6 Questions to Ask yourself BEFORE Self Distributing your Film

In a follow-up to last week’s blog on self-distribution platforms, I thought we would step back for a minute and try to understand what filmmakers should consider before they decide whether or not to self-distribute their movie.  This blog is a list of potential parameters you might want to go by.  It’s not the only things you should take into account, but they are some factors you’ll need to consider

1.  Do you have money for promotion and aggregation?

While you get to keep 100% of the money you make when you use someone like Distribbr, you also have to pay them upfront to get you on those platforms.  If you use traditional distribution, generally the distributor will take on that risk for you.  Also, they’ll generally pay less than distribbr would charge you in aggregation fees, so they can put more money into marketing the film.

NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: If you need aggregation services, use FilmHub or IndieRights. The model is better than pay for placement even if you give up an extra 20%.

Further, with traditional distribution there tend to be some notable economies of scale.  One of these factors is the fact that most good distributors and sales agents will have a publicist on retainer so your film will get better press, and further reach.
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2. How your social media following.

If you don’t have a pretty decent social media following, then you really should consider traditional distribution.  If the equation below works out to more than 1, then perhaps you should consider selling your film yourself, especially since this doesn’t factor for your personal press contacts, etc.  If it doesn’t, then maybe you should look into traditional distribution.

I know I'm asking you to do algebra, but if I get asked in the comments I may create a calculator that runs the math for you.

((TF*0.01+FF*0.05+IF*0.05+OFX*0.03+EL*.1)*(SP-PF))/OLF+5000

TF = Number of Twitter Followers 
FF = Number of Facebook Fans
IF = Number of Instagram followers
OFX=Number of other social media followings(Can repeat multiple times)
EL = Number of people on your relevant email list * 0.2)*
SP = Sales Price
PF=Platform fees
OLF=Outstanding Liabilities of the film (I.E. how much do you need to pay back investment and deferments)

The 5,000 represents money you’ll have to spend to get your film out there between marketing assets like posters and trailers, publicity, and limited social media boosts.

NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: This is a simplification of your marketing reach, and does not account for including how underserved your niche is as well as how much access you have to said niche. Given these calculations really only account for Transactional distribuion, it undercounts potential spread via AVOD and international sales if you seek them. I might remake this algotithm if I get enough requests.

3. What was the Budget of your film?

While I’m a big fan of traditional distribution (I am, after all, a distributor) I will say that in many cases it doesn’t make sense to try to sell a film made for less than 10k unless it came out REALLY well.  Generally, that equation above will also look favorably on you if your budget is that low.  There are, however, cases where this is not true.

4. Do you have press contacts?

Press is the most cost-effective way to market your movie.  If you have a list of close contacts in the press, it can be a huge difference in your effectiveness at selling your film without help from a traditional distributor.  If you don’t have them, the equation above had better result in something closer to 1.5.

5. Do you have the ability to create awesome marketing material?

Can you cut a great trailer?  What about make a great poster?  Your distributor will have contacts for that, but you may not, and that will make a huge difference in whether or not you should self-distribute.

6.  Would you rather market this movie than make the next one?

This point is subjective. If you’d rather continue to market your film than make the next one, then by all means, self-distribute. If you’d rather put your energy into making the next one, then it probably makes more sense to work with some partners like sales agents and distributors. If you’re looking for those partners, I might be able to help. Just click the submit button below.

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Why Genre is VITAL to Independent Film Marketing & Distribution

This is a topic that’s a little basic, but it’s a fundamental building block of understanding how to market your film. So I thought I would do a breakdown of why genre is so important to independent filmmakers in terms of marketing and distribution.  I do touch on in my book The Guerrilla Rep: American Film Market Distribution Success on No Budget, but even there I only cover it in a sense as it pertains to the market.  Let’s get started. 
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Before we begin, we should talk about what a genre actually is.  At its core, the genre of your film is primarily a simple tool for categorizing how your film compares to other films.  It’s a broad bucket of similar elements that lump films together in a way that makes it easier to sell them and easier to convey the general experience of a film succinctly.  Knowing this will inform everything else on this list. 
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Generally, there are both genres and sub-genres.  Sub-genres can generally pair with any genre, but some pairings work better than others.  Here’s a somewhat complete list of genres and sub genres.  Genres tend to focus on plot elements and overall feel whereas Sub Genres also have more to do with themes or settings.

Genres

• Action

• Horror

• Thriller

• Family

• Comedy

• Drama

• Documentary

Sub-Genres

• Adventure

• Sci-Fi

• Fantasy

• Crime

• Sports

• Faith Based

• LGBT

• Romance

• Biographical

• Music/Musicals

• Animated

So Why is Genre So Effing Important?

Genre provides a general set of guidelines for filmmakers to follow when crafting a story.

Since there are certain elements that are inherent in any particular genre, understanding the tropes of any particular genre can be very helpful in crafting your narrative and in shooting your film.  If you know you’re shooting an action film, then there had better be fight scenes, shootouts, and car chases.  If you’re making a thriller, there should be a lot of suspense.  If you’re shooting a horror, a good amount of your budget will go on buckets of blood.  Knowing the tropes in advance can really help frame your story and what you need to shoot your film. 

Genre categorizes it for potential customers

As mentioned above, genres are simply categorizations of similar elements of a film.  As such, certain viewers will develop an affinity for a certain genre. Some people will like some genres more than others.  Sometimes a viewer will be in the mood for one genre, but not in the mood for another.  Kind of like how sometimes you’re craving Mexican food, and other times you’re craving Chinese.

Genre helps to find an audience for the film

Think of this as the reverse of the point above.  If your film has a well-defined genre, it can be great for discovery by the audience that’s seeking it out.  Again, think about the food example.  If you’re a Mexican food restaurant in an area where the community is all huge fans of Mexican cuisine, you’re likely to do well.  However, if you’re a barbecue joint in a city known for its insanely high levels of Veganism, you might be in for a rough go of it. Of course, this kind of ignores the problem of oversaturation but there’s only so much I can tackle in 600-800 words.

Genre categorizes your film for Distributors and sales agents

Distributors and Sales agents understand the issues above.  In addition, they often build a brand around certain genres so that there’s a high degree of audience recognition from them.  Buyers and distributors often continually serve the same end viewer, and as such their brand is particularly important, and they often seek a similar sort of film time and time again.  Think about the difference between the programming on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, or the difference between Comedy Central and MTV.
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Sales agents generally develop deep relationships with the same buyers.  As such, they become acutely aware of that buyer’s brand, and the sort of content they normally buy.  As such, that’s the sort of content they look to acquire. 

What happens if I cross-Genres?

