OK, so the Vidget won't exactly solve world hunger, bring world peace or even fix all that ails the filmmaking world. Putting aside the big world issues, lets focus on the film stuff. The Vidget will go a long way to help filmmakers in overcoming their number one problem for distributing films online: marketing.

Simply put, before filmmakers can get people to buy and watch their films, they first need to make people aware that their films even exist. That's where the Vidget comes in.

So what is the Vidget? Well, its basically a miniature webpage for your film that can be put on other websites. It plays a trailer or film clip, shows the plot summary and has robust commenting feature.

There are two aspects that make the Vidget extremely useful for filmmakers.

First, viral distribution. What's this mean? Well, anyone can take a Vidget. This means that if a cinemaphile, like Britney Spears, sees your film Vidget on Caachi or any other website, she can grab that Vidget and post it on her blog. Then when Perez Hilton sees the Vidget on Britney's blog, he can take the Vidget and post it on his website. This can go on and on, providing you with spontaneous promotion. The actual act of grabbing the Vidget and putting it on a website is easy with the Get & Share tab on each Vidget. Also, anyone can let other people know about either the film or Vidget by using the email feature, which is also in the Get & Share tab.

Second, a global conversation. Lets go back to Britney and Perez. You want to start discussing your film so you put some interesting comments into the Vidget's comment box. Each time you comment, Britney and Perez (and anyone who see those Vidgets on their websites) will be able to read your comments. And, if they think your words are gold (of course they do), then they can comment back and start discussing how awesome your film is and how Scorsese doesn't even come close to you. Basically, the Vidgets act as online Walkie-Talkies, but everyone can read and write into the Vidget, wherever they may be posted online.

With the Vidget, filmmakers can build audiences, continually spread word about their films, make announcements, and engage with their growing fan base to get people to buy and watch their films.

That's our vision for the Vidget and we think this first version is a major breakthrough. Play with the Vidget. Get to know it. Every film page on Caachi has a Vidget. We'll be releasing additional versions so send us your thoughts if you want some new features added to it.

Like films? How about when they are free?

Join us if you're in San Francisco this Friday for a preparty-like event ahead of Sunday's DIY DAYS conference. We'll be hitting Mint Plaza / Mezzanine this Friday for a free showing of 3 of the most popular From Here To Awesome films. I think MySpace users will be voting for the films. Register for the free event. If you drop by, say hello to Charles or myself.

Tim Wu from Slate has a good piece differentiating piracy of Hollywood blockbusters and Sundance indie films. His conclusion supports Caachi's position that piracy for indie filmmakers isn't really a concern and may at times be a welcome piece of marketing for some filmmakers. Tim says:

"Film piracy, the conventional wisdom goes, is a threat to the film industry at all levels. That's certainly the sense at the Sundance Film Festival, where both the festival and distributors invest heavily in anti-piracy measures, including undercover agents who attend screenings to capture illicit videotapers. But it turns out that they may be wasting their money. Sundance films, present and past, simply do not register in the online pirate world—unless they are one of the few that have already made it big (like Clerks or Little Miss Sunshine). This proves two things: When it comes to content piracy, obscurity, not security, is the best defense. It also demonstrates that movie pirates are fundamentally parasitic, not predatory."

Why this result? The simplest explanation is that it takes a critical mass of interest—lots of people who want to see a film—before it will get decent pirate distribution. There are a number of reasons for this, but, crucially, every step of the piracy distribution system relies on knowing that the film exists at all. Moreover, to get effective, fast distribution on a peer-to-peer network, you need lots of reliable peers—enough people willing to share the burden of distributing the film online.

In the end, it's a numbers game. How many people want to see the film? Of those, which will get access, break the protection, and put it online? How many will download it, and of those, how many will share the burden of allowing others to download it? These numbers determine whether a film is online at all and mark the difference between a BitTorrent download that takes one hour, and one that takes five days or doesn't work at all.

What this suggests is that film pirates are not predators but parasites. They do not roam around looking for new and unknown films to eat, but rather prey on big films with name recognition."

[Originally saw this on Scott Kirsner's CinemaTech blog].

Back in March we were at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (can the title be any longer?) and had a great time meeting Asian and Asian American filmmakers from around the world. We saw some great films including Benson Lee's "Planet B-Boy". This festival is where Charles and I first ran into each other so in some ways its tangentially responsible for what Caachi is today and will become in the future. Props to the folks at CAAM for running a great festival as always.

So for the better part of the new year, we (specifically Charles) have been working on rolling out our own affiliate program.

Don't know what an affiliate program is? Well, it works like this: You have a website or blog and want to put a Caachi film advertisement on your site to earn cash. You copy some html code that we provide and paste it onto your webiste. Users who click on the ad then are sent to Caachi and can purchase a download. Each time a user clicks through and purchases a download, you get 20% of the sales revenue (i.e., 20% of the download fee).

We're offering the ads in thumbnail, film trailer or text versions. Its free to join. We pay our affiliates each month, just like filmmakers. To learn more, check out our affiliate program.

If you're a believer that independent film needs more exposure and deserves to be seen, tell your friends who have a website or blog about our affiliate program (come on, who doesn't have a blog these days?).

Filmmakers, we'd love to hear your thoughts on the affiliate program and what changes you'd like to see in it.