By Kiowa
In the wake of the news that Ink has been ripped and downloaded 100,000 times in the past 48 hours across the bit torrent community, I feel inspired to share my thoughts on this “what does it mean?” news.
For the record, we do not condone piracy nor do we ever download any music, films or TV shows for free. Artists should be paid for their hard work. That said, it is possible that the exposure Ink has just gotten across free download sites has catapulted the film into an entirely new realm. Remember that Wolverine, a franchise film with a budget of $130 million, got leaked via bit torrent before its release and got 100,000 hits in 24 hours. Ink managed to do half that in downloads, and was number 1 on Pirate Bay yesterday with more hits than Paranormal Activity, Surrogates and Julie and Julia. Again, all of these films have had the help of the studio system’s multi-million dollar marketing campaigns. Ink has had Jamin and myself, two laptops and an Army of fierce supporters grown out of our own hard-fought theatrical screenings – nothing more.
The packed house at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on June 10th, 2009.
The main point I want to make in this post is about gatekeepers vs. audience. Had we relied on what the gatekeepers were telling us about Ink, i.e. “we don’t know how to market the film,” to “it’s too strange” to “it doesn’t have any stars” to “this would never sell” to multiple festival rejections, we would have given up and thrown in the towel probably by February. Instead of going on the expert opinions, we decided to take the film directly to audiences and bypass all the gatekeepers and guess what? Success! For one gatekeeper saying “there is no way to market this film” we have had 10 audience members claim it is the best film of the year. I’m not being boastful (there are plenty of people who think the film is awful), but I believe that 100,000 downloads across torrent sites in 48 hours is proof positive that the gatekeepers are out of touch with audiences. The film community elite have brushed Ink off as nothing, all the while the audience is screaming for more. 
The “Oshkosh 6″ – this group of guys drove 8 hours round-trip to see Ink at the Flyway Film Festival on October 23rd, 2009. From left: me, Adam Meyer, Mark Mazur, Trent Hillborn, Joseph Dhein, Joey Meyer, James Lieske and Jamin.
So for all of you filmmakers out there frustrated by a constant stream of “No” and “Please submit your next film”, gather round and hear this: cover your ears, close your eyes, take the plunge and support your film with the ferocity of a mother bear. Kindly say “thank you for your time” and move on to the people who matter most – your fans.
Ink is available on DVD and Blu-ray on our website.
Ink will be available at Netflix, iTunes and Blockbuster on November 10th!
BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: TODAY, NOVEMBER 9TH, 2009 IS A REMARKABLE DAY. INK HAS JUST JUMPED TO #16 ON THE IMDB MOVIE METEr, ABOVE HOLLYWOOD TITLES SAW IV, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE AND BREAKOUT INDIE HIT PRECIOUS. INK IS THE ONLY TOP 20 MOVIE WITH NO DISTRIBUTOR AND ROSE IN POPULARITY OVER 80,000% DUE TO THE PIRACY OVER THE LAST 3 DAYS.
I hope IndieBLITZ wasn't apart of that NO, "we don't know how to market your film" argument. Personally, i think you guys have done a kick ass job of running a marketing campaign.
Can we talk a little more about pushing that theatrical?
I think this is awesome! And I totally agree. Even with the sucess of Paranormal Activity you see the studio following Erin Crumley's "ask the audience where to play it" technique. The studios aren't just out-of-touch they are being left behind. Every single one of their directors that are still bringing in an audience were indies who went studio. That means that if Tarintino or Rodriguez or Nolan just went back to indie… their audience would follow. We don't need the studios.. just good stories and to reach out to our fans.
I'm super glad that my friend Dave told me to check out this movie, and I was able to see it for the first time at the Egyptian theater in Los Angeles. It's the best way to enjoy the film is in the theater, and multiple viewings.
I hope that this helps you guys get the film back on the big screen where it belongs, I bet it'll be much easier to fill the seats at midnight on a saturday night at your local theater…. Although might be tough, since there's no "print negative" of the film…
Amazing. Pure magic. I just can`t get this movie out of my head. It`s so inspiring. Thanks to both of you. Keep up the good work !
Kiowa,
It is amazing to watch this happen almost in real-time from the end of last week. I'm really happy for you guys. Thanks for the encouragement and for your passion for independence in film.
Tom
I'm so happy for you guys, and glad I had a chance to see this movie at Flyway. It's so encouraging to see a film of this quality embraced by the world, even if illegally. Many happy returns.
For what it's worth, I've blogged about INK at the URL below and am posting this everywhere I can to help spread the word about your remarkable film.
http://400lonelythings.blogspot.com/2009/11/flyway-transmission-two-ink.html
Can't wait to see what happens when Hollywood takes notice.
This film kicks ass and takes names. Don't hate the player hate the game! People, we can revolutionize the movie making process, ink is proving that and I suspect it will continue doing so for a long time. I'm looking very forward to a new film from Double Edge Films. Everyone at http://www.DesignA.ws supports you guys, keep up the great work!
I can't remember who said it but i remember it sticking with me. It was said about music but it definately relates to film aswell.
"Obscurity not Piracy is the largest threat to artists today"
That being said. I wonder if INK would work with something like Paranormal Activity. Having it 'demanded' in certian areas using eventful.com or something like that.
Neon C: love the quote and it's completely relevant. You don't get pirated until you are successful. The upside to obscurity though: you can make art for yourself instead for an audience.
Ink is a fantastic achievement.
It's great to see the internet being used as a tool for meritocracy and as an unbiased reflection of public opinion.
Instead of blaming downloaders for ruining the film industry, let's celebrate the fact that this film now has a chance of getting the distribution it deserves.
Here's a idea to improve the income from donations.
Many websites that rely or put great emphasis on donations give the donors the feel of contribution.
How does that work for example torrent sites downloads always have a meeter of where they are now and where the target should be and maybe a comment about the current situation.
I think that if you would put a meeter just for the donations leaving the money coming in from the purchase or include that too straight on the top of the doubleedgefils homepage with a bar and the target and as soon as one donates he can see he immediate effect thus granting him in real time the feel of contributing.
I hope you get what i want to say.
Its one thing to instantly see your contribution and another thing to donate to something without knowing what was there before this would even make some donate more then once just to see it hop further up.
Its hard to explain the feel.
Also forgot to say, make sure you got that donate button right up there under or above the bar meter.
I haven't seen the movie yet but i really wanna turn this into something that shows everyone that pirates are not the bad guys and that we can support something if we really want by spreading the word of your great film and the idea of supporting indie films and also distributing links to your donate button around forums and private torrent sites.
I'll donate too after i get to watch it!
Best of luck!