The Web, where filmmakers are also producers

What, ultimately, will be the Web's role when it comes to the distribution of film? That was the question posed to a panel of big Web 2.0 players at a Sundance Film Festival forum Sunday afternoon. Responses varied. Some predicted Hollywood blockbusters might one day premiere online. Others see the Web primarily as place for marketing films and doubt it will ever become a viable revenue-generating distribution tool.

But on this, they all agreed: we're only in nascent stages of an unstoppable media revolution--or at least a media "evolution," as moderator Kara Swisher of The Wall Street Journal put it--fueled by better broadband access, emerging tools and gadgets, and sites that build communities and identity. When it comes to our kids, "everything they get in terms of media will be digitized," said Swisher, the mother of a 2- and 4-year-old.

Joining Swisher on the panel were Brightcove Internet TV CEO Jeremy Allaire, PopCurrent.com founder Mark Jeffrey, Battlestar Galactica Director Michael Rymer, Revver.com CEO Steve Starr, MySpace.com marketing executive Shawn Gold and YouTube Chief Marketing Officer Suzie Reider.

Panelists talked about the explosion of video online, with the launch just a year ago of video-sharing site YouTube, which created a new opportunity for content makers to distribute their work for free. Revver followed with an advertising-based model that gives content maker a share of the profits.

"There's a world online that's akin to Sundance," as far as distribution and building audiences goes, said Revver's Starr. "I can't tell you in three or four years what will be popular online, but I can tell you their entire business will be online...We're all in an experimental process. We are all trying to find the sweet spot."

But while online video sites have opened up new distribution possibilities, Allaire and others said we're still amid a "clip culture," in which users snack on short videos. They won't watch a 30- or 60-minute video online. They are, however, warming up to the idea of downloading such content to watch on TV, through the use of new set-top devices, panelists said.

Allaire, for one, doesn't see filmmakers making a living off distributing their content online. "Fundamentally, (the Web) is a marketing platform," he said.

Swisher suggested that it might just take someone like George Lucas distributing a film over the Internet--and making big money off it--in order take online distribution to the next level.