So this is somewhat beyond the scope of this blog, but it’s a point that should be made and I don’t think I could spend an entire blog on it.  So keep in mind that cross-genre is different than a genre and a sub-genre.  A Cross Genre would be a horror comedy or an action thriller.  Those are two examples that generally work, at least in the right circumstances.  Other genre-crossing like Action Drama or Family Horror probably don’t work so well. 

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind about going cross-genre. 

It doesn’t add to the audience it limits it

If you make a film that’s both horror and comedy, it doesn’t sell to people who like either Horror and Comedy, it generally only appeals to people who like BOTH horror AND Comedy.  So instead of expanding your horizons, it limits them.  However, people who like both of these genres are going to be far more likely to really enjoy your film, just because they don’t get as much horror/comedy content as they might like.  That said, getting to these people can be both difficult and expensive. 

If done poorly, it confuses the message.

As you can see from the later two examples above, if you cross genre poorly it can be very creatively limiting.  A horror family movie doesn’t sound like it would be possible to do very well.  I know that Indiana Jones and the Temple of doom had elements of this, as did Gremlins, but The Temple of Doom was primarily an Action Adventure movie, and Gremlins would be very difficult to package in this day and age. 

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What platforms should I release my movie on?

I’ve stepped into the world of direct US Distribution and even ran a US Distributor that released around 50 titles ahead of being acquired by a larger company. This is primarily due to things I’ve learned from several other US Releases I’ve overseen as a Producer’s Rep.  One of the most common questions I get is what platforms to release a film on.  So, instead of answering the same thing over and over, I’ve decided to put my thoughts into a blog.

When answering this question, the biggest questions you have to ask yourself are what platforms are likely to yield the highest return.  I know that’s obvious, but it’s not as easy to find that information as you would think.  A lot of TVOD (Transactional Video On Demand) Sales are in the toilet, and it’s surprisingly common for filmmakers not to make their money back.

So all of that being said, here are the platforms I’ve had the best luck with so far.  This is all through a very narrow lens, of films I’ve represented, but it’s information straight from the horse’s mouth.  

Vimeo on your Website

No matter what your distribution deal is, you’re going to want to hold back the right to sell the film yourself through Vimeo on your website.  You may have to work on the timing of this with your distributor due to piracy reasons, but it is something that you need to know. 

This gives you the ability to sell your film no matter what happens with your distribution deal and guarantees you can make yourself some level of return, even if it’s tiny. It’s extremely high touch and has no meaningful metric of discovery.

Cable TVOD

Cable TVOD platforms are essentially the grandchild of the Pay Per View us older millennials and Gen Xers grew up with.  These are the rentals you can get directly from your Cable box.  These tend to convert at pretty decent numbers since people who actually still have cable packages have the money to rent movies through their system and often do.

From what I’ve seen, InDemand from Comcast pays out the best, followed by DirectTV’s rental system. 

Where you get placed in these systems can greatly impact how much you make from them, so if you can get yourself a 7-10 city theatrical run you’re going to be in a much better place. 

In terms of how long you can expect your film to be tied up there, normally these licenses last at least 6 months, often up to 2 years, or whenever the provider feels like taking them down.​ This is also something you probably need a distributor to do for you, as most aggregators release too much content to be able to place on these platforms reliably.

iTunes / AppleTV (no +)

Next up is iTunes.  If you’re releasing your film, you need to get it on iTunes.  This is partially due to it remaining one of the best selling TVOD platforms, but also because it’s the most technically stringent for you to get on.  If you can make it on iTunes, you can make it anywhere. 

Often that’s the real reason that aggregators put iTunes as the first required platform on the list, and then give you discounts to other outlets.   

So long as you’ve got a good marketing plan, you’ll generally at least make your aggregation investment back from iTunes.  I know that’s not saying a lot, but it’s a start, and there are many platforms where that’s not true.

Note from the future: Since iTunes Rebranded to AppleTV, it’s not putting up anywhere near the numbers it used to. It’s been entirely surpassed by Amazon.

Google Play

While Google Play may seem like it’s the equal opposite of iTunes, in practice it doesn’t pan out this way.  Part of the reason could be the greater market penetration of Apple TVs, or it could be that people who buy apple products tend to have the expendable income to buy movies, or it could be something else entirely.  While I can’t say why with any certainty, I can say that you should give google play a miss. That said, Google Play gets you on the next platform, so why not. Also, as mentioned above Apple just doesn’t perform as well as it used to since the rebrand.

​YouTube TVOD (YouTube Movies)

If your film is targeted more towards millenials, you may want to consider making it available on YouTube.  The numbers out of YouTube TVOD can be surprisingly good, often rivaling iTunes if the film is targeted towards Millenials.  This probably has something to do with the fact that you don’t have to leave the platform you’ve hosted the trailer on.  This one tends to perform second best on films I’ve released.

Fandango Now

If your film had any level of a theatrical release, you should consider fandango now.  The numbers tend to be pretty good.

If you haven’t had a theatrical release, discoverability on the platform can be lacking, but since they merged with Vudu it’s probably worth the fee if you end up on both.

Gaming Systems

Honestly, I haven’t had much luck with the direct TVOD sales through Xbox One and PS4.  I personally wouldn’t bother with them.  If your content is oriented towards 15-24-year-old males, or has some tie-in to video game culture then it might be worth trying, but in general it’s hard to even make back your aggregation fees. 

Note from the future: This isn’t as easy as it once was. Your best bets are YouTube and the next one on this list.

Amazon

DEFINATELY put your film on Amazon.  In my time running Mutiny, it accounted for a majority of sales despite the fact we released films to around 6-8 platforms.

I’d recommend doing it in two stages, first, as a TVOD/MOD (Manufacture on Demand) DVD release in line with your other TVOD releases, and second as an SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand) release through Amazon Prime. 

Note from the future: too bad you can’t do this anymore. Use an aggregator to get on Tubi, Vudu, and Pluto instead.

Once you get it set up on Amazon Prime, you’d be surprised how quickly Prime will overshadow the rest of your VOD sales.  Generally, waiting 3 months for prime as a window is about right, just to make sure you get the most you can out of your other TVOD outlets. 

You won’t have to take them down for prime, but you will see the sales figures drop steadily once the film is free to watch on a service pretty much everyone has. 

That said, it will be much easier to get people to watch the film once it’s free on Amazon Prime.  Once it’s set to go live, make sure you get AT LEAST 5 friends to watch it ALL THE WAY THROUGH and rate it.   If they do, it serves as a recommendation to Amazon’s Algorithm and it recommends the film to up to 100 more people you don’t know.

Whether or not you work with a distributor, getting your film out there is a lot of work. It’s also not something that film schools tend to teach as well as they should. That’s why I developed this free Film Marketing Resource package. It’s got a monthly content digest full of useful articles just like this one, as well as templates to help you contact distributors, raise money from investors, and market your film at festivals. Get it for free by clicking below.

