Dave Wain, who runs one of the few remaining video shops in the country (Snip Videos in Bebington, Wirral) comments, ‘[With regards to] Amazon’s recent cull of indies, it just gives the impression that the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. Prime Video seems to be a Wild West of streaming, with so many older films uploaded when the rights clearly haven’t been obtained… A further development is of course the price hikes. This is particularly worrying, as for me the result of this will be the accelerated migration of people away from physical media to digital.’
Indie filmmaker Shane Ryan is passionately against the anti-social and worrying trends in streaming services (as well as being angered by Amazon’s recent about turn on so many films, indie or otherwise). Ryan said, ‘I’ve been getting booted by internet sites for the past decade, beginning with credit card companies banning DVDs of my films from online stores, to YouTube deleting my accounts which merely contained the trailers to my films, to Vimeo deleting my online screeners for critics, to Amazon Prime deleting my films simply if they showed a nipple (meanwhile keeping films like Gasper Noe’s Irreversible). All of these deletions were done without any warning whatsoever… Did we ever experience this kind of epidemic when video stores were around? I could walk into any rental shop back in 2007 (when I first got distribution) and 9 times out of 10 see my movies right there on the new release wall for the world of customers to view and possibly rent (which they did). If one day somebody had suddenly said “remove all 10,000 copies of that indie film now!” it just wouldn’t be possible (you’d have to physically remove or destroy each and every one). The films were uncensored, unrated, and remained freely on display at both major retailers and indie video rental stores. I had a great two years of getting my films exposed to the public (after I spent two decades working to get to that point), doing signings at stores, interacting with customers and fans, and making money!’
Shane Ryan’s ‘My Name Is A by Anonymous’
Ryan continues, ‘That all changed. Along came Amazon and Netflix, sweeping up thousands and thousands of films for their online catalogues, driving every customer that they could onto streaming subscriptions. Now that they’re the only places left, you’d think that they’d keep an amazing list of titles, right? Hell no. First Netflix erased nearly everything that they could to make room for their “own productions.” Notice now how most programs on Netflix say “A Netflix film” and not the name of the filmmaker? In fact they now only carry 98 films made before 1990, and only a little over 3,000 films in total. Our local video store (which finally closed last week after nearly 30 years of business – may they rest in peace – also the very first place to ever sell my films back when I was peddling them out of my backpack on VHS) was barely bigger than my bedroom and they carried over 17,000 movies! That’s 14,000 more films than Netflix! And now they’re gone. Scarecrow Video in Seattle carries, wait for it, 150,000 films!!! Yet people have this perception that everything is on Netflix, the place with 147,000 less film choices.’
Wain also makes mention of Scarecrow video. ‘I saw a great promo film for Scarecrow Video in Seattle recently, and the guy who presented it gave such a perceptive quote when he said “You can stay at home and watch what they’ve got, or you can come in and rent what you want.” Both Ryan and Wain speak fondly of the video store interaction. The ability to talk films with a live person, to get personal recommendations (and not based on algorithm), to have your eye drawn to something unexpected or surprising. Or as Wain also puts it, ‘Online distribution sites simply can’t offer the experience of coming to a video store, because even the most advanced algorithm can’t see the look on a customer’s face when they return a film they loved only to go home with something else better – directly tailored to their taste.’
This seemingly inexorable shift from high street experience to online convenience comes with a price, and articles relating to music, or most other high street retail sectors will tell you the same, that the ability to walk a high street lined with an array of shops will one day not be available to the public. As video shops are all but extinct, and the other sectors, and Indie shops follow, and we disconnect further from human interaction it leads to the inevitable, that as Netflix strives to envelope most of the free world, and Amazon likewise, we become held to ransom and when there are absolutely no alternatives, you either pay, or lose a connection to cinema.
And here’s the irony. The admission of the hypocrite. Like almost everyone, I’ve bought from Amazon. I’ve tried the free Prime trials. I’ve got a Netflix account. Why? Because it’s convenient. The thing is, I want the best of both worlds. It’s like supermarkets, of which I’m not loyal to one, and I still visit markets and grocers. I want to go down to HMV and browse, make conversation with someone who thumbs over a film they’ve likely not heard of but I’ve seen. I want to browse an aisle and be overcome with impulse. I want to get suckered in by 2 for £10 deals. I see the benefits of Netflix and Amazon, absolutely, and they have them. However what we’re increasingly seeing is the danger in handing over so much power and market share to these companies and it’s killing high streets in a time (particularly in the UK) where thriving shops and high streets are key to post-Brexit recovery. From a personal point of view, with three features due out on DVD in the next 12 months (as my own screenwriting career is just starting to make headway) I look forward to being able to walk into a shop and purchase a keep sake, and maybe even, with all the subtlety of Trump attending a Feminist Rally in Mexico, conveniently push into conversation with anyone who will listen that I wrote the film I’m holding in my hands… but HMV, which would have been my go to, will probably not be there. Maybe if I’m still getting films released in two years, I will only have the option to rent or download through Amazon. It’s not the same.
Many thanks to Dave Wain and Shane Ryan for sharing their thoughts. Lets us know your thoughts in the comments below…
Tom Jolliffe is an award winning screenwriter and passionate cinephile. He has three features due out on DVD/VOD in 2019 and a number of shorts hitting festivals. Find more info at the best personal site you’ll ever see here.
Originally published February 28, 2019. Updated November 29, 2022.
