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RICHARD COLE
The line between TV and the Web just blurred a little more.
Alwaysi, a Web site that collects and transmits video from independent filmmakers, is selling six short films to the Sundance Channel for an undisclosed sum.
The deal is a first for Alwaysi and its newly created offline sales division, although Sundance has previously bought from AtomFilms.
The Sundance Channel, launched in 1996, is a venture among Robert Redford, Showtime Networks and Universal Studios.
Alwaysi's CEO Howard Rosenberg says the Sundance sale is part of his company's unfolding business strategy, which also involves deals with ICTV to promote its broadband content to cable operators.
"The whole idea of convergence and delivering our content via the television rather than the computer is a huge priority here," Rosenberg says. "That, in my view, is what makes this a really attractive business in the long term."
Alwaysi has built up a library of 1,500 films during its two years on the Internet. The company neither charges nor pays filmmakers for their work, instead acting as an online producer and agent.
Among the films bought by Sundance is Lola, described by Alwaysi as a Twilight Zone-style tale of paths crossed on a haunted, desert road; and The Bris, which shows there is more than one way to experience a circumcision.
The films will probably be removed from the Web site while playing on Sundance to allow the network exclusivity, Rosenberg says. He would not disclose financial terms of the sale.
Alwaysi has also signed a deal with Platinum Studios, which has made its name by taking comic book characters such as the X-Men and turning them into films.
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