Joss Whedon is no stranger to independent distribution. This is the man who, along with his team, turned Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog into a big online success. He’s looking to the web again for a new project, releasing his company Bellwether Pictures’ film In Your Eyes online for the princely sum of $5.
In the video (above) he sent to the Tribeca Film Festival to support the drama’s premiere, Whedon laid out the basics of how to access it online: it’s a simple matter of going to the website and paying the fee.
In Your Eyes, which Whedon wrote and produced but which was actually directed by Brin Hill, imagines a psychic connection between a sweet, bored housewife in a wintry East Coast town (Zoe Kazan) and an ex-con in New Mexico looking to make a fresh start (Michael Stahl-David). The two have never met but are spiritually connected.
The budget was kept under $1 million, and despite a brief flirtation wiht theatrical distribution, it was decided to remain independent to keep control of casting and other decisions between Whedon, his production partner/wife Kai Cole and co-producer Michael Roiff.
“It’s no secret that the distribution landscape is shifting rapidly and there are tools at our disposal as filmmakers that we could only dream about ten years ago,” Cole tells the LA Times.
There’s no word yet on whether the film will later hit streaming services or TV, but given that Dr. Horrible ended up on both, it’s a possibility. Just don’t go expecting Whedon’s next film effort to end up distributed this way. We doubt Marvel’s ready to release The Avengers: Age Of Ultron online for $5…