Local comedian Tony ‘Paleface’ Hendriks has signed a digital distribution deal with Random Media’s Realvibez brand to make his comedy ‘Laugh Jamaica’ available for rent via YouTube, which has a new rentals programme.

It means that Hendriks can begin earning revenue from his own channel on the popular video-sharing website which earlier this year began offering movies for rent online.

The deal will see Hendriks earn a share of US$3.99 ($343) per rental for 30 days. Hendriks will share the revenue with Random Media, a Jamaican owned company involved in promoting Jamaican and Caribbean creative works overseas.

Random Media CEO David Mullings said the exact dollar value of the deal is hard to calculate given that it is a revenue share deal with Hendriks and YouTube. He said however that the company is aiming to rent 12,000 films within the first year for a share of the initial US$48,000 ($4 million). In addition, the comedian can earn from the video views on his YouTube channel.

“Tony’s YouTube channel currently has just over 1.8 million video views to date and we expect to triple that by the end of 2011, which has an estimated potential revenue of between US$10,000 and $25,000 depending on the rates YouTube can secure for the advertising on the channel,” Mullings told the Business Observer.

The video stars Hendriks along with other Jamaican comedians Owen “Blacka” Ellis, Joan Andrea Hutchinson and Winston Bell. Laugh Jamaica is one of the first Caribbean films available for rent on YouTube and Hendriks is proud to be a trendsetter.

“The world is now digital and I realised that I should not only be depending on selling a physical DVD or television distribution,” said Hendriks. “Partnering with Realvibez to earn revenue from past projects and working with them on future projects was an easy decision.”

Mullings said Michael Manley’s last interview before his death — “Personally speaking with the Most

Honourable Michael Manley” — is one of several other titles set for distribution on YouTube through the rentals programme.

“We cannot disclose any of the other films we are negotiating for because no deals are final. It is our hope that more Jamaican films will take advantage of this distribution option,” Mulling said.

Distributors are able to set the rental price and the duration the videos can be watched, ranging from one day to an unlimited duration. The development was facilitated in March this year after YouTube added Realvibez to the beta of a new Rentals program that allows videos, mainly films, to be rented to users in the USA and United Kingdom.

“We are always grateful when YouTube shows confidence in our abilities,” Mullings said. “Thanks to the YouTube Partner status, Caribbean content can be massively distributed in a profitable manner and we are able to help content owners become instantly international.”

Kim-Marie Spence, Jamaica’s Film Commissioner said in a release following the announcement of the deal that it was “heralding a new era in which Caribbean filmmakers and producers are able to take charge of their content and bypass television and cinema distribution mechanisms.”

Random Media is currently negotiating deals with other Caribbean content owners to add to the library of films available in the YouTube Rentals program in 2011. The company also distributes digital versions of Caribbean books in Amazon’s Kindle store and Apple’s iBooks store. A deal was signed with LMH Publishing earlier this year and titles such as ‘Rose Hall’s White Witch’ are now available digitally via these channels.