What I've learned?
I've spent the last couple years working on Feature Films. My work on uPressplay, along with the films promotional material, led to more high profile sites, Robin Hood, Unstoppable, Lego Atlantis and my most recent is Spiderman. Web dev is how I pay the rent. Filmmaking isn't helping with my IRA. What I learned from those experiences was about mass deployment and creating intriguing environments. Along with setting up environments for international deployments. The German Umlaut can kiss my ass. That character was the bane of my existence for a good part of a year.
I produced 2 feature films and a bunch of different shorts. With varying degrees of success. Couple wins, a bunch of festivals, and 2 glimpses into the distribution process. uPressplay as a delivery tool was successful, and would actually still be viable for html5 deployment. Small alterations to the video codecs and video files would have been needed to be made. But, it's simplicity would still provide an enjoyable user experience.
What I found running the site for a good part of 7 years, is that there are a lot of internet trolls out there. Malicious jerks trying to steal traffic and jack with your system (IndieTalk Admin, I feel your pain. I am in no way trying steal traffic from this site. It's the leading filmmaking forum out there.) I was tired of being a cop. Blocking and removing spammers. No, I don't need Cialis. Nor Viagra. No, I don't want to date a 17 year old Russian chick. Along with a hundred different streaming services competing with the site, I decided to change focus on what I really wanted to do. Tell stories. Not police my site for dicks.
So, I've been in the middle of both worlds for awhile. Which I think provided me with a unique perspective on the Online Piracy debate this year.
What have I learned? Banner ads and pre roll ads don't pay out enough to finance a full production, nor a community site. Google ads don't cut it either. Unless you are getting millions of hits, which reduces profits by requiring more expensive servers. Streaming is convenient if you want to skip around, but I still prefer progressive downloads. html5 is the future for both websites and app development, but still doesn't work as good as Flash for interactive environments. And has brought back many of the cross browser issues we fought against in the early 2000s.
The biggest jump from then until now, is embracing computer programming. Once I broke into the Ether, it opened a lot of possibilities. Utilizing computer connectivity to create more than just a viewing experience, but providing a way for users and content creators to interact with each other. Which is why I have been focused on Expression Engine development for the past 2 years. It streamlines the process, and has a very supportive community willing to help you trouble shoot issues with specialized scenarios.
The New Model article is really my game plan for what I'm going to do next. Spending my free time working on script ideas. Hoping to have one concept ready by the end of spring. Take it from there. So, the document started out as my business plan for my next film. What I realized when I got the first draft done was, this would only work if the industry and internet community embraced the concept and adjusted their behavior. Spreading it around as a white paper could start a movement, or disprove my theory. Either one is good. So, I decided not to hide it. Give it out for free. Anyone embracing it, needs someone to build it. That's me, and the hundreds of Expression Engine devs that help me in the forums. Win Win.
That's about as honest of an answer as I can give. I've been at this for over 10 years. Don't plan on quitting. I would imagine that anyone reading this forum would agree, "It's what makes life worth living."