Steven Soderberg - the stylish director known for Oceans 11/12 and Traffic - is trying a new form of distribution. If you are thinking ‘Internet ? why even I distribute my home videos in Internet’ - no, not only Internet. His next film ‘Bubble’ is going to be simultaneously released in theaters, DVD, pay-per-view TV and downloadable via the Net! Would that not eat into profits of each other ? Steven doesn’t think so. “Economically, the film business in general is using a model that is outdated and, worse than that, inefficient,'’ he said. “It’s worth finding out if this is going to work better.'’ Lets see if audience are cheapskates or if audience are willing to reward creativity. I will probably download it off the Net for a reasonable fee.

Traditionally distribution is the bottleneck for indies - many have tried internet, direct to dvd, direct to TV models. Not because the movie stinks (maybe it does - but because theatrical releases are controlled entirely by the big studios who decide the fate of the film even before it reaches the audience. Sort of gatekeepers who put their financial interests before the quality of the product. So it is heartening to know that a mainstream director is trying to experiment if simultaneous distribution works or not. This is not some B grade director but an Oscar winning one!