BY BEN DOBYNS
Who needs another streaming service?
Netflix. Amazon. Hulu. CBS. Dozens of imitators. Everyone wants a piece of your paycheck to fund their platform.
Yeah, we also want your support. But we want to do something entirely different, daring, and revolutionary with your help, in whatever form it takes.
We want to make incredible stories WITH you.
Premium, add-free streaming video? Sure, it’s part of the picture.
Turning your subscriptions into more episodes of the shows you love? Yeah, we’re doing that too.
But what sets ZOE apart is that we can see the bigger picture. This isn’t only about your dollars. And it’s not about the technology. It’s about a worldwide COMMUNITY. Passionate creators, fans, and collaborators.
And that community is what sets us apart.
Our goal? Tell incredible stories. Together.
What does that mean? It means that, sure, a monthly subscription is part of the picture if you can afford it. Or why not contribute to the wiki for a shared cinematic universe? Why not create a tie-in story and submit it to become canon? Why not receive our blessing to sell, give away, remix, or do whatever you damn well want to with the content you helped make?
That’s why the heart of our new platform isn’t technology, it’s an idea.
The idea is that stories are meant to be retold. Remixed. Reimagined. Not locked away in a vault to be forgotten in twenty years. That’s why we’ve released our shows under Creative Commons SA-BY-NC licenses since 2010. And it’s why we’re moving to a new license for our newest shows: Creative Commons Sharealike-Attribution.
Basically, that means that you’re free to take our new stories wherever you can dream. Want to write and sell a novel? Or a painting? Or just to upload and share on your own platforms? As long as you release your works under the same license, the only limit is your imagination.
And the platform we’ve built is here to support that. Share, contribute, upload, and most importantly, benefit. For some of you, that may mean selling your works. For others, it will be the intangible pleasure of contributing to a community storytelling effort. Do what inspires you!
You’re probably wondering how we plan to survive if everything we make can be freely shared, altered, sold, and distributed. Here’s a secret: we’ve been doing it for seven years already. This is merely the logical next step.
Our motto is FAN SUPPORTED & CREATOR DISTRIBUTED. As long as you support our works, we can continue the story. The power is in our hands, not some faceless studio executive.
That’s why we want your support. The more subscribers we bring on board, the more we can
- Create awesome new stories
- Support your awesome new stories
- Maintain our independence
And in return for your monthly subscription (be it $1 or $100), we are pleased to offer you the following benefits:
- Exclusive: post and comment in our forums
- Exclusive: stream our catalog of feature films and series in pristine HD
- Exclusive: the ongoing adventures of The Gamers: Nodwick’s Story, a comic by Aaron Williams
- Exclusive: post and edit content in our Shared Cinematic Universe wiki
- Exclusive: watch new episodes before anyone else
- Exclusive: unique buffs and trolls for our weekly gaming livestream, Masters of the Metaverse
- Exclusive: deep annual discounts on merch in BackerKit
- Exclusive: membership in a worldwide community of incredible fans, creators, and storytellers
- Exclusive: work directly with us to develop your stories
So yeah, we’re offering a subscription service with streaming video. But underneath that is the idea that together we can tell amazing, unique stories. Your support makes it possible, but only if enough of you believe in what’s possible and join us.