Project Description

A direct-to-consumer distribution platform that let independent filmmakers turn their films into branded iOS, Android, and Roku apps — and keep the revenue the old system had been taking from them.

Brand Context

In 2012, making a film had never been more democratic. DSLRs, accessible editing, crowdfunding — the tools to create had been handed to the people. The tools to distribute and profit hadn’t. Sundance received 5,300 submissions that year. 232 were shown. Fewer than 100 were picked up for distribution. The ones that were routinely surrendered up to 80% of sale price to middlemen and lost control of pricing and release dates in the process.

MoPix was built on a simple translation: the App Store had given software developers 70 cents on the dollar, direct access to a global audience, and no publishing deal. We wanted to do the same for filmmakers. Upload your film. Configure your storefront. Ship it as an app. Keep your audience. Keep your economics.

The Challenge

How do you convince artists trained to pursue the traditional distribution path — and the legitimacy that came with it — that they were worth more than the system had ever paid them?

Strategic Insight

The studio system didn’t protect filmmakers. It protected itself. The real leverage wasn’t festival selection or a distributor’s logo on the box. It was direct relationships with audiences — and the tools to build those relationships already existed in software. Nobody had assembled them for film.

Our conviction: distribution is power. Give filmmakers a platform that makes a direct-to-fan release feel as premium as a studio one, and the balance of power shifts. Not eventually. Immediately.

Creative Execution

MoPix launched publicly in August 2012 out of private beta, operating on three capabilities:

  • The App Builder — Filmmakers uploaded their film and supplementary assets (photos, behind-the-scenes, director commentary, scripts) and received a full-featured iOS or Android app in return. Connected to Dropbox and AWS for import, with a content-management system that walked creators through assembling a premium-feeling release — storefront, extras, branded presence — without a publisher.

  • Multi-Platform Distribution — iOS App Store, Google Play, a MoPix-owned Roku store, and a roadmap toward connected TVs and web. Filmmakers set their own price; the platform handled the technical submissions that would normally require a distribution partner.

  • The Economics — Creators kept the vast majority of each sale, at an average price point of $6.99, compared to the 5-to-17 cents on the dollar they’d typically see under traditional distribution.

Our flagship launch title was The Silver Goat* by director Aaron Brookner — a DSLR feature created exclusively for iPad, released through MoPix and the iTunes App Store, and the first UK film to debut on iPad. We built awareness around it with a bus-tour activation that matched the intimacy of the work — bringing the film and the platform’s story directly to audiences, city by city.

Alongside direct filmmaker onboarding, we struck a partnership with FilmBaby (a division of CDBaby) — giving MoPix access to more than 2,000 filmmakers and 3,000+ film titles to convert into apps at launch.

Results

  • Public launch in August 2012 out of private beta, opening the platform to any independent filmmaker.

  • 500 Startups Accelerator — MoPix was a member of the fall 2011 class, alongside time in Portland-based incubator Upstart Labs.

  • FilmBaby / CDBaby deal unlocking 2,000+ filmmakers and 3,000+ titles for conversion into branded apps.

  • The Silver Goat* shipped as the first UK film to debut on iPad.

  • Multi-platform pipeline live at launch: iOS, Android, and a MoPix-owned Roku store.

  • National press across TechCrunch, CNET, and industry outlets, establishing the thesis that indie film distribution could be rebuilt on App Store economics.

  • A five-person LA team operating with the leverage of a much larger distribution operation.

Reflection

Here’s the honest version: we were right about almost everything except the timing.

The creator economy that makes Vimeo On Demand, Gumroad, and Patreon feel obvious today didn’t yet exist in 2013. Vimeo On Demand launched in March of that year — months after we’d built the same thesis. They had the audience. iTunes had the catalogue. And the filmmakers we were trying to serve weren’t yet equipped — culturally or operationally — to become their own marketers.

I shut MoPix down. It was one of the hardest calls I’ve made. The lessons shaped everything after: distribution is power, creators deserve their economics, and being early isn’t the same as being wrong. The world MoPix imagined is the world we now live in. We just had to wait for everyone else to catch up.

Founder & CEO · 2011–2014