D.B. Sweeney's Two Tickets to Paradise Experiments with an Alternative Film Distribution Model

The Internet, Netflix and iTunes have changed the film industry. Last week I caught up with D.B. Sweeney, writer, actor, director and producer of Two Tickets to Paradise, a feature length film that bypassed a theatrical release and debuts on DVD this week. In addition to DVD sales and rentals, the film will be available for download on iTunes in early 2009. Based on the success of DVD sales, Sweeney hopes to negotiate distribution on subscription cable networks.

In reaction to the Hollywood film system, Sweeney says, “It’s kind of a foolish model in this day and age because as the Internet and other ways of delivering movies to people becomes more common, who needs the multiplex? Who needs MGM? Who needs any of these places? Why should a filmmaker turn over the irreplaceable asset, the movie, to a distribution center? All these big corporations like Amazon, those places have great distribution arms but they can’t create content.”

Two Tickets to Paradise is over six years in the making. Shortly after September 11th, Sweeney found himself spending another night at a bar with firefighter friends after yet another funeral. When he suggested that they take a night off to relax and maybe see a movie, one of them turned to the other and said, “Movie? Nobody makes movies for us.”

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This post originally appeared at JackMyers.com.