On Our Way Up HDTV Docudrama on BitTorrent Gets National Press

"On Our Way Up" is a docudrama about Atlanta street drug dealers who transition to the legitimate business world. I wrote and directed this High Definition TV docudrama along with Producer Ben Buie and Executive Producer Anthony Clark.

We were the first docudrama to team up with Prodigem to distibute our original video docudrama using BitTorrent file sharing. Viewers pay BitTorrent and then they can download our copyrighted HighlyDef Productions video content for home use. The BitTorrent file sharing model reduces our costs and opens up another avenue of distribution.

Recently our Producer, Ben Buie, was featured in a newspaper story that appeared this week in The San Jose, Ca Mercury News on August 2, 2005. We are mentioned in an excellent story by Dawn C. Chmielewski of the Mercury News, that focuses on the BitTorrent file-sharing technology versus the restrictive actions of the RIAA.

Here's a short excerpt in which Dawn Chmielewski does a superb job of concisely explaining BitTorrent:

[QUOTE]
Any examination of BitTorrent's potential needs to start with an understanding of how it differs from other file-swapping technologies. BitTorrent breaks giant files into tiny bits and spreads the distribution load among dozens or hundreds of computer users. It's built on the notion of cooperative distribution -- to get pieces of the file you lack, you must offer up chunks in exchange.

This approach turns typical online distribution on its head: the more popular the file, the faster the download times. The inverse is also true: It took 72 hours to download Bram Cohen's September 2003 lecture at Stanford University.

BitTorrent dramatically improves the economics of the Internet as a broadcast medium.

With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly afford to release ``On Our Way Up,'' a full-length docudrama, based on the lives of three brothers, shot in high-definition video. Buie uses Prodigem, a Mountain View start-up, to manage the delivery and collect payment.

``We actually thought about hosting it ourselves, and the bandwidth costs would have been enormous,'' said Buie. ``With BitTorrent, download is distributed over several users. There was really no cost of entry.''

The power and efficiency of BitTorrent lured Navin, the embodiment of a high-energy ``biz dev'' guy, away from search giant Yahoo, where he worked in corporate development figuring out digital distribution strategies.

``BitTorrent solved a lot of issues that I think an aggregator like Yahoo or download.com faces,'' said Navin, who joined the newly incorporated company in October. ``Do we host? Does the publisher host? If we host, how much do we charge? BitTorrent makes that whole question irrelevant.''

[END QUOTE]

The BitTorrent / "On Our Way Up" story started to appear nationwide. So far the story of our HighlyDef Productions docudrama has appeared in the following news outlets:

SlashDot

Yahoo
http://news.yahoo.com/s/sv/20050802/tc_siliconvalley/_www12276446&printer=1

SiliconValley.com
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/12276446.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

The Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/technology/12276446.htm

The Macon Telegraph of Macon, Kansas
http://www.kansas.com/mld/macon/business/technology/12274166.htm

The Sun Herald of Gulfport, Mississippi
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/business/technology/12274166.htm

The P2P Core website
http://www.p2pcore.com/stories/235.php

The Monterey Herald of Monterey, Ca
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/business/technology/12274166.htm


The Duluth News Tribune of Duluth, Mn
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/business/technology/12274166.htm

Boycott RIAA website
http://www.boycott-riaa.com/article/17679

The Ad Astra Per Aspera Blog
http://ashwinnavin.blogspot.com/

"On Our Way Up" and Prodigem are also mentioned in a french language blog

at:http://billaut.typepad.com/jm/2005/04/aprs_jeanneney_.html
[QUOTE]
1/ Un zigoto de Stanford qui n'a même pas encore fini son MBA, lance Prodigem en flux BitTorrent. C'est une place de marché. Vous y téléchargez votre vidéo, et vous la mettez en vente le prix que vous voulez. L'acheteur télécharge. Prodigem vient ainsi de proposer un premier docudrama (On Our Way Up) tournée en HD, soit 2 à 3 gigas à télécharger (l'auteur en demande 5,99 $, Prodigem en garde 10%). Pas de DRM, peu de bande passante utilisée avec BitTorrent. On ne peut plus légal.
[UNQUOTE]


Print Story: BitTorrent moving uptown on Yahoo! News
... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...news.yahoo.com/s/sv/20050802/tc_siliconvalley/_www12276446&printer=1 -

BitTorrent moving uptown
... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/12276446.htm?.../printstory.jsp -

A whole new world of file sharing
... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/12274166.htm?.../printstory.jsp -

MercuryNews.com | 08/01/2005 | BitTorrent moving uptown
... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/technology/12276446.htm - 34k -

MercuryNews.com | 08/01/2005 | A whole new world of file sharing
... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...www.kansas.com/mld/macon/business/technology/12274166.htm - 35k -

BitTorrent moving uptown - Yahoo! News
... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...news.yahoo.com/s/sv/20050802/tc_siliconvalley/_www12276446 - 42k -

MercuryNews.com | 08/01/2005 | A whole new world of file sharing BitTorrent gears up for online distribution of ...
... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/business/technology/12274166.htm - 35k -

BitTorrent Chiefs Negotiating With Film Industry - P2P Core
BitTorrent Chiefs Negotiating With Film Industry Source: Yahoo . 08/03/05 Bram Cohen arrives in San... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...www.p2pcore.com/stories/235.php -

MercuryNews.com | 08/01/2005 | A whole new world of file sharing
... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/business/technology/12274166.htm -

MercuryNews.com | 08/01/2005 | A whole new world of file sharing
... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/business/technology/12274166.htm -

MercuryNews.com | 08/01/2005 | BitTorrent moving uptown
... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/12276446.htm -


MercuryNews.com | 08/01/2005 | A whole new world of file sharing
... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/technology/12274166.htm -

MercuryNews.com | 08/01/2005 | BitTorrent moving uptown
... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...siliconvalley.com/mld/.../business/columnists/gmsv/12276446.htm - 36k -

MercuryNews.com | 08/01/2005 | A whole new world of file sharing
... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/12274166.htm -

MercuryNews.com | 08/01/2005 | A whole new world of file sharing
... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/12274166.htm

dmusic.com - Bram Cohen goes to Hollywood
The music site for independant artists and music fans on the web. Features a deep and caring community and lots of good, free (as in beer) music. ... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...news.dmusic.com/article/17688 - 36k - Cached -

MercuryNews.com | 08/01/2005 | A whole new world of file sharing BitTorrent gears up for online distribution of ...
... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/12274166.htm

boycott-riaa.com - Article: A whole new world of file sharing?
Boycott-RIAA, the center for the fight against the tyrant that is the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). ... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...www.boycott-riaa.com/article/17679 -


boycott-riaa.com - Article: A whole new world of file sharing?
Boycott-RIAA, the center for the fight against the tyrant that is the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). ... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...www.boycottriaa.com/article/17679

ad astra per aspera
... With distribution costs removed, budding filmmakers like Ben Buie of HighlyDef Productions in Altanta can suddenly ...
RSS: View as XML - Add to My Yahoo!
ashwinnavin.blogspot.com - More from this site - Save - Block