Amazon Video Direct announces first Stars program winner
LOS ANGELES -- Baltimore-based filmmaker Justin Doescher has been tapped as Amazon Video Direct's first Stars program winner.
The program, which was announced at the same time as Amazon Video Direct's launch in May, gives show creators the opportunity to earn royalties based on minutes streamed. Selected creators are given a monthly bonus from a $1 million fund based on the top 100 AVD titles offered on Prime Video.
Doescher's roughly hour-long horror film The Break-In follows an engaged couple that has a baby on the way after a string of robberies take place in their neighborhood.
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"I was not expecting this at all," Doescher told Mashable in a phone interview. The 35-year-old was on the set of House of Cards -- he has a small role as one of President Frank Underwood's bodyguards -- when he heard the news.
The film started out as a short that Doescher posted on Facebook about two years ago. When his friends liked it, he decided to turn it into a movie using his girlfriend's iPhone 6. It took 12 days to shoot and two months to edit. The budget, Doescher said, was $11 -- "for a burglar mask and fake blood."
Since uploading the project to Amazon 12 weeks ago, the film has been streamed for close to 8 million minutes.
"I feel like a lot of filmmakers want to do film festivals and hope to get distribution," Doescher said. "That was the original plan. But I came across an ad for Amazon Video Direct on Facebook and uploading seemed like a no-brainer to me. I expected maybe 2 to 10 people to watch it."
Eric Orme, the head of Amazon Video Direct, said the platform has already been a popular among creators, though he wouldn't disclose how many people have uploaded content so far.
"We were pleased to see how many people are interested in our self-publishing model," he told Mashable. "Within the first week we already had over twice our expected number of new titles in categories including independent film, documentaries, classic TV, kid’s education, premium-short form comedy and more."
The content came in a large variety of genres and lengths including independent films, documentaries and kid’s education.
Doescher stood out for a few reasons, including customer reviews.
"Customers seemed drawn to the fact that Justin was able to capture a specific type of horror, 'found footage,' that lends itself to a lower budget/indie feel," Orme said of the director. "That appeals to a lot of our customers. And this previously unknown film caught on quickly. Customers also seemed to appreciate the twist at the end [of the film], making it a great original story."
Doescher hopes to use the bonus money to create more content, this time maybe not on an iPhone.
"I do have a couple of other [ideas] for features I’m going to try and shoot hopefully by the end of this year," he said. "Ultimately, I’d love to talk about them with Amazon because I know they have Amazon Studios. I hope they eventually take a chance on me."
Saba was a Los Angeles-based reporter who covers all things digital entertainment, including YouTube, streaming services and digital influencers. Prior to that, she spent two years at the Los Angeles Times covering entertainment for the Calendar and Company Town sections. Saba grew up in Santa Monica and graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in journalism and B.A. in political science. When not reporting, she is usually binge watching shows online or looking for new coffee shops to frequent.
