Distribution .

Distribution

http://www.fsproducingclass.com/fpm3

Distribution

(aka)

The Plan for Distribution

How To Tell The Future!

The 1st Question that is always asked…

WHAT IS YOUR

PLAN?

Distribution

Time and again we see filmmakers willingly, enthusiastically going into debt, either raising money from investors or credit cards or second mortgages (!!!) in order to bring their stories to life.

But being a responsible filmmaker means before you started production, you clearly and realistically understood the market for your film.

You expect your film to get; TV sales, international sales, a decent Netflix fee, a theatrical release, a cable VOD/digital release and more, but do you understand the decision making process involved in the buying of films for release???

Distribution

The Buying Process

With the amount of information on sites like The Film Collaborative, MovieMaker, Filmmaker Magazine, IndieWire and hundreds of blogs online, there is no longer an excuse for not knowing the answers to most of these questions well before a production starts.

The Research

The Buying Process

This research is now your responsibility once you’ve taken investors’ money (even if the investor is yourself) and you want to pursue your distribution options.

The market is heavily over saturated — attending any of the major film markets will reveal this truth. (Cannes, AFM, Berlin, Toronto, etc…) There is much more content than viewers could ever possibly absorb.

The Buying ProcessThe Market

The shift in studio produced content today (versus years past) — “tent-pole” studio pictures offer major studios ancillary revenue streams for years to come. Merchandising, cross promoting, theme park and additional ties in’s along with the notion that international audiences love big scale Hollywood films.

New digital opportunities are springing up left & right (which isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing) but adds to the growing noise in the market, making it difficult to cut through it all with original product.



The current system is broken — but there are few (if any at all) ways to avoid dealing within this infrastructure.

Before embarking on your project you should spend some time…researching and analyzing what makes your project is unique, who in the market wants to view it and how you’ll get your content in front of that audience with limited overhead with the potential of scaling to a larger audience sector.

Always find out about middlemen before closing a deal, even for sales from a sales agent’s or distributor’s website, there may be middlemen involved that take a hefty chunk that reduces yours.

Getting a Middleman

The Buying Process

The Buying Process

Do you even understand how many middlemen Do you even understand how many middlemen may stand in the money chain before you get may stand in the money chain before you get

your share of the money to pay back financing?your share of the money to pay back financing?

Distribution

The holy grail of selling your film is finding the right distributor — the trouble is that this “term” has become more thrown around in indie filmmaking than perhaps any other.

The Distributor

A distributor in truest sense requires an infrastructure to purchase outright (meaning they must pay you, the producer an Minimum Guarantee or “MG”) promote, account, print, ship, exhibit, recoup and scale their strategy.

Distribution

When prepping a project, When prepping a project, take take the time to get in contact with the time to get in contact with domestic domestic (US/North American) (US/North American) distributors whom you can distributors whom you can research easily and find contact research easily and find contact information for their head’s of information for their head’s of acquisitionsacquisitions. .

US/North American contacts US/North American contacts are valuable to have as a are valuable to have as a filmmaker since you’ll need to filmmaker since you’ll need to nurture these relationships in to nurture these relationships in to the future on addition projects. the future on addition projects.

The Distributor

Distribution

Most entities and individuals who claim to be “distributors” are truly just sales representatives standardly referred to as “Sales Agents” or a “Sales Agency”.

The Sales Agent

Similar to the practice of real estate – these entities are brokers who have relationships within the market that allow them to sell internationally.

They have buyers in 100+ international territories offering them he ability to sell your title many times over during the licensing agreement you structure with them.

Distribution

Sales Agents are a crucial, as they have the necessary relationships with buyers enabling you to execute sales abroad over the course of your agreement.

The Sales Agent

Be cautious and do your Be cautious and do your research in this space as the research in this space as the sales agency business is sales agency business is often full of smoke & mirror often full of smoke & mirror type arrangements that end type arrangements that end up hurting the filmmaker and up hurting the filmmaker and the investors.the investors.

Sales Agents take typically 15% to 25% of each executed sale (and also invest their own capital to market your film and attend the major film

markets).

Distribution

Another term that is too often strewn throughout networking conversations & online promises is, an acquisition team should be able & willing to put cash up front for a project they believe in.

Acquisitions and Licensing

Understand that big minimum guarantee in the six figures exist only for projects whose merits are exceptional, which has become more and more challenging to achieve.

Smaller $1M films typically take five figure minimum guarantee’s up front & then share in the net revenues generated from the upcoming international sales.

