Would you pay to see the end of this damn movie?
01/07/2001 . Source: Jessica Martin 
Film creator Ronan Gallagher has come up with a cunning wheeze to get fans of dark fantasy and horror to pay for his latest work ... gasp, over the internet? What, spice it up with loads of porn? No, no, oh you cynical SFcrowsnest users, you. Ronan tells us like it is ... "As an independent filmmaker I believe that the Broadband Internet offers a means for distributing my films and generating revenue streams for my work. How do I propose to do that?" "Hopefully with good films obviously. But how do you get people to buy into, trust, and pay an unknown and unheard-of filmmaker for his or her work in an environment where many expect things like film to be free?" "I came up with what I think is a pretty unique pay-per-view model, in that viewers get to see 90% of the film for free. They only pay to see the end." "As a filmmaker I have to arouse and keep the viewer's interest in the story long enough to convert to a sale, and I have to ensure that the pay-off - i.e. the ending - is such that viewers are not let down." "That is good for both myself and the viewer. The site has only been up for a week and already some sales have been made, not a huge amount yet, but at least it proves that people will pay for the ending." It's certainly an interesting twist to the question that most web site owners in the fantasy and science fiction arena have been asking themselves ... how the heck do you pay the bills. When you're dipping into your own pocket to pay for the big bandwidth of piping out downloadbale cartoons, videos and films, the question becomes even more pertinent. Will it take off? Possibly. It's kind of like Amazon sending out books for free, and only charging you for the last chapter if you like what you've read. A lot of ebook publishers, including our own Crowsnest Books, do something similar, giving out 50% of the novel to let you decide if you like it, before making you buy the rest. Make up your own mind by visiting http://www.dark-island.com 
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