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9 Things I Learned from my First Theatrical Release

We recently came to the close of the theatrical release of Rockhaven Film’s Goodland.  It played in a total of 7 cities.  This was the first time I’ve been a key part of making a theatrical release work, so I wanted to share some of what I learned along the way.  So here it is 9 things I learned from my first theatrical release.

1. Booking theaters is both expensive and time-consuming

I tried booking a theater here in San Francisco, but in the end, I was unsuccessful.  The only theater that really got back to us would only show the film on a rental, not a revenue share.  We didn’t pay any of the other theaters, and we weren’t going to start in San Francisco. 

If we had paid them, it would have been a bit over 2,000 for 9 showings in a week.  It is possible to get some films in there on revenue share alone, but if you do you often must give up the first 2-3,000 in sales directly to the theater, and generally, that’s about all you’ll make from a screen unless you can really pound the pavement and get press coverage. 

2. Book local theaters, New York, and Los Angeles first. 

This contradicts some of what I just said, but when you’re getting started, the first theaters you need to book are New York, Los Angeles, and perhaps the screen most local to the filmmakers.   New York and LA get you more press coverage and give legitimacy to your theatrical run.  The local screen is generally the easiest to book.

​3. You don’t always need a full week’s run.

We only did 3 screenings in Buffalo, NY, but we still got a decent amount of press and a good amount of social media attention.  Doing 1-3 screenings in a market makes it feel more like an event, and is a great way to build word of mouth about your film.  Even if you can’t book a full week, consider booking a few one-night-only engagements to boost your presence in markets across the country. 

4. ​Often, 1-2 shows a day is easier to sell.

We had 3-5 screenings a day in Kansas City, and it was difficult to drive traffic to any one particular screening.  That includes the screenings we had with Q&As after them.  If you focus on one individual showing a day, it’s easier to focus your marketing efforts, and get those butts in seats for an indie movie.

5. Fewer theaters are independently owned than you think

In attempting to book theaters in San Francisco, I found that only a few local theaters were independently owned.  More theaters than you think are owned by mega chains like AMC, Cinemark, United Artists, and Landmark.  If you’re dealing with these mega-chains, you’re likely going to have to deal with their buyers.  Generally, those buyers will only want to deal with distributors. 
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6. Once a theater is booked you can still get bumped unless you paid the rental fee.  

We booked a screen in New York for the same day we opened in LA.  Unfortunately, we were bumped because Avengers, Infinity War outperformed expectations.  If possible, don’t try to book your indie in May, June, July, August, November, or December.  That’s when Hollywood will be very likely to bump you.

7. Keep Making Noise to fill seats

Once you get your theaters booked, you’re still going to have to drive local people to theaters.  The most cost-effective ways to do this are via local press coverage and social media.  The two work very well together.  Keep your audience engaged by sharing news on your facebook page, twitter, and Instagram whenever there’s news to be had. ​
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Related: 5 Dos and Don'ts for Marketing your Movie on Social Media

8. Press coverage is key: Local Press can be very cliquey.  

Local Press coverage is among the best ways to drive traffic to your movie.  However, it can be difficult to get. 

It should surprise precisely no-one reading this list that some film scenes are very cliquey, and some of those people from the film scenes end up in positions of power at general press outlets.  They may not cover your movie just because you’re not one of the cool kids.  It sucks, but it is what it is.  It would be difficult to change their mind, so just move on to other outlets if that’s what you’re running up against. 

9. In the end, if you've made ANY money you've done well. 

Finally, there’s not really a lot of money in theatrical runs themselves.  There is a lot of additional money to be had in having had a theatrical release.  If you end up getting beyond your distributor’s recoupable expenses, you’ve done VERY well.  The additional money you’ve gotten from these outlets is likely to have a marked impact on your TVOD sales and your SVOD sales price.  I might be making some announcements about how that worked for Goodland on our Facebook page, soon.

I hope this was helpful to building your indie film career. If you’re embarking on your own journey through distribution, you should make sure to grab my FREE indie film resource package. It’s got lots of templates to help you talk to distributors, tools to help you raise funding and even exclusive money-saving resources.

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Why do distributors and Sales agents ask for Weird assets to sell my Independent Film? (Deliverables 4/4)

Even though the delivery materials in the first 3 parts of this blog seemed pretty thorough, there are still more that may be required to fulfill an international sale.  Generally, these deliverables are only required if requested at a later date, and sometimes they’re created by the sales agents as an additional recoupable expense to be paid before the filmmaker begins taking their cut.  

As with the other three parts of this installment, this list is not meant to be exhaustive.  Every deliverables contract is different, and although this may be thorough, it may still miss an item or two.  More likely though, there would be things on this list you’d never have to worry about. 

1. HDcamSR Masters

And you thought we moved past the need for tapes.  Think again.  Not every television broadcaster in less developed parts of the world has made the switch to HD.  A lot of them still run on tape workflows, so you may be required to provide an HDCamSR Master.  Often, this is something that the distributor will generate through their own sources, and add to your recoupable expenses. 

Note From the Future: This really isn’t common anymore. It’s all generated from the 422 masters.

2. DCP

Generally, this deliverable is only required if the sales agent is going to be hosting market screenings.  If there’s a theatrical run, more may be required.  Generally, the first one is relatively expensive to have done, and the others are simply the cost of a hard drive. 

EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: You probably don’t need this. Market Screenings use different deliverables and if your distributor is doing a theatrical they’ll need to put their own bumper on it. It will be a recoupable expense for theatrical that will come back to them before you get paid.

3. Digibeta Masters

What is this, the 80s?  If you thought that Digibeta lost the format wars to VHS, you’re only half right.  Digibeta is a much higher quality format as compared to VHS, and as such it was used in broadcasting for quite a long time.  In fact, it was even used in the US until all broadcasters made the switch to HD.  I still have some Digibeta tapes laying around my apartment from Film School.  (and I’m only 31, thank you very much.)
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The reason that some (admittedly thorough) sales agents put this on their as-needed deliverable lists is the same reason they put the HDcanSR on their deliverable lists.  Some broadcasters (Particularly in Eastern Europe) Still use digibeta tapes as their primary workflow. 

NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: Yeah, nobody requires this anymore. In the EXTREMELY rare instance, it does happen, the sales agent or distributor will have it made from your master as a recoupable expense.

4. Clip/Footage/Stills/Bonus Material Licenses

I almost put this in the legal section, but that one was already a bit long.  These are essentially licenses for any bonus materials or stills that may appear in DVD extras.  Similarly, if you licensed any stock footage for the film, you’ll need to prove you have the right to use it. 

5. US Distribution Deliverables

The rest of this list is generally only required for US Distribution.  However, that is not always the case. 

