Michael Moore serves up First Free Feature-length Film on Internet

Moore's films usually make money. In fact his last two releases (Sicko and Fahrenheit 9/11) became two of the three highest-grossing documentaries of all time.  This go round it is going to be different - no theatrical release, no TV airings, no streaming video (i.e. YouTube). This one is going to be a free download-to-own first-run movie.  Sign up now on slackeruprising.com and you will be notified when the film is available for download on September 23. You will also be able to buy or rent it on DVD, but not until after it has been offered online for free for three weeks.

Chances are Slacker Uprising was never destined to make a lot of money. It chronicles Moore's 62-city, get-out-the-vote tour of swing states during the 2004 Presidential election. Moore rallies young voters to support Democrat John Kerry, hands out clean underwear and ramen noodles to encourage slackers to come see the show, and gets sued by conservatives for attempting to bribe voters (with underwear and noodles). He is accompanied by a host of stars including Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam), Roseanne Barr, Joan Baez, Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine), R.E.M., Steve Earle, and Viggo Mortensen. 

The film cost $2 million to produce, and Moore suggests he is giving it away for free to thank his loyal audience and in an attempt to encourage young voters to cast a ballot during the November 2008 election.

Two very different online companies partner with Moore to release film

Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films helped bankroll the production and is serving as the distributor.   Brave New Films is an interesting company that produces and streams a wide range of politically charged fare. It is chartered with the IRS not as a production studio or Internet provider but rather as a 501(c)4 ("social welfare" organization).

Downloads are being handled by Blip.tv a service that specializes in hosting prosumer-type productions. Like YouTube, Blip hosts productions for free, but it provides the artist with a wider palette of video formats to chose from, and does not impose the same sorts of restrictions about video length. It also offers to share all advertising revenue it can codger up 50/50 with the artists. Or if you have your own sales force you can sell a sponsorship and Blip will traffic the show for you.

I am not sure if there will be any advertising used to defray costs in this case (Moore and Greenwald say they will make no profit for the film), or how many downloads the site will see, or how smoothly they will go. I do know that the video will be offered as a "pristine, high-resolution, much better than YouTube, free download to any North American resident beginning on September 23." That's what they say anyway. Only time will tell if the film is destined to be a success and/or a harbinger of things to come.