As an artist-run organization, Bridge works to provide an assortment of laurel awards (both for our micro-streamer and annual film festival) and industry-alternative opportunities for selected filmmakers. We are not a traditional node on the film festival circuit, and are not organized to offer elbow-rubbing events with industry insiders, though this is always a possibility that films may be picked up for third-party distribution through our service. Instead, as an alternative we strive to offer non-traditional opportunities, as detailed below, to showcase film and video as an artistic medium, and to offer long-term archival platforms for work that succeeds in the underrepresented categories we accept for review. These may include:
BRIDGE VIDEO STREAMING SERVICE & ANNUAL BRIDGE FILM & VIDEO FESTIVAL
Upon selection by members of the Bridge collective of artists, Bridge Video artists and filmmakers are awarded offers for a hosting contract on the streaming service with a 2-year exclusive term and 5-year full term, after which point the contract may be renewed or declined.
This agreement also includes consent to screen the work as part of additional live screening events, with advance notice, and a determination as to whether or not the film was also selected for the scheduled Oct. screening at SITE/less.
A copy of the license agreement for participants in the Bridge Video micro-streaming service is available to review here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14uPqtWldIlQsnYDf9C6QZsuXXefFRUeZ/view?usp=drive_link.
STREAMING LIMITED ENGAGEMENT OPTION
We also offer a “Limited Engagement” option for presenting new work. We realize some filmmakers may wish to not have their films screen exclusively through the micro-streaming service for the full initial 2-year duration. So we also offer the opportunity for select filmmakers to present their work as part of a limited engagement presentation during which it will be featured for one month alongside programming for the weekly featured film selections from the micro-streamer, available only to subscribers, and permanently removed afterward.
BRIDGE VIDEO MICRO-STREAMER SEASONAL PROGRAMMING
Our programming at bridge-video is active annually between August and December, and February through June. Each Friday in-season, we present the trailer for a new, original film or video, exclusive to Bridge, alongside free content from partners such as Indiana University’s Art, Architecture and Design Department, Chicago PBS affiliate WTTW channel 11’s indie film program “Image Union” (both confirmed partnerships, with new work from these also premiering Aug. 28) or other future festivals, institutes or academic partners. These featured films are viewable along with all the currently available content for the year in a custom catalog member’s area accessible through a $25/every 6 mos. subscription. Please note that most new “Film Friday” selections are published free access to view, unless otherwise negotiated (such as “Limited Engagement” or other subscriber-only content).
BRIDGE JOURNAL PUBLICATION FOR SCREENWRITERS
Award winners in the Screenplay category may have the opportunity to see their work published in one of Bridge’s publications, including Bridge Journal and Bridge Magazine, both in print and online. At Bridge, we seek screenplays that challenge conventional storytelling, push the boundaries of cinematic language, or bring a fresh, poetic approach to the form. We are particularly interested in works that experiment with structure, abstraction, or the interplay between text and image, offering new ways of seeing and experiencing the world.
This opportunity is designed for screenwriters, artists, and hybrid writers who engage with screenplay writing as a form of literary and artistic expression. We welcome submissions that use poetic language or innovative formatting, interrogate or reinvent traditional screenplay structure, explore underrepresented voices and perspectives, or exist in the grey area between film and literature, merging the language of the screen with the rhythm of the page.
BRIDGE VIDEO STRATEGIC PLAN
A little more information on the benefits of the platform: the launch of Bridge Video represents the culmination of an aggressive advertising effort over the past year through our social media channels (Instagram, etc.), with a targeted editorial focus on our list of unique, often underrepresented art forms and content areas. It seems absurd, for example, that no streamers offer a category for established forms such as video art, experimental or dance film, and we seek to maintain that focus on our categories as our greatest strength.
We have an established customer base and mailing list that goes back to 1999, through which we will promote each film through our social media and advertisements on our other site homepages, and seasonally through our 13k-subscriber newsletters, etc. For data on all this, I would suggest that contributors have a look at our advertising info page and media kit at https://www.bridge-chicago.org/advertising, which is chock full of info on the current audience for the annual slate of programming that we’re adding the streaming service onto, and gives you a look under the hood of each marketing area.
And that’s it! Overall, our strategy is built on a 5-year cycle begun in in 2023 and culminating in the end of the first license terms in 2027 to build up new audiences with each successive year’s new batch of film and video content, rolled out weekly. Our goal is to develop a solid subscriber base built up with each successive year, alongside occasional stand-alone special features, our annual in-person film festival and occasional other in-person specially programmed screenings, eventually register as an award-qualifying event, etc. Our team is devoted to providing a steady focused, collaborative, artist-run effort as a not for profit invested in building up visibility for underrepresented art forms and fostering a culture that appreciates experimentation and new ideas with a programming slate both on and offline to back it up.
