Indieroad.net is iTunes For Indie Films

Independent filmmakers and fans of independent films rejoice! Filmmakers can submit their work to Indieroad and receive a share of the profit from sales for downloads. Have a great short? Why give it away for free on YouTube if people are willing to pay for it?

Here's how they describe their service:

INDIEROAD.NET is an Internet based online film distribution network, exclusively for independent filmmakers. You can stream in real time, or download for delayed viewing, multiple genres of cutting edge short films, full length feature films, documentary films, animated films, and original film soundtrack music. Content is selected from the best filmmakers around the world at the forefront of independent cinema.

For those of you who might want to submit a film:

As an independent filmmaker, INDIEROAD.NET offers you the ability to gain exposure and earn revenue for your work. The business model in place is designed to provide revenue sharing with the filmmakers and film owners. If you have a film or short that has already shown on the Independent Film festival circuit and is now collecting dust on a shelf, putting that film on INDIEROAD.NET presents an opportunity to you as a filmmaker to enjoy the fruits of your labors. INDIEROAD.NET offers the independent filmmaker a worldwide audience and distribution network via the Internet. Filmmakers who have product seeking an audience should click here and fill out the online Film Submission form. After your form is submitted, you will also be asked to submit copies of your film for review by the INDIEROAD.NET film screening team. If accepted, an INDIEROAD.NET representative will contact you to further discuss your work, and start the contract process.

This will be worth watching to see how it develops.

In Memoriam: Arthur C. Clarke 1917 - 2008

Although Sir Arthur C. Clarke never publicly acknowledged being gay, he was widely believed to be. His typical answer to reporters who would ask him if he was gay was, "No, merely mildly cheerful." I choose to believe that we can and should count this giant in the realm of science fiction as one of our own. Gay men of his generation learned to never disclose details of their private lives. Although Clarke may not have been as open as his contemporary Quentin Crisp, the impact of his writings on human life has been profound. Not only has his science fiction inspired generations of authors, screen writers, directors, and game developers, but it can also be argued that through his scientific papers detailing a system of geosynchronous communication satellites, he launched the space race and enabled a technology that eventually brought us into the information age.

Oh Auntie Em, Auntie Em

Sounding like a cross between Gregory MacGuire's Wicked and Peter Jackson's adaption of JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Tin Man, presented by the Sci Fi Channel, re-envisions Frank L. Baum's Oz as the Outer Zone (O.Z.) Presented as a miniseries beginning December 2, DG (Dorothy Gale), a mid-west waitress finds herself carried off to a dark land under the tyrannical rule of sorceress Azkadellia. This six hour event promises loads of computer generated special effects, and although various reviews seem to pan it, it still peaks my interest.

"Tin Man" takes the beloved L. Frank Baum fantasy classic "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" -- the source for a fairly popular 1939 feature film -- and transforms it into the equivalent of an acid trip replete with crazed sociopaths and one very scary sex-bomb sorceress.

Buam's classic has endured for generations because it is an archetypal coming of age story. Innocence is lost as young Dorothy comes to realize she is the pawn in an epic power struggle. Updated for a new generation, Tin Man promises dark and edgy imagery to once again provide an allegory to the sinister truths about the world around us.

"Tin Man" a bizarre update of "Wizard of Oz" [Reuters]