You might be interested in a side project I've been working on: http://indiecult.tv
It's basically what you describe, but the payments are also weighted by user rating. I'm dealing with a chicken and egg problem on content, so there's not much there, but keep an eye on it over the next couple of months...
This looks awesome. I'm not sure if you've tried a limited trial already, but as someone on the creation side, I'd love to see & try the tools/system in place before entering my credit card and paying for a subscription. Maybe you can solve the content side of things by allowing filmmakers to earn credit through uploading content. Eg. If I upload 5+ shorts or 1 longer length video that pass a quick review, my next month is credited.
Yes, some kind of trial or even a free plan is where I'm looking.
It's got a HN-type karma system built into it, both the content and the comments. So if you boil it down to its essence, it's almost a reddit (preferably HN) for video with a netflix-esque interface.
So maybe it's free to post and view video links, free to upload content directly (which you can earn money from), but costs to view hosted content (which then pays the uploaders). Free user's views don't count towards payable totals, but paid user's do. That's the plan I'm leaning towards, actually.
I don't watch movies - but I do have a respect for beginning artists of any field. Anything that can help indie artists is a plus in my book.
One word of advice would be to move the Twitter logo away from your logo. I was mildly confused and honestly, Twitter has such a strong brand that I saw the Twitter logo before your logo.
How are you advertising? Chicken/egg is the kill or be killed of any social site - and especially one dependent on having content.
Good call re: twitter logo, I mainly want to make it clear that twitter is the way to connect with us (as opposed to email newsletter or facebook or whatever). I will probably move it to the right.
Re: advertising, right now I'm just talking to a lot of people that are making quality content and posting it to youtube or vimeo already, basically offering them an alternative monetization strategy and trying to get a read on what they really need. Customer development.
But I do have a better idea on what I need to change next, and I think it will remove a lot of friction in using the service (and getting content)
It's basically what you describe, but the payments are also weighted by user rating. I'm dealing with a chicken and egg problem on content, so there's not much there, but keep an eye on it over the next couple of months...