pijama: How the Larrain Brothers' Direct-to-Fan TVOD Platform Works for Undistributed Films

Every year, thousands of independent films premiere at festivals like Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Venice, and Toronto. Most of them never get a distribution deal. They screen for enthusiastic audiences, earn positive reviews, travel to a dozen more festivals, and then disappear. The filmmakers are left with a finished film, no path to audiences, and no way to recover their investment.

Pablo Larrai­n knows this problem from the inside. He is not a struggling first-time filmmaker. He is the Oscar-nominated director of No, Jackie, Spencer, El Conde, and Maria, the Angelina Jolie-starrer. His brother and producing partner, Juan de Dios Larrai­n, has produced more than 40 films and over a dozen television series through their company Fabula. And yet even they struggled to sell certain titles in the current international market.

Their response was to build pijama, a transactional video-on-demand platform that lets filmmakers upload their films directly, set their own rental prices, and keep 80% of revenue. No subscriptions, no exclusivity, no distributor gatekeeping. This article explains how pijama works, what it costs, what it pays, and whether it belongs in your distribution strategy.

Quick Answer

pijama is a TVOD platform for independent and undistributed films, launched in February 2026 by Pablo and Juan de Dios Larrai­n alongside executive creative director Cristian Jofre. Filmmakers pay a flat fee of $100 to upload, encode, store, and stream a film for two years. They set rental pricing between $3.99 and $9.99, and viewers get a 72-hour viewing window within 30 days of renting.

The revenue split is 80% to the rights holder and 20% to pijama, after transactional costs and applicable taxes. Filmmakers choose which territories their film is available in, can run digital marketing campaigns directly from the platform dashboard, and see real-time analytics on viewership and revenue by country.

The platform is available across Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Smart TVs, iOS, and Android. It does not require exclusivity, meaning filmmakers can distribute their film on other platforms simultaneously. pijama is designed for films that have exhausted or bypassed traditional distribution, including festival premieres that did not secure deals, older titles whose rights have reverted, and niche films with small but real audiences.

The Problem pijama Is Trying to Solve

The Distribution Gap

The numbers are stark. As The Hollywood Reporter reported, Pablo Larrai­n estimates that "80 percent of the films that show in the Berlinale this year won't get distribution." He points to Sundance, where a handful of high-profile bidding wars masked a bleaker reality: "We all read about a handful of bidding wars for a lucky few titles, but the vast majority will have no life after the festival."

This is not a new problem, but it has gotten worse. The collapse of physical media, the consolidation of streaming platforms, and the shift toward original content production by major SVOD services have all reduced acquisition opportunities for independent films. Films that would have found a home on DVD or through mid-tier distributors a decade ago now sit on hard drives.

The Audience That Exists but Cannot Reach the Film

Juan de Dios Larrai­n framed the problem clearly at the Karlovy Vary industry forum, as reported by Deadline: "Every movie has an audience; maybe it's 10 people, maybe it's your family, schoolmates, or some friends. Perhaps it's just 100, 1000, or 10,000 people, but if you don't have a way to connect your movie with those people, how can you monetize your work?"

This is the core insight behind pijama. The issue is not that undistributed films have no audience. The issue is that there is no infrastructure to connect those films with the audiences that exist for them. Traditional distribution is built for scale. It needs films that can reach hundreds of thousands or millions of viewers. pijama is built for the long tail, films that may find 500 or 5,000 viewers worldwide, a number that is economically meaningless to a major distributor but meaningful to the filmmaker who made the movie.

How pijama Works: The Details

Uploading and Pricing

The process is deliberately simple. A filmmaker pays a flat $100 fee, which covers encoding, storage, and streaming for two years. There are no recurring subscription fees and no per-title monthly charges. The $100 is a one-time cost for the full two-year period.

Once uploaded, the filmmaker sets rental pricing. Films two years or older default to $3.99. Newer titles can be priced anywhere between $3.99 and $9.99. When a viewer rents a film, they get a 72-hour viewing window that activates within 30 days of the rental purchase. This mirrors the standard TVOD rental model used by Apple TV and Amazon.

Revenue Split

Rights holders receive 80% of rental revenue after transactional costs and applicable taxes. pijama retains 20%, which the company says will go primarily toward operating costs for the foreseeable future. The platform was financed with the brothers' own capital, and they have stated they want to remain independent for now.

This is a significantly better split than most traditional distribution deals, where filmmakers often net 20% to 40% of revenue after the distributor, sales agent, and aggregator take their cuts. On pijama, the filmmaker is the primary beneficiary.

Territory Control

Filmmakers choose exactly which territories their film is available in. This is important for films that have sold rights in some markets but not others. You can make your film available worldwide, or restrict it to specific countries where you retain rights. This flexibility lets filmmakers use pijama alongside traditional distribution deals in other territories.

