Movieset Helps Producers Keep Control of their Bloopers

(MoneyWatch) 
The VC-funded start-up boom is having a major impact on the English language. Almost every new company introduces new words into the lingo, or at least redefines old terms for digital purposes.

Thus, Movieset, is all about establishing a web dashboard for two distinct audiences -- the "crewside" and the "fanside." The crewside product allows film producers to build up buzz about their upcoming movies by releasing "behind the scene" material and other extras from the set in real time. The idea is to stimulate excitement about a film long before the filming is done.

Anyone who's viewed a DVD lately has probably noticed that increasing ancillary material comes along with the show. Bloopers, outtakes, and interviews all seem to resonate with fans. So, Movieset aims to give producers a powerful new tool to monetize this additional material via advertising, mobile downloads, etc.

Which is all fine until we get to the fanside. The company's value proposition here is slightly muddier. Though I'm quite sure there is an appetite for more contextual footage among movie lovers, I'm not convinced the web is the right environment for distributing this form of it.

I imagine many web users would respond better to unauthorized clips of the talent on the set, i.e., clips not in the control of the actors and producers. But, by reinforcing studio control over all of this material, Movieset seems to be strengthening the status quo, rather than challenging it.

Maybe I'm wrong; for this startup's sake, let's hope so. But I suspect surfers would flock to a hacker site if one were able to crash a production, or even to a Drudge- -- like gossip site with unauthorized clips much more enthusiastically than to Movieset's fanside product.

In any event, there would appear to be a large market here, as IMDB, Flixter, and others have already demonstrated. And, with over 400 Indie (and about 180 studio) new theater releases this year alone in the U.S., there's obviously enough sheer volume of stuff ripe for exploitation.