5A. Closed Caption File

There’s a well-defined professional file format for closed caption files.  If you expect to distribute in the US, you’re probably going to need to get one of these. ​ If you don’t have one, distributors will commonly use their vendor and bill it back as a special recoupable expense. This isn’t a bad thing for you to have in general, and it generally costs between 100 and 200 USD per feature.

5B. Copyright Search and Title Reports

This is essentially proof that you have the right to license the film to distributors, and that there aren’t any legal reasons barring you from licensing the film.  Generally, this will be required at least 3-6 months prior to distribution.  Contact the copyright office for more information. 

5C. E&O Insurance Certificate

Generally, E&O Insurance is only required for wide-reaching Domestic Television and Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) sales.  However, a distributor may require it for other purposes as well.  The exact coverage amount will vary depending on the distributor.  The specifics will include per-instance coverage caps, aggregate coverage caps, and minimum deductibles. 

Often the sales agent/distributor will have a preferred vendor for this and may provide it as a recoupable expense above the existing recoupable expenses.  If they do not provide it as a recoupable expense, there’s a good chance that their vendor gives them a sweetheart deal, and it’s still in your best interest to consider using their vendor. No matter what, you probably want to wait on getting the policy until it’s required just to make sure that you’re getting the right policy.

5D. MPAA Rating

If the Distributor is planning any level of a wide theatrical release, they’ll need a rating certificate from the MPAA.  Often there will be rating caps such as R for any adult-oriented movie, or PG for any family-oriented movie.  The Producer will be expected to bear the cost of acquiring this certificate.  Also, unless you have the official certificate, the film is unrated.  DO NOT attempt to rate the film yourself without going through the MPAA.  If you’re getting a relatively limited theatrical release, your distributor may use the TV rating system which is generally self-regulated. If they go that way, they’ll probably err on the side of caution and up the rating to avoid a fine. A few of the films I’ve released are rated MA where they should be more like TV-14.

Thanks so much for reading!  Hopefully, this 4 part series has been illuminating as to what’s involved in deliverables.  If you’re a film school teacher, feel free to use this information in your classwork.  You can also reach out to me via my contact form and let me know if you’d like something more suited for a handout.  

Also, if even if you’re not a film school teacher you should grab my free film business resource package. It’s got an e-book with exclusive articles to help you grow your filmmaking career. It’s also got templates for investment decks, festival brochures, and more.

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What paperwork do I need to deliver to my Indiefilm Distributor? (Deliverables 3/4)

Distribution deliverables are far more than simply technical requirements.  As we saw last week, there are also substantial marketing materials that you’ll have to provide to the distributor and more that they may have to generate themselves.  This week we’re covering the basics of legal distribution deliverables.

This list is thorough, but not exhaustive.  There may be things required outside of this list for legal, and there may be things on this list that are not required, depending on who you’re dealing with.  Also, I’m not a lawyer, this isn’t legal advice. Check with your attorney to get some advice if anything is unclear.

1. Key Production Agreements

These are essentially legal documents from key cast and crew saying that you have the right to use their work in your film.  Essentially, you’ll have to prove that either you’ve paid out all of the filmmakers, or that they have no claim on the intellectual property of the film. Essentially, you’ll have to prove that whatever work they did was “For Hire” or that you will take on the liability of ensuring that all deserving stakeholders are paid appropriately

Generally, you’ll have to provide agreements proving this for key cast and crew.  Most of the time, those appearing in the main title sequence are a good measure. The preferred form of delivery for this is fully executed contracts or deal memos.   A lot of times you won’t need to deliver these unless it’s asked for.

You’ll also have to provide separate agreements for composers, or any other songs or assets that you’ve licenced.  For the composers, you’ll need to make sure you have the right to use their work in any way you see fit.  This can include trailers, promo spots, DVD extras, and anything else in conjunction with promoting or marketing the film.  This is particularly important and must be treated separately from a standard crew agreement. 

If you used source music, you’ll also have to provide that you have the right to use any and all of that source music under similar terms to the composer’s original music listed above.  there’s slightly more wiggle room on this here, but not a whole lot. 

2. Certificate of Origin

This is a certificate stating where the film was shot, and essentially stating that the film had the right to be shot there.  This is important in all cases, but particularly important in the event that you took tax incentives to finance your film. 

3. Chain of Title Summary

This deserves its own blog, which it will get.  However, in summary, the chain of title outlines the passage of intellectual property between source material, Script, and Production company.  It’s generally a document summarizing all of the associated rights agreements.

4. Rights Agreements

These are essentially documents proving that you have the rights to all the intellectual property used in the film.  These documents can include options, proof of option payments, assignments, licenses, certificates of authorship, written permissions, powers of attorney, and other similar documents. 

Often, if the name of the copyright owner is different from the owner of the picture, you will need to write up a transfer letter as well.  Most of the time you’ll need to generate a chain of title summary for your sales agent to track the rights across multiple documents.

5. Copyright Registration Certificate

This should be fairly self-explanatory, but you’ll need to include the copyright registration of both the picture and the screenplay.  Yes, you do need to copyright your work, a WGA registration will not suffice.  And yes, you need to have copyright certificates for both the screenplay and the film. 

There are other deliverables that can suffice if the copyright is pending, however, those vary by sales agency so I’m not going to go into them here.  Additionally, if you shot your film internationally it’s generally wise to file for a US Copyright as it tends to have the most standing in international courts as not every country has a well-staffed copyright and patent office.

6. Additional Agreements/Statements/Letters

There are a few other documents you may have to provide under certain circumstances. 

6A, If the Film is Not Originally in English

A deliverable you might need would be an English translation if the film is not in English originally.  Most of the time, buyers prefer a film to be in either their native language or in English.  It doesn’t matter if they have to translate the film anyway, they prefer to be translating the film from English. 

6B, If you worked with Children

Another ancillary document would be some degree of documentation that all children were treated legally on set. Most of the time you can find relevant documentation from the Screen Actor’s Guild, even if your shoot was not a signatory. if the film has any children in it. You’ll also need to provide some documentation that you abided by local child labor laws as they pertain to the film industry.

6C, If the film contains nudity or sexual content

In the event that the film contains sexually explicit material, then you’ll need to provide proof of 28 C.F.R. Compliance and record-keeping responsibilities and documentation of those record-keeping responsibilities. 

Similarly, you’ll need to provide additional documentation from any actor appearing nude or partially nude on screen consenting that their nudity was meant to be widely disseminated among the public. 

6D, If it was a union picture

If the film is union, you’ll need to provide all your agreements and proof that you’re in good standing.

6E​, Other Contractual Obligations.  

There may be a whole host of other releases from governmental, technical, and legal entities that prove this film can be distributed, but there’s such variance, it goes far beyond the scope of this blog. 

