Jonah Feingold recently posted An Open Letter to YouTube: Give Independent Filmmakers a Rent/Buy Button on Substack.

His core belief:

“YouTube should be the home base for independent film distribution.”

All he’s asking for is:

“A rent/buy button that creators can add directly to their own uploads, on their own channels.”

He outlines current distribution strategies and their limitations.

He then delves deeper into YouTube’s model and concludes with:

“YouTube, you’ve already changed how the world watches. Now change how independent filmmakers distribute. Give us the button. We’ll do the rest.”

Behold! It seems YouTube is listening….

My take: this is a great idea! The 30% Google / 70% Filmmaker split would be okay. The YouTube Partner Program eligibility thresholds would be challenging, if not impossible, for most filmmakers (who are not weekly content creators) that release one film a year. Ads interrupting films would be a non-starter too, as would pre- or post-ads, for films viewers have rented with the new Rent/Buy Button.