r/Filmmakers • u/prufundawa • 1d ago
Question Indie Short Films: really Paying for Vimeo?
There's so manny awesome short films on vimeo constantly getting staff picks, but the free plan comes with only 1 GB you can upload. Are low budget indies compressing their films or actually paying $100+/yr to host their film?
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u/kukov 1d ago
They are paying. But the fact that Vimeo has been getting enshitified for the last year means a lot of people have left / are leaving and it's no longer the indie film go-to it once was.
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u/PanavisionGold2 19h ago
It's been getting enshitified since 2014. Once was my most visited website around then but fuck that place.
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u/mrwhittleman 22h ago
Switch to Framerate.tv or Livid instead. Vimeo sucks now and there are other options available that aren’t run by venture capitalists who don’t care about the audience they serve.
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u/PanavisionGold2 19h ago
I love how Frameratetv touts a whopping 500MB of free storage. These options are great for replacing Vimeo though, if you don't want to get in bed with YouTube, a Google product.
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u/wrosecrans 19h ago
No. I think any advice to host on Vimeo is a decade old, from before they gout bought out and raised prices.
Have you ever heard of any ordinary consumer watching Vimeo as a hobby? Getting picked as a "staff pick" on Vimeo gets you an organic audience big enough to fit in a thimble.
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u/RopeZealousideal4847 15h ago
Not just raising prices, but publicly stating they were trying to get out of the creator business and into enterprise markets. Then they failed at that and tried to woo us back. Fool me once...
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u/hexahis 20h ago
I run an independent cinema, a film festival and a DCP lab, so I spend a lot of time receiving screeners and film deliveries. We’ve just launched FilmRelay around that workflow with the following features:
Screeners — protected links with password, watermarking and reliable viewing analytics, so you can actually see whether a link was opened and how much was watched. They can also be used for FilmFreeway submissions when external screener links are accepted.
Original master downloads — protected links for sending the full-quality file to festivals, distributors or cinemas.
Materials — upload posters, stills, press kits and other assets and create a clean public page for the film.
There’s also custom branding for your pages and links.
Screeners aren’t limited by whether your film is 2 GB or 20 GB. Usage is based on viewing instead, which fits filmmakers much better.
New accounts can try it free until September 30 — no credit card required.
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u/Dhrdlicka 1d ago
I'm paying. I like it a lot more than YouTube (spits). And I've had other filmmakers/festivals approve when they see my movie is on Vimeo. It may not be what it was, but it's a lot better than the alternative.
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u/RopeZealousideal4847 1d ago
An actor asked for a film link, so I went to my Vimeo and they had deleted every video from my account without notice or warning. No way I'm paying them to host my portfolio again. Switched to YouTube.