This post was written by Eric Villa.
Hi, I’m Eric Villa. A few friends and I hacked together a streaming service that features student films from universities across the country. It's called Stuudeo. Check us out here.
It’s taken us years to get to this point, and I wanna share some of that story with you, but before I talk about me, I wanna feature some of the filmmakers who’ve supported getting Stuudeo to where it is now.
Rayhanis an NYU student who makes movies about her experiences as a Muslim woman.
Denizis a director at Emerson College who produced a series of zero-budget horror-fantasy short films over the course of the pandemic.
Brandonis a Chapman student with a knack for combining VFX, beautiful cinematography, and compelling stories.
There are so many more, like Lex Forge’s satires, Zach Rineer’s thrillers, Mac Rescorl’s comedies. I feel bad only featuring a few, so please go watch some movies from talented young people.
A Middle Class of Artists
I’m Eric, a 20-year-old in film school, and the only thing I’m absolutely certain about myself is that I really want to help creative people make the bag. My freshman year, I remember a professor asking me what I wanted to do with my career, and I blurted out, “I wanna make a middle class of artists.”
Growing up, my uncle was a professional musician, and my hero. I remember seeing how devastating Napster and the financial crisis both were on artists. Since I was a kid, I’ve been obsessed and fascinated with the way tech could help artists make enough money to take care of themselves, start families, and contribute to their communities, regardless of where they are.
Stuudeo is my first step in trying to be a part of that movement.
Why Film Schools?
I believe that people want to help people, especially when you come from a common background. Not many people want to watch student films, but plenty of people want to watch student films from their classmates, students, alma mater, or prospective school.
At our core, Stuudeo allows the art being made through different communities to be easily discoverable.
We built a streaming service for film schools, where you can watch movies sorted by institution. This is because NYU alumni in the industry are going to want to get Rayhan’s input on their next project, Emerson students are going to be incredibly proud of the work Deniz has been making, and prospective Champan students are going to see Brandon as a role model.
Pass It Forward
If you’re in film school, feel free to put your work up. If you register with your school email at stuudeo.com/register, we’ll automatically make a page for your institution.
If you’re looking for talent and you’ve got some success under your belt, check out some of these movies.
I’m incredibly proud to be in a generation of filmmakers as incredible as the people I’ve met through Stuudeo.
