Gaines Bolsters Withoutabox as B-Side Prepares Rival Online Fest Submission Site
by Eric Kohn (July 14, 2008)
Last week, Christian Gaines officially left his post at the American Film Institute, paving the way for his new job as Director of Festivals for Withoutabox, marking the latest example of the digitally-oriented film community reaching into the professional grab bag of the larger industry. As Gaines joins Withoutabox, the company is facing the threat of competition from a similar upstart service from B-Side, a would-be rival online film festival submission service.
For Withoutabox, the decision to hire Gaines suggests its desire to emulate the workings of a mainstream festival. “I will be responsible for overseeing Withoutabox’s film festivals business, including relations and business development on the global festival circuit,” Gaines told indieWIRE.
Since launching in 2001, Withoutabox has been virtually unmatched in its festival submission services, which enables filmmakers to pay a flat fee to have a single film submitted to hundreds of festivals. Earlier this year, the company was purchased by the Internet Movie Database (itself owned by Amazon), ultimately ramping up the cash flow and heightening its resources.
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