That is to say the future of docs is online, to look at recent events.  First you have the excellent No End in Sight appearing in its entirety on YouTube, becoming the first wide release to do so (well, with permission).  Then you have Michael Moore’s Slacker Uprising premiering as a free download (read his comments on the U.S./Canada exclusivity of that deal) and in one movie theater.  Finally, you have Crawford which, after a festival run, skipped theatrical altogether, premiering on Hulu a few days ago.

And all of these docs are available for free-ninety-nine.

Now, is this a great business model?  Probably not.  It may evolve into one.  And I don’t know that it’s a hundred times worse than the current business model of hope for distribution from one of the few indie divisions that hasn’t shuttered over the past year.

The better question is will this be limited to political docs.  Clearly the intent here is not to make money so much as a statement.  It’s no coincidence that No End in Sight will cease its YouTube run on November 4.

On the other hand, the limited Hulu run of Crawford coincides with its unlimited availability on DVD, so if sales get a bump, who’s to say other genres won’t follow suit?