“Indie movie ‘Strictly Sexual’ heats up Hulu.com”

Jeff Messerman sent me an email with this CNN story back in February:

Viewers might have a different idea of what they are going to see when they start watching the movie “Strictly Sexual” on Hulu.com, but that hasn’t stopped them from making it one of the most popular on the site.

The 2008 film, which despite its suggestive title is more of a love story than an explicit one, has now been watched by millions, much to the delight of its writer — who previously was clueless about Hulu.

“I didn’t even know at first that it was on Hulu or even what Hulu was,” said Stevie Long, who also co-stars in the film. “I now spend about half an hour a day responding to fan e-mails.”

He knows now — and “Strictly Sexual” has become his calling card.

The film, which centers around two successful women whose disappointment with love and relationships inspires them to keep a pair of unemployed men as their “boy toys,” leads the list of Hulu’s “Most Popular Movies” section. (Despite the title, it’s not porn. In fact, there’s no nudity in the film, prompting chuckles from Long, who’s frequently asked that question.)

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Long said his little movie, whose initial budget hovered around $100,000, has now made 10 times that amount, thanks to a deal that splits the ad revenue between Hulu and the content provider.

On the heels of Paramount’s announcement yesterday re its new microbudget division Insurge Pictures, it’s interesting to consider how the movie business is evolving. As Garrett suggested yesterday in comments:

It would wonderful if in the future we have a terraced Hollywood — several levels of budgeting, several levels of story. And it will force some to economize their stories, take out the crap that inflates budgets.

Hwood studios have always had a range of budgets per movies on their slates. What’s interesting now is how wide it is — potentially microbudgets on one extreme and ginormous Avatar budgets on the other end.