EXCLUSIVE: Lee Waterworth and Miles Romney initiated the beta launch on Tuesday (4) for their Los Angeles-based distribution, marketing and technology company, which they claim to be one of the very few digital media outfits plugged into social media that allows filmmakers to participate in profit share.

The company soft-launched in Cannes and recently tested out the documentary Thrive: What On Earth Will It Take? Top brass claim six million people have watched the film through the company’s platform over the past eight months.

Yekra boasts an embeddable player and a toolset that enables content owners to self-market their films, set the price and release windows and determine territory reach while retaining the rights. The goal is to launch the platform publicly in the first quarter of 2013.

“Yekra has been designed with flexibility in mind as we are entering an era of test and learn,” co-founder and president Waterworth said. “Our platform provides the tools required to execute a global day-and-date release to hundreds of millions of screens.”  

Thrive director Kimberly Gamble said: “Yekra finally makes it possible for filmmakers to have say in the destiny of their film – you can set the price, the terms, and work with a responsive distribution company that is actually on your team.”

Yekra plans to work with Oliver Stone’s Looking For Fidel and Rachid Bouchareb’sLondon River during the beta stage.

Waterworth oversees sales, acquisitions, marketing, alliances, strategic planning and company direction and previously worked in distribution and sales where he worked on Slumdog Millionaire and 3.10 To Yuma, among others.

Co-founder and CEO Romney oversees product design, engineering, operations, account management and support. He led the team that built the Matchbin / Radiate Media publication product line-up.