Marketing Tools

According to Variety, pijama includes built-in marketing tools. Filmmakers can build digital marketing campaigns directly from the platform dashboard, including social assets, placements, budget, and timelines. This is not just a hosting platform. It is designed to give filmmakers the tools to actively promote their films to the audiences that exist for them.

Real-Time Analytics

Transparency is a core part of the pitch. As Screen Daily reported, Cristian Jofre said: "We want to be very transparent about all the metrics, how many people watch their film, how much money they are making. They can go to pijama and see all of it on a daily basis. Where are the countries that the users are coming from, but also give access for them to control their narrative and control their promotion."

This level of transparency is rare in film distribution. Traditional distributors often provide quarterly or semi-annual reports with limited detail. pijama gives filmmakers daily visibility into viewership, revenue, and geographic performance.

Platform Availability

pijama is available across the major connected TV and mobile ecosystems: Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Smart TVs, iOS, and Android. This means films uploaded to pijama are accessible to viewers regardless of their preferred device, which is critical for reaching a global audience.

pijama vs Traditional Distribution vs Other Self-Distribution Options

The table makes the trade-offs clear. pijama offers more control, better revenue share, and faster time to market than traditional distribution. It offers built-in marketing tools and transparent analytics that aggregators do not provide. The trade-off is that pijama is a single platform, while an aggregator like Filmhub can place your film across 100+ platforms. The best approach for many filmmakers will be to use both: pijama for direct-to-fan rentals with full control, and an aggregator for broad AVOD and FAST distribution.

For a deeper comparison of self-distribution paths, read our guide to traditional vs self-distribution.

What Kind of Films Belong on pijama?

Festival Films Without Distribution Deals

This is the primary use case. If your film premiered at a festival, got strong reviews, played to full houses, and still did not secure a distribution deal, pijama gives you a way to reach the audience that exists for it. You are not waiting for a buyer who may never come.

Older Titles with Reverted Rights

Many filmmakers and production companies control older titles whose distribution deals have expired. Pablo Larrai­n's own early films, including Tony Manero, No, and Neruda, are on pijama because their rights reverted to Fabula after earlier distribution runs. If you control rights to films that are no longer available anywhere, pijama is a way to bring them back to audiences.

Niche and Arthouse Films

Films with small, dedicated audiences, whether regional documentaries, experimental works, or films in underserved languages, may never attract a traditional distributor. But they may have 500 or 5,000 viewers worldwide who would pay $3.99 to rent them. pijama is built for exactly this long tail.

Films Testing Direct-to-Fan Models

If you are already building an audience through social media, email lists, or community screenings, pijama gives you a transactional platform to monetize that audience directly. You set the price, you control the territory, and you keep 80% of the revenue. This connects to broader direct-to-audience distribution strategies.

The Economics: A Realistic Look

Let's walk through the math. Say you upload your festival film to pijama for $100. You set the rental price at $5.99. After transactional costs and taxes, the net rental price might be around $5.50. You receive 80% of that, or approximately $4.40 per rental.

To recover your $100 upload fee, you need roughly 23 rentals. Everything after that is profit. If your film rents 500 times over two years, you earn approximately $2,100. If it rents 2,000 times, you earn approximately $8,700. These are not life-changing numbers, but they are real revenue from a film that might otherwise earn nothing.

The comparison to traditional distribution is important. A typical indie distribution deal might offer a minimum guarantee of $10,000, but after marketing costs, residuals, and the distributor's cut, the filmmaker may never see additional revenue. On pijama, there is no advance, but every rental generates direct income with no intermediaries taking a large share.

For filmmakers comparing direct-to-fan sales platforms, our guide to direct-to-fan sales platforms compared breaks down the alternatives.

Limitations and Considerations

You Are Responsible for Marketing

pijama provides marketing tools, but it does not market your film for you. If you upload your film and do nothing to promote it, it will likely sit unseen. You need an audience strategy: email lists, social media, press outreach, festival alumni networks, and community engagement. For help with this, see our guide to the best film marketing tools.

TVOD Requires Audience Intent

Unlike AVOD, where viewers browse and stumble onto content, TVOD requires viewers to actively decide to rent your film. This means you need to drive intent. A viewer needs to hear about your film, be interested enough to seek it out, and be willing to pay $3.99 to $9.99 to watch it. This is a higher bar than free ad-supported viewing.

pijama Is a Single Platform

While pijama is available across major devices, it is still one destination. A viewer has to know about pijama, download the app or visit the site, and find your film. This is different from being on Apple TV or Amazon, where millions of users are already browsing. Consider using pijama alongside broader distribution through aggregators.