Thanks for reading!  This one ended up being a bit scary.  Check the other posts for more.  Also, Grab my free Indiefilm Business Resource Package to get a free e-book, templates, and a monthly blog digest to increase your ability to find meaningful distribution, and check the tags below for more information on filmmaking.

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What Deliverables does my Sales Agent Need to sell my Independent Film internationally? (Deliverables 2/4)

Last week, I covered the basics that are required as deliverables for almost every U.S. Distribution or International Sales Contract.  This week, I’m going through the servicing lists.  Most of these servicing requirements are for the internationalization of the film, be they subs or dubs.  Some are more for marketing purposes, but in the end, it’s what the sales agent needs to effectively put together a package and the film to where it needs to go.

Again, this list though expansive may not cover every distribution deliverable from every contract you may encounter, although it should get most of them.  

NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: After running a distribution company, I found these blogs are overly intensive, and really you’re not going to need everything across the 4 blogs. I may do a revised version in the future if I get enough comments, but until then I’ll leave this up for posterity.

1. ​Final Timecoded Continuity Script/Spotting List:

This is different than a script.  This is you watching the final cut of your movie and going through and noting the timecode of every single line of dialogue.  You’ll also have to write down exactly which words are spoken for this spotting list.  This document is generally used for creating subtitles and dubbing scripts. 

You may also be required to provide this for any trailers. ​

2. Final Shooting Script

Even though you will need to have the spotting list, turning over the final version of the shooting script can help provide a backup, in case parts of the spotting list are unclear, or do not translate well. 

3. Music Cue Sheet

A Music Cue Sheet is similar to a spotting list, but instead of being for dialogue, it’s for music.  While you will be required to provide music and effects tracks, the music queue sheet is required in case of edits are made to the film for censorship or time reasons. ​

4. Music & Effects (M&E) Tracks

If the sales agent sells the right to dub the film, they’re going to need the Music and Effects tracks to do it well.  These tracks are essentially all the audio in the film without any dialogue.  Sometimes the tracks on which each type of audio will be placed on are specified, however, that’s beyond the scope of this article. 

5. Final Main Credits

This is a typed list of the opening credits as they appear on the screen.  Generally, these are more for subtitling purposes than straight-up replacement purposes.  Most of the time delivery of this item will be via Word document. 

6. Final End Credits

Similar to the final main credit entry above, this is a list of all credits in the back end of the film.  Again this is something you can deliver to your international sales agent in a simple Word document.  Generally, these are preferred to PDFs in case minor changes or copy-pastes need to be made.

7. Press Kit

This deserves a longer entry than I can give it here, but a press kit is essentially a list of all pressworthy information about the film.  What goes into it is subjective relative to space requirements and how you’re using it.  In this instance, it’s best you talk to your sales agents to clarify what they really need in a physical press kit.  Although generally speaking, you’ll want a review or two from festivals, any festivals you got into, any press coverage you’ve already gotten, some screenshots from the movie, the poster, and maybe a few quotes from the director/producers/lead talent. 

8. Logos

You’ll need to deliver logos to the distributor for the production companies involved in making the film.  If you’re using a producer’s rep, then you’ll need theirs too.  Generally, the distributor will want the Photoshop file, and they’ll probably have other tech specs for you as well. 

9. Bonus Material

If the distributor is planning a DVD release, they may ask for bonus materials.  Things like BTS Footage, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, a blooper reel, cast interviews, and commentary tracks. ​

10. Electronic Press Kit (EPK)

This is an electronic version of the press kit.  It will contain everything listed above, plus more links to reviews, broadcast-quality interviews (if available) and more dynamic and updatable content than a paper press kit can provide. 

Thanks so much for reading!  Check the other posts for more.  Next up is legal, and it’s LONG. Also, Grab my free Indiefilm Business Resource Package to get a free e-book, templates, and a monthly blog digest to increase your ability to find meaningful distribution.

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What do I need to deliver to my Independent Film’s distributor? (1/4)

So there are a lot of questions about what’s involved in Distribution Deliverables for an Independent Film.  So I’ve scoured a few contracts to find a very thorough list of what you might need to provide for a distributor or Sales Agent if they take your film.  Since this list is quite expansive, there may be some stuff on here that most distributors do not ask for, but I figured it best to know what you might have to be able to provide

Given how massive this list ended up being, I’m actually going to break this out into 4 parts.  This part is the basics, the next part will be deliverables used in internationalization and marketing, part 3 will be legal, and the fourth and final part will be some of the stranger and incidental things you might have to provide or be willing to pay for the sales agent to provide.

All of this being said, even though this list is massive, I may have missed something, so definitely talk with your post-house supervisor, lawyer, and editor before submitting these items. 

Let’s Dive right in.

​1. Color Stills and Photographs (50):

These color stills and photographs are generally not meant to be Behind the Scenes photos.  They’re meant to be stills from the movie itself to be used in various forms of promotion. They can also be images of the talent in costume to use in the creation of key art, posters, trailers, and other places where art may show up across platforms.

2. Screeners (50)

While many distributors/Sales Agents have moved to providing internet screeners through services like Vimeo, some still prefer DVDs.  These distributors generally won’t want you to put a watermark of any kind on the film.  I’d be hesitant on this due to piracy concerns, but I’m putting it on here because I found it in a contract. 

NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: This isn’t really done anymore. Distributors just use the master file to create their own screener to send to buyers.

3. Digital Promotional Trailer

Unsurprisingly, the sales agent will want a trailer to help with sales.  It's extremely important in market meetings with buyers.  It’s reasonably likely they’ll need a new trailer cut, but if the trailer you deliver suits their needs, they’re less likely to charge you for that deliverable.

4. Credit/Billing Block

This is just a listing of all credits for the film, to help the distributor keep up with legal obligations and consistent crediting across platforms. Be careful in delivering this, as their distribution agreement probably includes something indemnifying them should issues result from errors in files you delivered to them.

5. Certified Statement with Contractual Obligations.

This statement is just so the distributor knows how underwater you are with investors, and more importantly debtors.  Among other things, the distributor wants to know that they won’t lose the film because the bank took it from you. 

6. Tax Payer Information: W8/W9

The Distributor is paying you, and they have to pay their taxes just like anyone else. 

7. Layered Keyart

Most of the time the distributor will need to make changes to your art, so they’ll need the PSD file. If you don’t deliver that file, they’ll just have one made completely independent of your art.

8. 4k Technical Sample.

If you’re delivering in 4k, The distributor will also need a 4k sample to show buyers in market meetings.  That’s what this is. 

