REQUIREMENTS
- We don't believe in charging filmmakers a fee, but we can't keep up with the volume of submissions here. To be considered, please submit at http://submit2.omele.to
- YOU MUST OWN THE FULL RIGHTS TO THE FILM.
- To be considered, your film MUST have played at an Oscar-qualifying, BAFTA-qualifying or similar top-tier festival.
- We add a watermark to deter theft and a short fade in/out of our "Omeleto" mark at the beginning/end of every film. We do attract an audience that we can share among filmmakers. We're able to push your film far and wide because past filmmakers have allowed us to add a watermark to attract an audience we have now.
- If you plan to release the film on other YouTube channels, we ask that you consider allowing us to be the first/original uploader. YouTube's algorithm may throttle or hide duplicate content to prevent spam. Allowing us to be the first/original uploader ensures your release reaches as many viewers as possible. If you have the film on a personal channel, you can delete then re-upload it after we release it.
WHAT WE LOOK FOR
- Foremost, we consider the quality and emotional impact of the storytelling. We also consider the skill of craftsmanship and production value. Check out our Official Selections (http://omele.to/officialselection) for examples.
- We prefer films between 8- to 15-minutes in length. On average, we showcase films that run around 12 minutes. Longer films will be tougher to judge. Films under 6-minutes will NOT be considered.
- We CANNOT showcase films with graphic nudity, excessive violence or explicit sex, due to YouTube and Facebook policies.
- We do NOT accept films with little story or comedies that rely on a single punchline.
- We do NOT accept student films (with the exception of MFA thesis films). AFI students: we are not able to exhibit your thesis films. Please reach out to AFI and ask them to change their policies.
MONEYBALL FOR MOVIES -- WHAT WE DO FOR YOU
We don't just take your film and upload it. If accepted, our engineers and data scientists will spend time in A/B testing your film through countless iterations to optimize its online success. Major studios spend hundreds of millions in advertising and marketing to attract viewers. We use data and analytics to gain a competitive advantage. Think of us as Moneyball for short films in the era of social media.
We analyze viewer metrics at real-time speeds and compare the engagement signals -- such as total watch time, audience retention, like-to-dislike ratio, click-through rate, social media shares, etc. -- against a proprietary dataset of successful films we've pushed in the past. We then segment by genre, viewer demographics, geographic location, etc. to glean insights into its commonalities and differences to understand what tweaks to make to its packaging to maximize watch time and engagement levels and get recommended.
Think of it like A.I. machine-learning -- we take successful films of the past to reverse engineer the algorithms, then apply what we learn to optimize future films for success. Then repeat that a couple of thousand times.
YouTube and social media success largely depend on being "recommended," which their algorithms determine by sampling total watch time and engagement. So while quality storytelling is a large part of the equation, how that film is presented plays an equally important role.
A simple way to think about it is:
- Total watch time = audience retention x click-through rate. Total watch time for a film is dependent upon how long someone watches the film, multiplied by the percentage of people who click to watch it.
So for example:
- Film A has an average audience retention of 8 minutes, which is high and indicates that viewers enjoy watching it. But out of 100 people who see it on their feed, only 5 people click to watch, indicating poor packaging -- people aren't interested in giving it a chance. So the total watch time for Film A is 40 minutes (8-minute audience retention x 5 percent click-through rate).
- Film B, meanwhile, averages 5 minutes of audience retention, which is average and lower than Film A. But Film B has great packaging that leads to a 10 percent click-through rate. The total watch time for Film B is 50 minutes (5-minute audience retention x 10 percent click-through rate).
The storytelling of Film A is "better" -- as measured by how long viewers watch -- but Film B actually has the higher total watch time due to better packaging. That means Film B may be recommended more often, leading to more views. Of course, it's not so simple. But on the whole, YouTube promotes videos that maximize total watch time because, from their perspective, the longer a viewer watches a video, the more satisfied they'll be with platform. And that'll keep them coming back for more.
We treat filmmakers as part of a team. We depend on them for great content with high audience retention. And we provide them with our expertise in algorithms and analytics to get it recommended. After all, a great film that nobody clicks on doesn't get seen. But a great film with great packaging -- that's a recipe for millions and millions of viewers who share the film far and wide.
Of course, we can't guarantee online success, but our track record (http://omele.to/365feLz) speaks for itself.
WHAT TO EXPECT
- All accepted submissions will receive proper credit and a link.
- We WON'T monetize your film. However, for certain high-performing films, we do offer the option to join our invite-only "Omeleto Elite" program to split advertising revenue. See below for details.
- If you ever need us to take down your film for any reason, let us know and we'll remove it, no questions asked. Similarly, we do NOT guarantee indefinite placement on Omeleto and may move/remove the film from our channels.
A TRUE MERITOCRACY -- THE AUDIENCE DECIDEs WHAT STAYS
- While we do our best to curate what viewers like, ultimately, we give the audience the final say in what films stay on the channel -- specifically through their likes and dislikes voting, and audience retention and watch time metrics.
- We will initially launch your film for a period of ONE month, during which we monitor viewer engagement and audience metrics. If the viewer metrics are above thresholds for YouTube's recommendation algorithm and receiving views, we'll leave it for YouTube to sample and hopefully get recommended.
- However if the viewer and engagement metrics are below YouTube's recommendation thresholds, it's not likely the algorithm will push it far. In this case, we may repost the film to one of our genre-specific channels to give it a "second run." We do this because viewer metrics -- and the likelihood of being recommended -- may improve. For example, a general audience might not appreciate British humor. But a comedy-specific audience may love it. Horror has a similar skew. Ultimately, we're trying to find the right audience for the film to get it recommended and seen far and wide. But to do that, the underlying metrics need to be there -- and that depends on seeding the right audience.
- If, after a couple of months on the subchannel, viewer metrics aren't there and views stall, we may decide to end the run and remove the film completely. This is not a reflection of the quality of the film. But merely, the audience's viewing habits in relation to YouTube's algorithm.
OMELETO ELITE / REVENUE SHARING
All films are launched without advertising. But for certain films that start to gain a lot of views, we invite them to join Omeleto Elite -- our invite-only program to help filmmakers earn advertising revenue. With your approval, we'll turn on ads on the film on YouTube, then pay you 50% of what YouTube pays us -- a straightforward 50/50 split.
Ad revenue is a volume game, so we want to make sure we can pay something meaningful before inviting filmmakers to join. But the revenue could be worthwhile once a film gets recommended.
Of course, if you have any doubts or concerns -- we DO NOT have to turn on ads. We are perfectly happy to showcase your film without any advertising. This is only an option for your consideration.
For up-to-date rules and guidelines, please visit: http://submit2.omele.to