The $100 Fee Is Low but Not Free

Compared to traditional distribution costs, $100 for two years is minimal. But it is an upfront cost with no guarantee of return. If your film does not rent enough to cover the fee, you are out $100. For filmmakers with no marketing plan, this is a risk.

No Curation Gatekeeping

Pablo Larrai­n has said pijama will not impose aesthetic gatekeeping beyond basic content moderation. This is a democratic approach, but it means the platform will host a wide range of quality. Your film will compete for attention alongside everything else uploaded. Strong metadata, compelling artwork, and active promotion matter.

What Filmmakers Should Do Next

1. Assess your rights. Confirm you control the rights to your film in the territories where you want to make it available. If you have existing distribution deals, check whether they conflict with pijama's non-exclusive model.
2. Prepare your deliverables. pijama handles encoding, but you need a quality master file, accurate metadata, compelling key art, and a trailer. Treat your pijama listing like a product page.
3. Set a pricing strategy. For newer films with festival buzz, $5.99 to $7.99 is reasonable. For older titles, $3.99 aligns with the platform default. Test different price points using the real-time analytics.
4. Build a marketing plan before you upload. Do not upload and hope. Identify your audience, prepare social assets, line up press coverage, and plan email outreach. pijama's built-in marketing tools can help execute, but the strategy is yours.
5. Use pijama alongside other distribution. The non-exclusive model means you can also distribute through aggregators on AVOD, run direct sales from your own website, or pursue SVOD licensing in specific territories. For more on this, read our guide to selling your film directly from your website.
6. Track everything from one place. When your film is available on pijama and other platforms, you need a way to send audiences to the right destination and measure what drives rentals. A single smart link that routes viewers based on device and location is the most efficient way to do this.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to put a film on pijama?

Filmmakers pay a flat $100 fee to upload, encode, store, and stream a film for two years. There are no additional or recurring fees during that period.

What revenue split does pijama offer?

Rights holders receive 80% of rental revenue after transactional costs and applicable taxes. pijama retains 20%, which primarily covers operating costs.

Does pijama require exclusivity?

No. pijama does not require exclusivity. Filmmakers can distribute their films on other platforms simultaneously while their film is on pijama.

What devices is pijama available on?

pijama is available across Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Smart TVs, iOS, and Android.

How is rental pricing determined?

Films two years or older rent for $3.99. Newer titles can be priced anywhere between $3.99 and $9.99, at the filmmaker's discretion. Viewers get a 72-hour viewing window within 30 days of renting.

Can I choose which countries my film is available in?

Yes. Filmmakers select the territories where their film is available. This lets you use pijama alongside traditional distribution deals in other markets.

Who founded pijama?

pijama was founded by Pablo Larrai­n and Juan de Dios Larrai­n, the brothers behind the production company Fabula, alongside executive creative director Cristian Jofre.

Is pijama curated?

No. pijama does not impose aesthetic gatekeeping beyond basic content moderation to prevent illegal or pornographic material. The platform features rankings and curated sections highlighting festival films, but any qualifying film can be uploaded.

How quickly can my film go live on pijama?

The platform is designed for fast turnaround. Once your film is uploaded and encoded, it can go live quickly, without the months-long onboarding typical of traditional distribution.

Should I use pijama instead of an aggregator like Filmhub?

They serve different purposes. pijama gives you direct-to-fan TVOD with full control and 80% revenue. An aggregator like Filmhub places your film across 100+ platforms, mostly AVOD and FAST. Many filmmakers will benefit from using both. For more on distribution models, see our guide to AVOD vs TVOD vs SVOD vs FAST.

Conclusion

pijama is not trying to reinvent film distribution. It is trying to fix a specific broken part of it: the gap between films that exist and audiences who want to see them. The 80% revenue split, flat $100 fee, non-exclusive model, and built-in marketing tools make it one of the most filmmaker-friendly platforms available. The transparency around analytics and revenue is something the entire industry should pay attention to.

The platform is not a silver bullet. You still need to market your film. You still need an audience. TVOD requires intent, and intent does not materialize on its own. But for filmmakers who have finished films sitting unseen, or who control rights to titles that have disappeared from circulation, pijama offers a concrete, affordable, and fair path to audiences.

The broader lesson is that distribution is no longer a single decision. It is a portfolio. pijama can be your direct-to-fan TVOD layer. An aggregator can handle your AVOD and FAST reach. Your own website can handle direct sales. The filmmakers who succeed in this environment are the ones who assemble a distribution stack rather than waiting for a single deal to solve everything.

As you build that stack across pijama and other platforms, tools like Filmcane can help you create a single smart link that routes every viewer to the right platform, track which marketing efforts drive rentals, and measure performance across every destination from one dashboard.

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