Hollywood 2.0: Give Movies Away for Free

UPDATE: ESPN will broadcast Kicking It at its full 97-minute length, with repeat showings to follow. The network will also eventually broadcast a 60-minute version of the film.

Ted Leonsis is back at the Sundance Film Festival for a second year in a row and the former AOL exec and owner of the NHL Washington Capitals has advice for other business leaders who want to get into the film business, Andrea Chalupa reports from Park City, Utah.

But first, he's quick to point out how the business model of today's film industry is flawed.

"Right now there's a value chain in the industry that has existed for a long, long time that is helpful to everyone except the indie filmmaker," Leonsis says. "And it will just get worst."

As filmmaking has gotten cheaper, says Leonsis, more films being are made, causing greater competition for getting these films into theaters. The solution? The internet, where he points out that the shelf space is limitless.

"Sundance got 9,000 films this year and they accepted only 150, you can't tell me there weren't a lot of great films that were rejected," he says. "It's time to develop these alternative distribution models, mostly to have these great creative efforts see the light of day."

Leonsis's own Kicking It, a 97-minute documentary about the Homeless World Cup sheds light on the reasons for homelessness; it premiered on Saturday night at Sundance.

ESPN bought Kicking It for an undisclosed sum and will promote the DVD and show a cut down, 60-minute version on its channel as well as helping with national and international theater release.

Leonsis first got involved in filmmaking with Nanking, which was inspired by Iris Chang's 1997 book The Rape of Nankingabout the Japanese occupation of that Chinese city. Reading Chang's obituary in 2004 inspired Leonsis to call the talent agency CAA and bring together screenwriters, a cast, and crew to bring Chang's book to the screen. It sold at last year's Sundance to HBO.

His advice to execs looking to dabble in the film industry, is to consider what he calls, "filmanthropy."

"You can't approach the financing of the movie as a business executive looking at return of investment," he says. "You have to develop new metrics of success: Did a lot of people see the film, and did it start a discussion around that subject? Did you activate volunteerism and raise a lot of money for a cause?"

For his next project, Leonsis says that he's exploring how to make film readily available on the internet, for free. Relying on advertising to bring in revenue will help keep the current industry system from feeling the financial pinch in the transition to this new model.

"I've become very very focused on how the internet can help to drive more mass acceptance of independent films," Leonsis says. "I think there's a higher priority to the industry than adding more films. Why make more films if they can't be distributed?"

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