Thanks to everyone who donated, as of Thursday 29th October 2009, OpenIndie is officially happening. I handed in my notice at work the same day, so in four weeks time, OpenIndie will be my full time occupation. We couldn't have done it without you, so sincerely, thank you!

Arin and I have been overwhelmed by the support and encouragement and are over the moon that we achieved 124% of our funding goal. The extra money will not go on booze and a slap up meal however, the 10k "bootstrap" for OpenIndie is far from the actual cost of running a website of this kind so we're incredibly grateful for the extra funds.

If you are one of the 21 backers who are in line to receive a Four Eyed Monsters Music CD then we will be in touch shortly to request your postal details. Likewise, if you are a filmmaker or site member we will be in touch so that we can gather some details and get you on the correct mailing lists etc.

Next, a question that a filmmaker recently asked us via email, that I think it is incredibly important to address. So here's what she asked, and I paraphrase, "is OpenIndie only for open source films, meaning films that are not seeking, or do not already have, any other form of theatrical distribution?" Now, I want to address this question because it's not only fundamental to everyone's understanding of what we're trying to do with OpenIndie but is also pivotal to what we're doing with Phase Two.

In short, no, OpenIndie is not just about films being free, or open source, or however else you want to put it. I have my own opinions about totally free film as I'm sure Arin does, and I personally think given the digital world in which we live that giving your film away for free is a perfectly reasonable enterprise. However, this is not the sole purpose of OpenIndie and in particular this is an issue that Phase Two addresses.

Phase Two is about developing a feature of OpenIndie called OpenLicense. The feature is a means by which to describe how members of the OpenIndie community can distribute your film. This means that you, as a filmmaker, will have control over the types of screenings that occur, where they occur and how the revenue from these screenings is divided. One of our primary motivations behind this feature is to allow filmmakers who already have distribution in a given territory or are in the process of seeking distribution in say, North America, to still be able to have their film screened anywhere else in the world via OpenIndie. If you land a traditional distribution deal in say, Sweden, you can alter your OpenLicense to prevent OpenIndie screenings in Sweden. The OpenLicense is, we believe, the beginning of a reliable revenue stream for OpenIndie filmmakers.

To find out more about OpenLicense or if you're a filmmaker and would like to join our second wave of films on OpenIndie, you should visit our Kickstarter campaign for Phase Two:

http://bit.ly/3jvU0

Finally, thank you again to everyone who put their hand in their pocket and have enabled Arin and I to make OpenIndie a reality.

Kieran Masterton
OpenIndie Co-Founder