• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 21, 2023

Even as the TV industry braces for the consequences of Hollywood's talent strikes, one of the industry's A-list directors -- Steven Soderbergh -- has launched an alternative direct-to-consumer distribution model: an extremely direct-to-consumer one.

Instead of distributing the new series, "Command Z" via linear TV or conventional streaming platforms, or even direct via YouTube, Soderbergh is marketing it exclusively via the subscription show's own website, www.commandzseries.com.

For a one-time fee of $7.99, consumers get access to all of the series episodes.

The site also includes a store for fans to be "Command Z" series-related apparel and merchandise.

All the proceeds go to charities.

"When the internet started, there was all this talk of exactly this kind of thing happening. That's what it enabled," Kurt Andersen, author of the book "Evil Geniuses," which inspired the series, noted during a plug on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" this morning, adding, "But then these big giants got in the business and suddenly overspent and that was the place to go. And they dominated it. And now they're having their correction moment.

"I love that we're this independent production being absolutely independent about how it gets out there as well."

The series, which star actors Michael Cera and comedian Roy Wood Jr. is a time travel comedy that addresses a very serious, topical issue: the climate crisis.