Attention indie filmmakers - how to get your film onto iTunes

Still from 2011 Australian feature "The Burning Man"

Recently I complained here about the amount of time it was taking to get the Australian feature Snowtown onto iTunes as a rental download, despite the fact that it was already available for hire in the fast-diminishing number of DVD stores. (The film finally went up for hire on iTunes two days ago, ie. November 20).

Now here's an interesting development. I've just received the following media release from ATOM, the Australian Teachers of Media, with news of an initiative that will be of especially great use to independent filmmakers who don't have big distribution support. Scroll to the bottom for contact info.

Media release: 

Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) is pleased to announce that it is now able to upload films to iTunes on behalf of Australian filmmakers. iTunes is the world’s most popular and well-known digital distribution platform.

ATOM can offer a complete service for Australian filmmakers and distributors. It is able to put your movie on iTunes and market it within Australia and internationally using its extensive opt-in email lists and social media networks.

As a not-for-profit organisation that aims to support the interests of the Australian film industry, ATOM is shortening the distance between sales and the producer’s pocket and simplifying the transition of film to the digital arena.

The costs for delivery into iTunes Movies are:

For HD encoding, $5.00 per minute and $300 for submission costs

For SD encoding, $4.00 per minute and $300 for submission costs

Producers receive 50% of the income. The other 45% goes to Apple and the aggregator. ATOM receives only 5% of the sale price. Producers will receive monthly reports and returns quarterly.

ATOM is offering a non-exclusive deal to producers, allowing them to also work through other distributors and on other platforms.

Producers need only supply a QuickTime master as ProRes 422, along with typical supporting material such as a trailer, key art and a synopsis. 

The master QuickTime file can simply be mailed on a hard disk and will be returned to the producer once encoded.

As well as putting titles on iTunes Movies, ATOM can also embed complete films into apps to play on iPads and iPhones for $890 per title. In this arrangement the producer receives 65% of the gross income, Apple takes 30% and ATOM receives 5%.

Besides the financial advantage to be gained by having ATOM upload your titles to iTunes, ATOM can also link to these titles from its publications, including PDF and app study guides, e-books, and articles dealing with these films in the print and digital versions of its two international magazines, Metro and Screen Education. Both magazines are now available through the Zinio Newsstand, and will soon be available through the Apple Newsstand.

ATOM is also able to sell DVDs of productions on a non-exclusive basis through its online shop, The Education Shop.

For submissions and further information, please contact:
Peter Tapp
ATOM
+61 3 9525 5302
0412 473116
editor@atom.org.au