FEATURES

How DirectCut works

You rent independent films one at a time, and 80% of each rental price goes to the filmmaker, or to the producer or distributor who holds the rights.

For viewers

You rent one film at a time

There is no subscription. You pay for a film and can watch it twice before the rental runs out. Filmmakers set the length; most choose 48 hours.

The receipt shows where your money goes

Checkout lists the rental price and card processing, so a $2.99 rental comes to $3.39.

Try it with any film

Ask for a film we don’t have

Post the title, or upvote one someone else posted. We show the counts to filmmakers when we ask them to join.

Invite friends with your link

You get one invite link. Anyone who signs in through it shows up in your friends list.

For filmmakers

You keep 80%

On a $2.99 rental you get $2.39, paid out by Stripe. Card processing is added to the buyer’s total, so it never comes out of your share.

Nothing to list or host a film

Streaming and storage come out of our 20%. If a film gets fewer than 10 rentals in a year, we may take it down, or you can keep it up another year by paying a storage fee.

You set the price

Pick any price from $2.99 up, and how many hours a rental lasts.

We review every film

Usually within a few days. You’ll need a finished upload and your own poster image before you can submit.

Choose the countries where it can be rented

For when you’ve sold a distributor the rights in one country. Leave the film worldwide, list countries to leave out, or list the only countries allowed.

How region settings work

Distributors and producers welcome

Upload access isn’t only for directors. If you hold the rights to a film as its producer or distributor, ask for access the same way. A film with a distribution deal can still go up here wherever the deal allows.

Details for distributors
Where films play

Region settings

Distributors often buy the exclusive rights to a film in one country. A filmmaker with a deal like that can stop DirectCut renting the film there and keep selling it everywhere else. Each film has one of three settings.

Worldwide

Anyone, anywhere DirectCut operates, can rent and watch.

The default for every film.

Everywhere except…

Rentable everywhere except the countries you list.

A distributor bought the US rights, so the film is offered everywhere but the US.

Only in…

Rentable only in the countries you list.

The rights are cleared for the UK and Ireland only, so only viewers there can rent it.

If a film isn't available where you are

You won't see it when you browse. If someone sends you a link, the page says it isn't available in your country and there's nothing to buy.

Traveling with a rental

We check when you press play. If you rent a film at home and travel to a country it isn't available in, it won't play there. The rental keeps counting down while you're away.

How we know where you are

From your internet connection's IP address. We don't use GPS. When we can't place you at all (Tor, for example), films with a region setting won't play, though worldwide films will.

Where DirectCut isn't available

Because of sanctions and payment restrictions, DirectCut doesn't offer films in Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Syria, or in the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.

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