Toward a new business model

A development that should weaken LaLaLand's clutch hold on film distribution.

clipped from news.yahoo.com YouTube opens screening room for indie filmmakers By RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES - Google Inc.'s YouTube is setting up a virtual screening room to bring the work of independent filmmakers to a global audience. Struggling filmmakers already use YouTube to kick-start viral marketing campaigns. The new feature, which debuts Wednesday, gives them an easy-to-find home — and makes them partners in drawing new ad revenue. The screening room will highlight four new films a week, picked by a YouTube editorial panel. Submissions are welcomed. The panel also will scour film festivals and work with partners such as the Sundance Channel to identify prospects. The creators of the full-length feature "Four Eyed Monsters," Susan Buice and Arin Crumley, got their break when more than a million YouTube views helped land them a TV and DVD distribution deal, she said. "They ended up doing really, really well, ironically by putting their film online for free," Pollack said.