History and Operations
Greenwald first moved from producing full-length films to making online videos in fall 2006, after analyzing YouTube and judging it to be a largely untapped opportunity for disseminating political videos. In 2007, Brave New Films began to release videos in the series "The REAL Rudy," which criticized former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani before the 2008 Republican Primary, and "Fox Attacks," which criticized Fox News Channel for its unfair treatment of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and coverage of sexual controversies, among other things. When John McCain announced his intention to run for president, Brave New Films began to focus on him with its "The Real McCain" series.
In June 2008 Brave New Films was reported to have a staff of about 20 paid workers; by September its staff had grown to about 40. The company makes most of its money through donations and fundraisers. The New York Times has reported that the company had a budget of about $900,000 from donations as of June 2008. Greenwald himself does not take a salary.
Brave New Films has its own channel on YouTube with almost 20,000 subscribers, and the company's own staff heavily promote videos by recommending them to bloggers and the mainstream media. Videos are also spread through e-mail. The videos often also include petitions addressed to the media or the government, which viewers are encouraged to sign.
Though best known for its online videos, the company does operate in other mediums as well. In October 2008, for example, it ran a paper advertisement in The New York Times, calling for presidential candidate John McCain to release his health records. It has also produced several full-length films, including Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005) and Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers (2006). The company collaborated with documentary filmmaker Michael Moore to distribute his film Slacker Uprising online.
On 23 November 2009, the company celebrated its 5th Anniversary with the release of a 10-DVD box set containing basically every documentary produced by the organization.
Brave New Films has also released a pair of television series entitled ACLU Freedom Files and The Sierra Club Chronicles. Brave New Films has recently formed a partnership with The Young Turks and GritTV to provide live coverage of political events via streaming video.
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