INDEE+ is raising funds to grow its film streaming platform; showcasing independent movies, short films, new filmmaking talent & festivals
Hi! We are Rob, Dan & Aïcha, the co-founders of streaming platform INDEE+
INDEE+ is a 100% self-funded on-demand movie streaming platform launched in late 2020 by 3 friends and cinephiles from London who love everything film & the arts. In our day jobs we specialise in film distribution for theatrical release of Independent film and INDEE+ is born from our passion for delivering great content to all.
Working alongside our brilliant independent clients helped us identify issues that required attention
1) Amazing independent films & work from up-and-coming talent is increasingly being lost behind super-hero blockbuster posters and streaming platform "original films", and as theatrical windows shrink or are abandoned altogether, so do opportunities for great individual movies & stories to be seen and heard. We ourselves were working on theatrical distribution projects that were not being shown on enough screens across the country, and/or as they were released digitally, they then had little to no prominence hidden behind "tailored" home screens and blockbusters.
2) Revenues generated from platforms with huge libraries remain small for aspiring filmmakers & independent studios as they struggle for visibility versus the bigger players.
And so INDEE+ was born
We launched INDEE+ with a sincere wish to highlight amazing Independent film, host festivals and curate playlists for cinephiles like ourselves and use it as a platform to showcase a diverse mix of up and coming talent, the underrepresented, the underappreciated and to create a streaming platform that caters to everyone.
Where have we got to so far?
In the spring of 2021 we launched our website and our iPhone & Android apps with a small slate of films from past and present including the Home Premieres of Oscar & Bafta nominated Minari and the critically acclaimed directional debut from Billie Piper, Rare Beasts.
Over the course of the year have steadily built relationships with studios and distributors to bring our expanding audiences an increasingly eclectic mix of the best of Studio, Independent & World Film content and are ending our first active year offering over 300 classic & current films. We hosted the online edition of the UK French Film Festival FFF@Home for the first time as well as 3 editions of our own Festivals to showcase up and coming talent.
We launched an initiative for filmmakers to self-distribute their titles via INDEE+ for a healthy revenue split in their favour, and offered the opportunity to heavily promote their titles within the platform, sitting alongside established content from well-known filmmakers.
We partnered with Film Review website Loud & Clear Reviews to bring tailored reviews from their teams to film synopsis pages within INDEE+ and recently launched a collaboration with the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) to bring audiences past nominations in one place within a BIFA Collection.
Most recently we have launched Membership packages to offer significant discounts on film rentals within the site as well as partner with exciting local brands to bring subscribers amazing discounts on perfect movie night in products such as Artisanal Popcorn & Sustainable Beer.
What next?
We remain fiercely independent, both as business owners and the content we sell. We want to continue operating as a small team with no major investment from professional investors, working alongside likeminded studios and individuals to take on the gigantic streamers of the world and do things better from the ground up. We are committed to heavily growing our movie selection and bringing the best of classic and contemporary independent cinema to our audiences and to make INDEE+ a streaming platform for everyone and accessible to all.
We want to grow to become the go to place for lesser seen Independent Films and to showcase them from the very front pages of our website. We want to continue to bring more eyes and ears to world cinema than ever before by curating and hosting larger and more diverse film festivals. We are determined to continue to showcase up and coming talent and to continue giving a spotlight to those that are unseen or heard. We are passionate about continuing to select films that highlight social, political, and economic issues and to continue to curate films for people from all walks of life. We want to help people tell stories by continuing to allow them to self-distribute via our platform.
Why do we need you now?
We have built a brand and a product purely from our own financial investments and hard work & time that we are very proud of. Our successes over this period are more remarkable than we might have ever anticipated and our skillsets and our passion have grown exponentially.
With hundreds of users now registered we know we have a product our customers love using and is important to continue to run. We are aware that our business remains relatively unknown and for the first time are very much in need of outside investment to help us to adequately increase & diversify our titles, significantly advertise and drive users to our website and seek to employ outside assistance from people who can help us to build a better product.
How can your investment help?
Marketing -
If you haven't heard of INDEE+ this is exactly why we need your help! We need to massively increase our marketing and advertising spend to increase our website traffic and sales. Up to now we have run paid social media campaigns to drive users to our website, but we are acutely aware of how important it will be to our survival and growth to advertise physically across billboards, transport and digital posters up and down the country, as well as start to produce advertisements for broadcast and theatrical use.
We would like to offer free trials of memberships and be more competitive in what we can offer to incentivise new customers joining the platform.
Growing our Film Library whilst paying it forward -
Acquiring films to sell on our platform is expensive and our commitment to fair revenue shares means we are limited with how much profit we make on each sale. We are desperate to rapidly increase and diversify our library titles and your investment will help us to do this whilst helping filmmakers to continue their craft.
Development -
Apps: We know the way's in which people browse and watch films can differ significantly from household to household, and device to device. We need to increase the way's we sell our films by offering INDEE+ apps across more devices and applications. Our Film Store is currently only available on our website, and we are keen to give our users the ability to purchase films and subscriptions via our mobile applications.
Languages: We are eager to continue to open our platform to all, and although our feature films are mostly limited to screening for those based in the UK & Ireland, we would like to add new languages & disability tracks for blind & deaf members based in the UK to make INDEE+ as accessible to all as possible.
Go Global: Whilst our commitment to growth within the UK & Ireland remains our number one priority, we are eager to tap into new markets we have identified as those that would benefit from having a local INDEE+ site. This would involve development of a new localised website & domain and aggregation of new titles and film rights.
This project successfully funded on 25th May 2022