

Pioneer One - First TV series funded via donations and released for free - MartinMond
http://vodo.net/pioneerone

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macemoneta
I think this is a great. The traditional television networks have outlived
their usefulness. I've been waiting years for a production company to bypass
the network and sell their product directly to audiences. There are so many
great productions that many people never get to see, because they are not
'picked up'. Likewise, the production of many programs have lost their way,
concentrating more on limos, assistants to the assistants, expensive catering
and massages than actual production of creative content.

I was hopeful when The Guild became popular enough to get funded by Microsoft.
Then again when Joss Whedon, a major producer/director/writer, created Doctor
Horrible (and it became profitable). Now, with an actual 'television' series
perhaps we're finally going to see the beginning of the transition to online
distribution?

Fingers crossed.

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RevRal
Sometimes I have to wait at least a year before I can legally watch some
movies that I read about on the internet, that are already available in parts
of the world. With today's technology, this is utterly painful for movie fans.

I will support this because it's a very good model for movie distribution and
we will learn a lot from it. I see this catching on really fast.

Here is another interesting take on distribution through torrent:
<http://www.thetunnelmovie.net> . People get to purchase "frames" of the
movie, and one lucky frame picker will receive 1% of the movie's profits.

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danohuiginn
Hey -- I'm one of the people involved in vodo; would love to hear
questions/comments from HN!

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GavinB
Why does Pioneer One have a video blog on Vimeo, and yet the only way to view
the actual episode is through a torrent for a 1.1 gig file? Why do I have to
wait an hour or more when videos on Vimeo start immediately? Even platforms
like Hulu with ads (and legal, big budget films) start within a minute.

VODO seems overly focused on distribution, which is a solved problem. The hard
part is promotion.

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MikeCapone
> yet the only way to view the actual episode is through a torrent for a 1.1
> gig file?

You can download a 350 meg Xvid version from the site.

Your point still stands, though. It would be nice to be able to watch a nice
480p version on Vimeo or some other streaming site.

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danohuiginn
There's a streaming version at <http://veehd.com/video/4117770_Pioneer-
One-S01E01-2010>

We've concentrated on bittorrent distribution because it's a market with a
massive audience, relatively little (legal) content, and low distribution
costs. Streaming is great too -- it isn't our main focus, but the CC license
means you're free to upload a copy to a streaming site if you like.

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bemmu
"this video is not available in your country"

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danohuiginn
ooh, that shouldn't be happening. Which country are you in?

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jonafato
I think this is a fantastic model for a tv show. I feel much better about
paying for a show online if it hasn't already made a bunch of money through
networks. People will more likely pay for art when they believe the money goes
to the artists. It sort of reminds me of Dr. Horrible, where all the
contributors worked for a share of the profits. Does anyone know if this is
the case here? The site says that people worked for free on this project, but
doesn't explain how the future money gets divided up.

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MikeCapone
What could make this concept really take off, IMHO, is if a big established
player jumped on board (kind of like what Radiohead did with _In Rainbows_ and
the whole "online first/donationware" thing).

For example, if David Chase or David Simon decided to produce a series of 10
episodes and make it available online exclusively at first (either via
torrents & donations, or paid iTunes/Amazon/etc downloads), and if if it was a
success, that would make others pay attention.

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samratjp
I do hope that there will be a Y combinator for tv shows and maybe even
movies. Of course, there are some things like Campus Movie Fest that help find
good budding talent and then that could be used as an application even to get
funded.

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thebigshane
Like the distribution/production idea (quite a gamble). Like the plot. Like
the indie look and feel.

I hope we don't have to wait too long for them to get the funding they need to
continue making episodes.

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krisneuharth
I just finished the first episode. It's pretty good. I'm looking forward to
seeing where they take it. It feels like an episode of the X-Files for anyone
that is curious if it is worth the download.

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mkramlich
Love it! Bravo. Can't wait to see the next episode. Fans of The X-Files or SF
in general may want to check it out. Has an indie feel to it, but still pretty
slick.

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mkramlich
Just donated. I like this "vote with your wallet" method of financing shows.
Reduces upfront financial risk for new ones with possibly niche audiences, I
imagine.

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makmanalp
Nothing has gotten my money faster.

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sabat
Care to elucidate?

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mkramlich
I just finished the 1st episode. Imagine like an indie/pro-am reinvention of
The X-Files. A touch of sci-fi. A beautiful smart blonde woman instead of
Scully. Nice theme music. Opening voiceover. Not saying it's exactly like
that, but stylistically has similarities to it. Anyway, I liked it. Want moar.
:)

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mieses
i watched this a few days ago. clever story.

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hackermom
Just watched the pilot. The story really caught me for a number of reasons,
one being its plausibility. I would not be surprised to see Hollywood steal or
buy this.

