5 Reasons Traditional Film Distribution Still Matters to Indie Filmmakers
When you look at most of the other bloggers and podcasters talking about indie film distribution, a lot of them are very convinced that aggregators like Distribbr are the only solution that a Filmmaker needs. As a Producer’s Rep, I disagree. A good sales agent, distributor, or producer’s rep may each take a piece of the pie, but if they do their job well they’ll also make the pie significantly bigger, increasing the payout for all involved.
Here are 5 reasons why a traditional distributor or sales agent is still a necessary partner.
1. Distribution and Marketing are their own Skillsets
Unless you happen to have a background in marketing or a huge social media following, it’s not likely you’ll even make back the money you put into the aggregation fees. It’s a surprising amount of work to get the amount of money you need to pay back fees upwards of a thousand dollars to put the film on iTunes.
Distributors also help market the film. It’s all they do, so they’re generally pretty good at it. (At least, if you get the right ones) In addition to cutting the costs of aggregation and paying them out of a recoupable expense, Sales agencies and distributors will also often put money into a publicist, social media ads, and other marketing expenditures that will help your film make more money for all involved.
2. It's generally No/Less Money Up Front
If you use an aggregator or even a company like FilmHub or IndieRights, all marketing expenditures are on you. This includes posters, trailers, publicity, social media ads, and more. If it were me, I’d much rather give up a piece of the action to have someone else cover some of these costs up-front.
3. Not Every Avenue is Truly Open Without a Local Distributor
No matter what people tell you, not every avenue is completely open to self-distribution. Theatrical is rare for most indie films, but unless you want to give up 90+% of the take, or pay a few thousand dollars per screen per week. pay a large amount of money to a platform or directly to theaters, you’re not getting into theaters. If you work with the right distributor, they MIGHT be able to book you some screens.
I’ve helped in organizing several theatrical releases of up to 50 screens per film. The way we did it avoided paying up front. Filmmakers generally don’t have the specialized knowledge or relationships to make that happen.
Further, other outlets most often won’t get you into Cable VOD, or SVOD other than Amazon rentals, even though they may claim they have the ability to.
4. Local Distributors Control Specialized Knowledge
Do you have any idea how to localize a film for South Korea? What about Germany, Italy, or Mongolia? I’m a Producer’s rep, and while I might have an idea of who would buy any given film on a territory-by-territory basis, I couldn’t tell you how best to market a film in every country across the globe. That said, I do know people who do, and I know lots of people who can get it to the territories I can’t and I also know what they tend to pay for that content. Successfully selling a film internationally involves a lot of highly specialized skills most filmmakers simply do not possess. They’re the sort of skills that take decades to perfect. So if you want your film to be truly exportable, then you should consider working with some partners to help you capture the foreign market.
5. Marketing is Much More Effective with Multiple Partners.
Multiple voices pushing your film will do a lot more than yours alone. Working with Producer’s Reps, International Sales Agents, and distributors will amplify your voice and help it rise above the white noise to really take your project to the next level. Without multiple experienced partners helping spread the word about your film, it can cost significantly more to raise awareness of your film.
I get this is a lot. If you want to learn more about it, you should check out my FREE Indiefilm Resource Package. It includes an E-book, lots of form letters, tracking templates, and other templates to help you get in touch with traditional distributors, and a monthly blog digest that will help you better understand the industry and improve your knowledge base in a sustainable way.