Distribution

Both domestic and international representatives have the ability to front these figures if the film is strong enough, so be willing to negotiate but also willing to recognize the reality that many representatives operate on very limited spending budgets since the market for buying & selling content has changed so radically. The standard agreement you’ll seek to negotiate will be directly with the Head of Acquisitions at a domestic distributor (physically purchasing and traditionally distributing your title) and with an international sales agency (who will represent your title abroad) on a licensing term, meaning you remain in control of the intellectual property and your new partners (distributor & agency) profit from the sales executed under their infrastructure. These terms are typically three years and enable long-tail economic revenue when properly implemented.

Acquisitions and Licensing

Advice & Tips

Advice & Tips

Early discussions. Start researching, contacting and speaking with these important parties well before you head in to production.

Great Advice & Tips

Great relationships here will result in casting advice, genre honing and additional opportunities for investment should the agency/distributor feel that the project warrants pre-sales or a pick-up commitment deal.

Relationships. The distribution game is heavily relationship driven and requires time and introductions.

Find members of your current circles who have successfully gotten content in to the markets & pick their brains and contact database for opportunities.

Distributors are guarded and need to be assured that the content they are buying will be delivered on time, as promised and with the necessary elements to pass their own quality control assurances.

Great Advice & Tips

Advice & Tips

Stay present. Stay in front of distributors as much as possible & keep in mind that they see a MASSIVE amount of content.

Build a database list of the buyers and companies you want to be in business with, then keep in contact every month leading up to your project wrapping post & preparing for delivery.

Great Advice & Tips

Advice & Tips

During this time, you’ll foster new relationships and prove to the buyers you’re serious.

Understand the system. Make a plan to attend markets, festivals and panel discussions. Press your contacts and foster new relationships. Study which agencies & buyers purchase which kind of content and curate your reach out to these entities.

Great Advice & Tips

More than anything, keep the cost of your production low enough to have a chance at recouping with a reasonable buy-out figure from a sales team.

There is a new rule of thumb in the business that essentially states MG’s will be the only revenue you’ll ever see from a sale (such that additional long term revenues are disappearing).

Advice & Tips

Distribution Channels

MAJOR STUDIOINDIE STUDIOSUB DISTRIBUTORSUB OUTLET / SUB-SUB DISTRIBUTORSELF

Distribution Channels

Distribution ChannelsMAJOR STUDIO DISTRIBUTION

Warner Bros, Fox, Paramount, etc(Theatrical and below)

PRODUCER'S REP vs SALES AGENTSA Producer's Rep combines the promotional skills of a publicist, the deal-making ability of a lawyer, and the marketing skills of a salesperson.A Sales Agent is similar to a Producer's Rep, but mostly handles licensing your film internationally.

Direct Contact (IMDBpro)Film Festivals

Distribution ChannelsINDIE STUDIO DISTRIBUTION

Lionsgate, Magnolia / Magnet, IFC, etc(Full / Limited Theatrical and below)

Direct Contact (IMDBpro)Film Festivals

Distribution ChannelsSUB-DISTRIBUTION

Warner Premiere, Barnholtz, etc(Home Video/VOD and below)

Direct Submission (Official Websites & IMDBpro)

Distribution ChannelsSUB-OUTLET & SUB-SUB-DISTRIBUTION

IndieFlix, Passion River, etc(Online Sales, VOD & Streaming, Disc Rentals, Digital Partners)

Direct Submission (Official Websites)

Distribution ChannelsSELF DISTRIBUTION

Always a potential last resort

Online Sales (Amazon Advantage / PayPal), Personal Site, Festivals, Conventions, YouTube

Discmakers, CreateSpace, Horizon

Where does your Film fit in the marketplace?

Sales Markets

Top festivals like Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Toronto give a film the start of a pedigree, but if your film doesn’t have that, significant distribution offers from outside companies will be limited.

Don’t compare the prospects for your film to previous films on its content or tone alone. If your film doesn’t have prestige, or names, or similar publicity coverage or a verifiable fan-base, it won’t have the same footprint in the market.

Your distribution strategy may be informed by the size of your email database, the size of the social media following of the film and its cast/crew, web traffic numbers and visitor locations from your website analytics, and the active word of mouth & publicity mentions happening around it. These are the elements that should help gauge your expectations about your film’s impact as well as its profitability.

Guess what the impact is if you don’t have these things or they are small? Yeah…none.

Sales Markets

Sales Markets

American Film Markethttp://www.americanfilmmarket.com

Cannes Film Festivalhttp://www.festival-cannes.fr

Toronto International Film Festivalhttp://www.tiff.net

European Film Market (at the Berlin Int. Film Festival)

http://www.efm-berlinale.de/en/HomePage.php

Other major Film Festivals (L.A. based especially)

Festival Distribution

Film Festivals

By premiering at a world class festival (Sundance, Berlin, SXSW etc or at a prestige niche festival) or having notable name cast. Those are things that other festivals prize and are willing to pay for.

