By JOHN ANDERSON
IT was a late night in Seattle. It was probably raining. Scilla Andreen was still haunting the offices of her as-yet-to-be-started Internet movie company, IndieFlix, when the phone rang. It was -- no surprise -- a young filmmaker.
"He thought we were a local production company," said Ms. Andreen, 43, a filmmaker herself, as well as an Emmy-nominated costume designer. "Or a distribution company that might buy his film."
What the young fellow had found in his efforts to support his movie -- which he'd financed by selling his late grandmother's ring -- wasn't a distribution company, not in the traditional sense, but instead, the latest wrinkle in the dissemination of independent film.
As cheaper technology and a seemingly inexhaustible hipness quotient have led to more filmmakers and films being produced, theatrical distribution has become more expensive, the outlets more cautious, and the returns on investments more dubious. The Internet has absorbed some of the spillover, although the bigger success stories -- notably, the political films of Robert Greenwald ("Uncovered: The War on Iraq," "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism"), or "Faster," a highly lucrative motorcycle documentary narrated by Ewan McGregor -- have been niche movies with a core audience.
So what about more general fare with no stars, budgets or hope? That's where IndieFlix, founded by Ms. Andreen and her business partner, the filmmaker Gian-Carlo Scandiuzzi, comes in. Directors submit their films, which are then posted on the Web site
Ms. Andreen's motto: "Own a movie for less than a movie ticket."