes a couple weeks after Blockbuster announced it would lean in favor of Blu-ray Disc in its stores.

However, the deal is not exclusive and Amazon spokesman Sean Sundwall said the company would be happy to do the same with Blu-ray if the opportunity presented itself.

“This is all about providing increased selection,” he said. “We don’t care about format.”

The project will be headed by Amazon’s CustomFlix division, which manufactures DVDs when they are ordered.

Filmmakers set the price for their HD DVD and earn royalties. They also can pursue distribution deals while taking part in the project. The opportunity is open to filmmakers with or without DVD distribution deals, but it is weighted toward those without who have a harder time putting movies out on high-def, Sundwall said.

Microsoft senior director of HD DVD Jordi Ribas said early that HD DVD adopters are interested in independent films and this is an attempt to bring more of those to the format.

He said the deal with Amazon, in the work for some time, doesn’t preclude Microsoft from doing a similar deal with other manufacturing-on-demand companies.

Manufacturing-on-demand companies can add tools to do HD DVD authoring and manufacturing, Ribas said. He said lower production costs on HD DVD make it a good format for on-demand production.

“From a technical standpoint, we found that the HD DVD format fits our business model perfectly,” CustomFlix co-founder and managing director Dana LoPiccolo-Giles said.

CustomFlix added high-def capability in January 2006.