Hyderabad: The film industry might be raking in the moolah, but going by the ever-increasing ‘hits’, ‘likes’ and ‘shares’, they have competition from the short film industry. If there was one thing the short film industry was lagging behind in, it was the money. But thanks to Tharun Bhascker, Rohit Reddy, Ranjith, Upendra, Tanvi, Soumya, that gap will soon be closed.
While there have been many web portals that showcase short films, the ‘pay-by-sms’ idea behind the website (www.tsfi.tv) is a first-of-its-kind. A viewer will have to pay Rs 5 to Rs 10 to watch a film. The income, will be divided among the stakeholders and the filmmaker will receive a share too.
Tharun explains the concept, “We wanted to make the entire process of payment easy, with no involvement of a debit card, it had to be friendly and hassle-free and the pay-by-sms idea was just the right method.” He adds, “One of our short-films, Anukokunda received a million hits on YouTube. It took us close to six months to receive Rs 2 lakh. So we also want to make it easier for short filmmakers to be able to recover costs.”
Currently, there are close to six films on the website. In order to view a film, one has to send a message and based on the pricing of the film, Rs 5 or Rs 10 will be deducted from their phone balance.
Rohit says, “We are focussing on monetising the short-film industry. We also wanted to create a platform for good short filmmakers. We know that most of the youngsters who watch short films are teens. So even if they want to watch two films per day, it won’t burn a hole in their pocket. They can access these films on their mobiles too.”
So how do they choose the films that get showcased on the website? “Filmmakers send in their work. Our core-team screens the movies. Only those with good quality and a great script are put up,” says Ranjith.
For now, the team plans to pay the filmmaker whatever income remains after the entertainment tax and the telecom companies’ share is accounted for. “We will take our share much later. The focus now is on getting a larger user base,” says Rohit.
