When our film went missing from Amazon Prime
Let’s say you assembled a team of friends to make a comprehensive documentary about some precious but overlooked musicians and the unique small-town community that surrounded them. You did this for love. Friends jumped in on faith and fellowship. It took more than seven years and $250,000 out of your own pockets to get this project to the finish line.
Last year, in the middle of a pandemic, you found a distributor who believed in the doc. Wow.
Many DIY documentaries don’t get that far.
Our documentary “The Center of Nowhere (The Spirit and Sounds of Springfield, Mo.)” got off to a good streaming start. It played well before live audiences at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the Music Box in Chicago, the St. Louis International Film Festival and FitzGerald’s in Berwyn.
We continued momentum, especially with Amazon. We received meaningful comments and positive reviews. Word about the characters and renegade visions of “The Queen City of the Ozarks” was beginning to spread. The sincerity from our community of voices connected with viewers. We were proud to share their stories.
A few weeks ago I woke up and clicked on our doc at Amazon Prime. A box said, “This video is currently unavailable to watch in your location.” Had I moved somewhere-to-nowhere overnight?
What does that message mean? Several viewers contacted me. Our distributor didn’t know what happened. They did say another one of their indy docs got pulled.
Then, on Feb. 24, IndieWire published a report headlined, “Amazon Prime Video Direct and the Dystopian Decision to Stop Accepting Documentaries.” They said in part, “Amazon also has been dropping long-running documentary titles from the service, with stakeholders receiving no warning or context for the decisions. Filmmakers and distributors are aghast, but Amazon Prime Video Direct seems to be egalitarian in how it treats its partners.” Some docs were dropped, others remained.
Alex Ferrari, filmmaker and author of “Rise of the Entrepreneur: How To Turn Your Indie Film into a Profitable Business” told Indie Wire, “Amazon Prime was built on the backs of independent filmmakers.” IndieWire sourced a recent report from Reelgood that Amazon contained over 15,000 movies included with Prime in the U.S. Netflix had over 3,500 and Hulu had just under 1,000. Amazon Prime changed course in early February with the only explanation being that they are reviewing content strategy. Some documentaries with Sundance recognition were pulled.
Meanwhile, over the weekend the New York Times reported that Amazon dropped $80 million to acquire “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.” The story added that Amazon’s overall profits have increased 200 per cent since the pandemic began.
Amazon has not responded to questions as to what happened. They did not respond to IndieWire, they did not respond to our distributor, they did not respond to my e-mails to Mike Roth, Vice President, North America Operations at Amazon.com. They didn’t even respond to our comments in that little black “Feedback” box on prime video. We are struggling filmmakers. We just want as much as a level playing field as possible.
We were kneecapped.
Oddly, the DVD and Blu-ray versions of “The Center of Nowhere” are available on Amazon. They’ve even been an Amazon’s Choice.
So for now here is where you can find our film streaming:
Video on Demand cable networks (Comcast, Charter/Spectrum, Cox) Vimeo. HOOPLA and will be released on HOOPLA in Australia and New Zealand. Cinedeigim has put “The Center of Nowhere” on their OTT (Over-The-Top streaming service offered directly to viewers through the internet.)
You can purchase physical copies from our trusty indy friends at Dusty Groove in Chicago and Euclid Records in St. Louis. You can also purchase “Center of Nowhere” items from our website.
“The Center of Nowhere” is the first release from Parkway Media, a new output arrangement between Social Construct and digital distribution company KDMG.
This is a must see documentary. Buy it and get the field guide as well. This movie deserves an Oscar. By far a very professionally made movie that needs to be seen by all. Highly entertaining. I bought it in BluRay along with the Field Guide. It’s worth the price. Very memorable and now I want to go there to explore the city and get some cashew chicken.
Thank you so much Sanford!