9. 100% QC'd HD ProResHQ or 4444 Master .mov Files: 

If a sales agent is going to sell your movie, then they’ll need a copy of it.  They may ask for a few versions for SD, and they may also ask for a 4k version.  There will be a lot of technical specs you’ll have to match exactly, and you’ll have to undergo a QC Check from a professional lab. By the way, if they ask you for a 422 file, don’t send them a 4444 file. 4444 files are only needed for really specific tasks that your distributor doesn’t need to do. The increased file size will annoy them or their lab.

10. Bluray Market/Festival Screening Masters

These are for screenings the sales agent might want to do for buyers in any of the provided market screening rooms. 

11. Master Audio Files

They are going to need the stems for the film.  Every once in a while, sales agents need to make edits for other markets.  That’s where these come in. ​

12. Copy of Music Score: Digital Files

Sometimes when you cut a film to comply with censorship in other countries, you’ll need to mask some cost by replacing the score.  That’s why they need some original files for the score. 

13. Certificate of Full QC Pass

A QC Check is required for any distribution you would actually want to have.  This generally involves sending the completed film to a lab, and and having every part of the film checked to ensure it’s in broadcast quality.  Generally this sort of check costs around 1500 per time you have to have it checked.  That means, if you fail your QC check, you’ll have to pay to have it done again.  I may do an entire post on the QC check process in the future, if I do, I’ll post it below. ​

​Thanks for reading!  This is the first of several posts covering Deliverables for Distribution.  Check the other posts for more. Also, Grab my free Indiefilm Business Resource Package to get a free e-book, templates, and a monthly blog digest to increase your ability to find meaningful distribution.

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Why Exclusivity is GOOD for Filmmakers

In closing contracts, one question I get asked a lot is why distributors, sales agents, and producer’s reps need exclusivity when we do our jobs.  Sometimes, this question even comes from the lawyers of my clients.  I understand there is risk when giving someone the exclusive right to represent your project, so I thought I would write up a blog post examining exactly why we need exclusivity.  Generally speaking, the goal is not to tie up your rights and make it so you can’t do anything with them.  There are lots of other reasons why sales agents or producer’s reps need exclusivity.

To truly understand the need for exclusivity, one must first understand the nature of our business.  We deal in the buying and selling of rights to infinitely replicate content.  If something can be infinitely replicated, the only way to ensure it's value is to control who has the right to produce it, or to authorize others to replicate the content.  

I can guarantee you that any sales agent you would actually want to work with will require exclusivity at least for international.  If you try to negotiate their exclusivity out of a contract, I can guarantee you will not be successful.  It's the nature of the business. In fact, if you try to negotiate too much to be non-exclusive, then you’ll likely just end up scaring off the sales agent. 
​​

Buyers want exclusivity, and if the sales agency doesn't have exclusivity, then they can't sell it to the buyer.  Producer's reps have less necessity for this normally, but if they work directly with domestic buyers, then they will generally need exclusive rights for similar reasons to why a sales agent needs exclusivity to sell international rights. ​

As a more practical example, let's say that two sales agents each have the right to sell your film.  There are a lot of territories for which only a few buyers come to the market.  There's a good chance that the sales agents would both know these buyers.  If the buyer can buy it in one of two places, then the two sales agents will just undercut each other to make the sale, and the filmmaker ends up hurt.  Giving Sales Agents exclusivity actually protects the filmmaker, if the deal is done properly.  

Further, almost all license fees and deals with a minimum guarantee require exclusivity. The buyer doesn't want to pay good money for a film, only to have it air on the competition's channel or platform at the same time.  Of course, if you're looking at Transactional VOD, this is not really the case, but those deals generally don't pay up front.  Also, that's essentially an aggregation deal.  

I'll admit, a producer's rep needs exclusivity less than a sales agent.  Since most of what Producer’s Reps do often involves shopping the film to sales agents, so long as there's a lit of who I'm approaching that's separate from who you would be approaching, there's room to negotiate.  However, since I act as a sales agent for North America, I at least need exclusive rights domestically for exactly the same reason.

Also, to avoid issues, if you’re working with a producer’s rep non-exclusively, then you’ll need to list what companies that producer’s rep will handle. If you don’t, you could be in for a tricky legal battle down the line, in case multiple approaches are made to the same company.

So I’d like to thank you for reading and say that I hope you found it helpful. If you did, you should grab my FREE Film Business Resource Package. It’s got a free e-book called The Entrepreneurial Producer to grow your filmmaking career, templates for investment decks, film festival brochures, and other money and time-saving resources. Check it out below.

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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.

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How to Vet your Sales Agent or Distributor

Every filmmaker has heard horror stories of distribution deals gone wrong.  Sometimes this is due to something completely unpredictable like a change in the demands of buyers or distributors, or a freak occurrence that makes the movie unpalatable.   More often than not, however, this is due to a poorly negotiated deal with a less-than-reputable sales agent.  So with that in mind, it’s incredibly important that you vet your sales agent.  Here are a few ways to do just that.

1. Get Professional Help

Distribution deals are complicated things.  It’s easy for one clause that seems innocuous to strip thousands of dollars out of your pocket.   Get yourself an entertainment attorney or producer’s rep to help you through the process.  Entertainment attorneys are generally expensive but can save you money in the long term.  Producer’s reps SHOULD work on a commission for brokerage tasks, but may or may not be able to negotiate as well as they claim. ​ Often, it’s wise to have both a rep and an attorney, as reps focus on general salability whereas

Related: What does a Producer's Rep DO Anyway?

If you can’t afford an attorney and are wary of hiring a producer’s rep then take extra time on the next several steps. ​

2. Carefully Review their base distribution agreement

There’s always some room for negotiation in these agreements, but it the arrangement is too far off of what you’re hoping for from a starting point, then the deal is unlikely to be any good.  Good places to look are at the recoupable expenses and the sales agency commission.  If the sales agent’s commission is higher than 30%, proceed with extreme caution.  If it’s higher than 35%, you probably don’t want to deal with that sales agent.

Related: The 7 Main IndieFilm Distribution Deal Points

Similarly, is the recoupable are higher than about 25,000-30,000, you should be VERY careful on dealing with them if you have a lower budget film.  If they’re at this level, you’ll want them to attend at least 5-7 markets.  That segues nicely to.

3. Ask the Sales Agent Which Markets They Attend

Traditional Film Sales and Distribution still happens primarily through face-to-face meetings at markets.  Establishing good relationships with buyers takes several touchpoints a year.  In order to really trust a sales agent with your film, you need them to attend both Cannes and AFM at a minimum.  Ideally, you want them attending EFM as well, but that market is slightly more arthouse so it can be given a miss if you’ve made a genre picture. If they don’t attend EFM, they should attend Hong Kong FilmMart.
​

Read More: What is a Film Market and How Do They Work?

