Costs follow their cause
Watching causes streaming and a card charge, so the buyer pays those. Hosting a film causes storage, so the filmmaker pays that. Nothing is smeared into hidden margins.
Posted rates, in the open
Streaming is $2 per 1,000 minutes, charged once per rental and covering two full streams in the rental window. Storage is billed to filmmakers at our infrastructure cost. Card processing (currently 2.9% + $0.30) is itemized, never hidden in a price.
80% to the filmmaker, always
DirectCut keeps a flat 20% of the rental price and nothing else is deducted from the filmmaker's share. Because buyers cover streaming and processing at checkout and storage is pre-paid, 80% can be nice and clean.
Buyer, filmmaker, DirectCut.
- $2.99 rental (the filmmaker's price)
- + $0.18 streaming (90 minutes @ $2 per 1000 minutes)
- + $0.40 payment processing (currently 2.9% + $0.30 by card)
- = $3.57 total
Every rental includes two full streams inside your rental window. Fees are itemized so they can shrink. In the future, we may offer opt-in ads to reduce your cost. Let us know if that's appealing. We can also reduce payment processing fees at scale. Help us reach that scale to save you money!
- $2.99 your price
- − $0.60 (DirectCut's 20%)
- = $2.39 to you, every rental
- $5.40 storage (90 min × 12 months at our infrastructure cost)
- + $0.47 payment processing
- = $5.87 once per year
3 rentals a year covers it. Streaming and card fees are the buyer's, never deducted from your 80%.
- $0.60 platform cut (20% of your price)
- + $0.09 streaming margin if watched once (break-even if both included streams are used)
Because buyers cover streaming and processing, our 20% carries no hidden costs: it pays for hosting overhead and building the platform. No venture math, no ads in your film, no data resale.