You should try to carve out your own festival distribution efforts if a sales or distribution agreement is presented. That way you will see these festival screening fees and immediately start receiving revenue.

Festivals will pay screening fees to include your film in their program? It’s true! But there is a caveat. Your film must have some sort of value to festival programmers. How does a film have value?

http://www.thetakes.com/festivals/#.U-TFtGPQrNL

The Distributorand the Digital Aggregator

Understanding the difference between a Digital Aggregator and a Distributor?

Distribution

Distributors take exclusive ownership of your film for an agreed upon time. Aggregators have direct relationships with digital platforms and often do not take an ownership stake.

Sometimes distributors also have direct relationships with digital platforms, and so they themselves can also serve as an aggregator of sorts.

However, sometimes it is necessary for a distributor to work with outside aggregators to access digital platforms.

THEATRICALCABLE TELEVISION

On Demand

DVD / BLU RAYDISC RENTALS

NetflixBlockbuster OnlineRedBox

DistributionDomestic Outlets

DIGITAL VIDEO ON DEMANDAmazon & DVD VOD (CreateSpace)

NEW MEDIA SITESItunes (http://www.apple.com/itunes/sellcontent)

Hulu (www.hulu.com/partners)

Crackle (does not accept unsolicited material)

YouTubeDistribber (http://www.distribber.com/faqs)

Kinonation (http://kinonation.com/)

ONLINE SELL THRUAmazon Advantage https://www.amazon.com/gp/seller-account/mm-product-page.html?topic=200329780&ld=AZAdvanMakeM

Domestic Outlets

Distribution

CONSOLESX-Box Live/Playstation

Network

ONLINE CHANNELS

PERSONAL WEBSITES

Domestic Outlets

Distribution

Revenue payout of a few of the most popular retail platforms

iTunes splits sales 70/30. With 70% going to the filmmaker and 30% going to iTunes.

Hulu streams films for free but 50% of the advertising revenue goes to the filmmaker.

Amazon VOD pays the filmmaker 50% of what they collect.

Netflix purchases a license for your film for 1 or 2 years and they can play your film as many times as they like during that period of time. Licensing fees vary on a film by film basis.

When Submitting to a Distributor

Distribution

Approach “Acquisitions”Search sites for contact

Create a Screener ALWAYS TEST!!Create Box Art

Create Press Kit

Mail package with Delivery Confirmation

http://www.indiewire.com/news/acquisitions

Deliverables

DistributionDeliverables

This is an expense that many new filmmakers are unfamiliar with and without the proper delivery items, sales agents and distributors will not be able/interested in distributing your film.

You may also find that even digital platforms will demand some deliverables.

At must studios, (as well as with any sales agent/distributor), they require E&O insurance with a minimum coverage of $1,000,000 per occurrence, $3,000,000 in the aggregate, in force for a term of three years. The cost to purchase this insurance is approximately $3000-$5000.


Also, a Closed Captioning file is required for all U.S. titles on iTunes. The cost can be upwards of $900 to provide this file. Additionally, many territories (such as UK, Australia, New Zealand and others) are now requiring official ratings from that territory’s film classification board, the cost of which can add up if you plan to make your film available via iTunes globally.

For distributors, closed captioning and foreign ratings are recoupable expenses that they pay for upfront, but if you are self distributing through an aggregator service, this expense is on you upfront.


Then there are the creative deliverables such as still photography, key art digital files if they exist, electronic press kit if it exists or the video footage to be assembled into one, the trailer files if they exist.

Also, all talent contracts and releases, music licenses and cue sheets, chain of title, MPAA rating if available etc.

DELIVERABLEShttp://fsproducingclass.com/paperwork

Distribution


Distribution

Distribution is a complicated and expensive process.

Be sure you have not completely raided your production budget or allocated a separate budget (much smarter!) in order to distribute directly to your audience and for the delivery items that will be needed if you do sign an agreement with another distribution entity.

Also, seek guidance, preferably from an entity that is not going to take an ownership stake in the film for all future revenue over a long period of time.

Distribution

Distribution is a complicated and expensive process.


More than More than anything…stay positive anything…stay positive and active in the space if you and active in the space if you expect to see resultsexpect to see results..

It is a fast moving business with It is a fast moving business with many scattered partsmany scattered parts and and fragmented parties dealing on fragmented parties dealing on each projecteach project..

Find a strategy, build a team and Find a strategy, build a team and keep your costs low!keep your costs low!

Distribution .

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