The world’s biggest cinema-on-demand chain wants supporters to crowdfund it

CLIENT: DEMAND.FILM
OUTLET: STARTUPDAILY

Perth-based Demand.film is hoping its 110,000-strong customer base will put their money where their eyeballs are, launching a seven-figure equity raise via crowdfunding.

The on-demand cinema startup, which has a catalogue of hundreds of films, predominantly documentaries alongside Australian classics such as Mad Max and Crocodile Dundee, offers crowdsourced, single event-screenings in seven countries, including the US, Canada and UK, using mainstream cinema chains as venues. Around 40,000 customers are based in Australia, delivering around a quarter of the company’s revenue. It’s been described as Airbnb for movies. 

Co-founder and Managing Director David Doepel (pictured), a former producer and documentary filmmaker, launched the business in 2013 as a film distribution company before rebranding as Demand.film in 2016. He wants to double the number of countries the business operates in by the end of 2020. 

“Our loyal customers not only love unique cinema experiences, they understand these movies are being seen in cinemas thanks to the crowdsourcing business model,” he said.



A new Australian seafood ordering app has launched

CLIENT: SHORETRADE
OUTLET: FOODSERVICE AUSTRALIA

[IN COLLABORATION WITH OUR SISTER AGENCY NEON BLACK]Shoretrade, a new online ordering platform for Australian seafood, has launched with more than 3,000 seafood industry suppliers and buyers banding together to disrupt how seafood is bo…

[IN COLLABORATION WITH OUR SISTER AGENCY NEON BLACK]

Shoretrade, a new online ordering platform for Australian seafood, has launched with more than 3,000 seafood industry suppliers and buyers banding together to disrupt how seafood is bought and sold in Australia.

The aim is to cut out the fishmonger middle man, increase produce transparency, and deliver seafood direct from the boats to buyer.

The app, which took two years to design, is striving for fresher seafood for the chef and the Australian buying public, with more money going back to smaller fishers and aquaculture farmers.

Demand Film looks to tap equity crowdfunding for expansion

CLIENT: DEMAND.FILM
OUTLET: INSIDE FILM

Cinema on-demand operator Demand Film aims to raise a seven-figure sum via an equity crowdfunding platform to accelerate its global roll-out and ramp up the volume of releases.Co-founder and MD David Doepel is confident its 110,000 customers, of who…

Cinema on-demand operator Demand Film aims to raise a seven-figure sum via an equity crowdfunding platform to accelerate its global roll-out and ramp up the volume of releases.

Co-founder and MD David Doepel is confident its 110,000 customers, of whom 40,000 are in Australia, will respond to the opportunity to buy shares in the company which launched in 2014.

Today it invited expressions of interest via Birchal.com but the precise sum it is seeking won’t be revealed until the formal launch of the equity crowdfunding campaign in about three weeks.

Doepel tells IF the goal is to raise somewhere between $1 million and $2 million by June 30, which would dilute the stakes held by himself and co-founders Andrew Hazelton and Barbara Connell.

Mum's warning over popular baby teething gel

CLIENT: DR ZAC
OUTLET: 9HONEY

A New Zealand mum has issued a warning to other parents after saying her baby almost died after she used too much of a popular baby teething gel on her.Jessica Vermunt wrote a post on Facebook in which she says her daughter, aged seven months, was b…

A New Zealand mum has issued a warning to other parents after saying her baby almost died after she used too much of a popular baby teething gel on her.

Jessica Vermunt wrote a post on Facebook in which she says her daughter, aged seven months, was being treated in hospital after suffering a severe reaction to the product, saying the baby was "literally minutes from dying".

Dr. Zac Turner says any medication always comes with risks.

"With any medication there's always a chance you can be plain allergic to it," he says, but added that this doesn't sound like the case for this particular family.

He blames this poor outcome on a condition known as Mehtonhima Golonuria, when red blood cells burst and a patient is left with too little to carry enough oxygen around the body.

How NZ used guitars, not guns to bring end to ten years of war in Bougainville

CLIENT: DEMAND.FILM
OUTLET: THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

Guitars, not guns finally brokered peace in conflict ridden Bougainville, as New Zealand delivered the solution to help free the Pacific from the grip of its worst civil war.Their approach was mocked at first but it worked and became one of the most…

Guitars, not guns finally brokered peace in conflict ridden Bougainville, as New Zealand delivered the solution to help free the Pacific from the grip of its worst civil war.

Their approach was mocked at first but it worked and became one of the most successful peacekeeping missions ever.

The ten-year war led to 20,000 deaths and 14 failed peace attempts. During this shootings, rapes, murders and riots became the new-normal as locals clashed with outsiders.

New film Soldiers Without Guns tells how the NZ mission spelled the end of the war.

'Soldiers without guns': How unarmed Anzacs brought peace to war-ravaged Bougainville

CLIENT: DEMAND.FILM
OUTLET: SBS NEWS ONLINE

An Anzac peacekeeping mission to Bougainville in the wake of the tiny Pacific Island’s savage civil war is finally getting recognition for its efforts to bring order - with guitars instead of rifles.Bougainville was devastated by the decade-long con…

An Anzac peacekeeping mission to Bougainville in the wake of the tiny Pacific Island’s savage civil war is finally getting recognition for its efforts to bring order - with guitars instead of rifles.

Bougainville was devastated by the decade-long conflict during the 1990s, which claimed at least 20,000 lives - or almost one-sixth of the population - and required the intervention of a multi-nation peacekeeping force.

Australian and Kiwi troops have proudly served as peacekeepers, in conjunction with the United Nations, around the world. But this tour of duty was slight different: the troops were unarmed, on the advice of New Zealand Army Brigadier Roger Mortlock.

'Soldiers without guns': A peaceful approach to Bougainville

CLIENT: DEMAND.FILM
OUTLET: ABC RADIO NATIONAL BREAKFAST W/ FRAN KELLY

Many Australians will recall the Bougainville conflict in Papua New Guinea, which claimed the lives of as many as 20,000 people.A fragile peace was finally brokered in 1998, in part thanks to the efforts of an unarmed Truce Monitoring Group, led by …

Many Australians will recall the Bougainville conflict in Papua New Guinea, which claimed the lives of as many as 20,000 people.

A fragile peace was finally brokered in 1998, in part thanks to the efforts of an unarmed Truce Monitoring Group, led by New Zealand and guided by Maori values.

A new documentary seeks to tell the story of this unique mission — it's called "Soldiers Without Guns".