4. Look the Sales Agent Up on IMDb

You need to verify some of the films that the sales agent has helped distribute recently.  Looking them up on IMDb is a great way to get started.  You’ll want to look for films that are similar in genre and feel to yours, and you’ll want them to have represented quite a few films in the last 3-5 years. You should be able to find a lot of information on the company they’re working with if you have IMDb Pro, but sometimes sales companies change their names without much notice. That’s a red flag if it happens, but it’s not necessarily a dealbreaker. If it does happen, just use IMDb to look up the acquisition agent you’re dealing with.

If you have access to it, you should also look them up on Cinando. It’s worth noting that many sales companies do not keep their Cinando Profiles as up-to-date as they should.

5. Visit the Sales Agent Website

The Website of the sales agent will help you understand what they’re currently promoting.  It will also have some things that IMDb won’t.  These are things like recent press coverage, and links to their other social media profiles.  You want the sales agent to have gotten your films a good amount of press.

6. Call Filmmakers they've worked with in the past. 

If you take only one thing away from this article, let it be this.  ALWAYS call filmmakers the Sales agency has worked with in the past prior to doing a deal with them.  Filmmakers they’ve worked with in the past are the best way to get an unbiased account of whether the sales agent lives up to expectations laid out in their contract.  While other sales agents will give you opinions on that front, the sales agency game is quite competitive, so they might overstate the issues with their competition to gain a competitive edge.

Thanks for reading! If you like this, and decided you need professional help when dealing with sales agents, check out the Guerrilla rep media services page. We know the players in the game and can help you get to your goal faster. If you just want to learn more, check out the free indie film business resource pack for a free ebook, templates to help you track contact with sales agents, and even form letters to get you started on reaching out to them. These won’t substitute for professional help, but they’re a good place to start.

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Why You Still Need Name Talent in Your IndieFilm

​In the age of easily accessible self-distribution, cheap gear, and the ability to make and distribute a feature film for less than 10,000 dollars it’s understandable to wonder why you would want to spend 10,000-100,000 dollars a day on recognizable name talent.  Many proclaim that hiring recognizable name talent is simply a waste of time and money.

Speaking as someone who makes most of their living from film distribution, these people are wrong.  Here are 5 reasons why.

Recognizable Name Talent Significantly increases the Profile of the Film

In an age where anyone can make a film, the challenge becomes less one of making a film, and more one of rising above the white noise created by others also making films.  Recognizable name talent can be a great help you set yourself apart.  The notoriety brought by recognizable name talent helps raise public awareness of your project and greatly increases interest from high profiles sales agents and distributors.  Also, if they have a large social media presence and agree to help promote your film, it will have a tangible impact on the profile of your film.

Recognizable Name Talent Significantly increases the chance of meaningful press coverage.

With the higher profile that names talent brings to your project.  Press coverage will compound the impact on the awareness of your film that name talent brings.   If your film gets enough coverage, then a lot of the marketing will be done for you, and you’ll be able to attract the pieces of the puzzle that you’d otherwise need to chase.   These puzzle pieces can be anything from additional tickets sold, to in-kind product placement, and potentially even completion funding once your film is in the can.  

Several of my pre-completion press articles have been due in large part to having recognizable names attached to the project.

Recognizable Name Talent Increases the likelihood of getting into festivals

I know this isn’t going to be a popular thing to say, but film festivals don’t solely look at the quality of a film in deciding which ones should be programmed.  They also consider the fit with the festival’s brand, the current political climate, as well as the profile of the film and what showcasing the film, would bring to the festival. 

​Given that the profile of the film is greatly raised by recognizable name talent, it’s something that festival programmers will consider when deciding whether or not to program your film

​Name Talent Increase Your Distribution Options

From my personal experience in distribution and sales, it is easier to sell a mediocre film with names than a great film without them. This is true regardless of genre, although certain genres absolutely necessitate recognizable names if you want any international distribution.

Recognizable Name Talent is a great way to make both sales agents and distributors stand up and take notice.  Getting a star in your film has a direct and tangible impact on your chances of getting a profitable distribution deal. 

Without recognizable name talent, it’s almost impossible to get a minimum guarantee.  Further, many of your international sales will be revenue share only.  With Name Talent, it’s far more likely that you’ll get a minimum guarantee from the sales agent, and the deals with international buyers will be license fees or MGs instead of revenue share deals.

Name Talent Increases Self-Distribution Sales

Finally, even if you plan on self-distributing your film, recognizable name talent will help you move units.  Raising the profile of your film by having a star in your film will help you place higher in Amazon and iTunes search results, which will have a tangible impact on your bottom line. 

Thanks so much for reading.  If you enjoy my blog and want more, you should sign up for my FREE independent film business resources package.  It’s got an e-book with a lot of articles like this one you can’t find elsewhere, as well as templates to help you grow your film career. One of the articles in the e-book includes a script for calling actors’ agents. Click the button below for more information.

5 Rules for Vetting Your Producer’s Rep

The term producer’s rep has been given a bad name.  A lot of people think that Producer’s reps are just money-grubbing middlemen (or middlewomen, or middlethems) who don’t add any value to your project.  As a producer’s rep myself, I’d like to take issue with the narrative that producer’s reps are slimy con artists who will overcharge you without adding value.  Unfortunately, I can’t.  For the most part, the rumors exist for a reason.

So with that in mind, here are 5 ways to vet your producer’s rep. If you want to sign up with me, do the same.

​Ask what their upfront fees are.

If you’re simply looking for a rep to broker your completed film, then the upfront fees should be very low, or nonexistent then they’ll take a piece of the pie for the length of the deal. There are producer’s representatives who operate on a service basis, I.E. they’ll be paid a few thousand dollars with half up front, half on success. In theory, you end up paying less this way, but the incentives are not always in line with the filmmaker’s best interest.

I’ve heard stories of other reps charging 5000 dollars to represent a film to various sales agencies.  If the Rep got you a deal, the rep would then retain 35% of all money from that deal.  This is without even negotiating for a better deal with the sales agency, essentially just making a few calls and writing a few emails.  

Not all service deals are bad, but you have to do extra diligence if that’s how your rep operates.

Also, it should be noted that if you want your rep to do anything other than basic brokering, you should expect to pay them. When I work with filmmakers at an early stage to guide investment decks, help attach talent, write business plans, or any other consulting-oriented services, you should expect to pay some not-insignificant fees. Nobody on a film shoot should be asked to work for free, including us. We still have bills, and it took a lot of investment for us to develop our skills and contacts.

Related: What Does a Producer's Rep DO Anyway?

For straight representation/brokerage services, I charge nothing upfront, and as of this writing, I don’t even charge recoupable expenses.  I charge 10% for connection to sales agents, and 18% if I sell directly to buyers.  (Generally only domestically.)  I also negotiate with sales agencies and buyers to get you/us the best possible deal. 

That being said, brokerage tasks for completed films are the only thing I don’t charge upfront for.  For other tasks, I either charge by the hour or by the job, sometimes with performance bonuses or deferments. ​

2.   Ask them if they watched your movie.

If they’re offering to represent your movie, they had better have watched it.  If they try to say that they don’t remember the film because they watched 8 last week, they’re probably lying.  I watch 5-8 a week.  If I’m making an offer I’ve probably watched it all.  If I don’t think I can sell it, I stop after 20 minutes. ​

Most sales agents and Producer's Reps have a similar system.  If they can't say some specifics about your film, they're probably lying about watching it.  

3. Look them up on imdb.

You want someone who’s not all talk.  You want to see some associate, co-, and executive producing credits on their IMDb.  I generally ask to be credited as an executive producer because it’s the most accurate credit for the job I do. 

If you want to check out what I’ve done, here’s my imdb,

VISIT MY IMDB

4.  Ask them who they have direct relationships with

Any good rep will have existing relationships with some sales agencies.  That’s why you would want to hire them in the first place.  Great reps will have direct relationships with buyers.  If they can’t list out a few sales agencies that they’ve worked with in the past off the top of their head, then they’re probably not going to do their job very well. 

While I won’t list the ones I’ve worked with here, I will tell you if you ask me when on a call or after you submit your film below.

5. Call 3 of their previous clients

This is true for both Producer’s Reps and Sales Agencies.  You’ve GOT to call the clients of your rep and ask for a reference.  If you ask for references and your rep gets upset, then it’s likely a sign you shouldn’t use their services.  Honestly, It’s better if you just look up those filmmakers on IMDb and call them yourself. You can find all the necessary info on imdbPro.

Thanks so much for reading! If you’re looking for a producer’s rep, you should check out my services page. If you’re not quite there yet, but want to more know about the film biz, you should join my mailing list and get my FREE Film market resource package. Links below in the buttons.

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Understanding the difference between an LOI and a Pre-Sale

A few weeks back I did a post on how to get a Letter of Intent from a Sales Agent.  You can read that post here.  However, I realized it might not be a bad idea to step back and examine the differences between a Letter of intent and a Pre-Sale.  While I touch on it in the Rules for Getting a Letter of Intent blog, It seemed like the topic was worth a little bit more explanation.

At its core, the primary difference between the two is that a pre-sale is a document that has a tangible value, and an LOI does not.  It’s a document that says once you deliver the completed film to the sales agent/distributor you will receive a check for an agreed-upon amount.  Generally, they’ll come coupled with a completion bond.  If you get a presale from the right sales agent/distributor, then this document is serious enough that you could take it to an entertainment bank and take out a loan against it. 

A letter of intent is a much less serious document.  It essentially guarantees that a sales agent will review a film once it’s completed and if it passes quality concerns, they’ll make an offer to represent the film at that point in time.  This document has no monetary value but proves to investors that you have access to distribution.

RELATED: 5 RULES FOR AN LOI FROM A SALES AGENT

The reality is that while pre-sales still happen, the likelihood of getting one isn’t very high for the vast majority of filmmakers. 

In an ideal world, every filmmaker would be able to get presales and fund most if not all of their movie on them.  Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world.  With the glut of content currently being produced, most filmmakers should consider themselves lucky to get a Letter of Intent. 

The reason a Sales Agent or a Distributor would pre-buy a movie is so they know they’ll be able to fill the programming slots when the time comes.  It used to be that if they pre-bought content, they could get it at a lower cost than when they bought it after it was completed. 

Unfortunately, due to a glut of equity financing in the market that is no longer the case.  With how many films are being made every year, the likelihood of them being unable to find suitable content is slim.  That’s why the only people still buying content require reputable directors and recognizable name talent. 

Now as then, the only reason to pre-buy is so you can get the films you need when you need them.  Given the glut of content filling the marketplace at the lower levels, the only films worth pre-buying have to be very high quality, with very high-quality assets.

​In order to get a presale, you need 3 things:

• The director must have a proven track record of 3+ films in a similar genre to the movie you’re producing now

• some level of recognizable name talent,

• The film must not be execution dependent.

All of this really boils down to distributors wanting to know that the movie they’re buying before it’s made will meet the needs of the outlets the distributor intends to release the film on.

That’s why the director’s track record is so important, and the notoriety of the cast is also a huge selling point.  It’s also where the idea of execution dependence comes in.  By Execution dependent, I mean that the film must not rely on the intricacies of good execution to be profitable.  Something like Moonlight is very execution dependent, whereas The Expendibles 4 is not.

Pre-selling your film is also if the film is based on well-known existing source material.  This could be a long-running series of books that might have flown under the radar of other movie producers, a recognizable web series, or even a video game.  Uwe Boll made his career by pre-selling terrible movies based on video games.  Of course, he also had the help of some very lenient German Tax incentives.

Letters of intent are much easier to get, as they’re a much less severe document.  If you have a strong relationship with a filmmaker, it’s very possible you could get a letter of intent. It’s also possible that if you or your producer’s rep know what they’re doing, they can work with the right sales agents to escalate the document into a pre-sale once the package comes together.

Thank you very much for reading. As always, there’s a lot more to this than I could explain in a 600-word article. If you want to get more support in getting an LOI, you should go ahead and grab my free film business resource pack. It’s got a free e-book, lots of templates, money and time-saving resources, and even a monthly digest of content segmented by topic to help you continue to grow your career on a manageable schedule. Get it via the button below.

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4 Reasons Niche Marketing is VITAL to your indiefilm’s Succes

Most people don’t plan to fail, they simply fail to plan.  Similarly, most filmmakers don’t think about anything other than getting the film made until the film is completed.  This is a prime example of failure to plan resulting in a failed project.  In reality, you should be thinking about your target market as early as when you write your script.  If this is your first film, you should be targeting a well defined niche.  Here are 4 reasons why.

Would you Rather Watch than Read?  Here's a video on the same general topic from my YouTube Channel.

Niche Marketing Gives you an audience for your film

I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your film is unlikely to appeal to everyone everywhere.  You’re much better off figuring out what parts of your story will resonate with various groups, and focusing your early marketing efforts on them.  It will put your film in front of the people who it will resonate most strongly with, and it will help you rise about the white noise that every content creator must face, especially when starting out. 

It’s also important to keep in mind that just because your film starts in a niche doesn’t mean that the niche is where it will always live.  If you properly utilize niche marketing, it can actually help you break out of the niche and into the more generalized marketplace. 

Niche Marketing Cuts down on your marketing cost

If you do think that you can target everyone, because your film is just that universally appealing then your marketing expenditures are going to be astronomical.  Also, you’ll be competing directly with movies like Star Wars, The Avengers, and whatever the next Pixar movie is.  Unless you’re a studio head, then you can’t afford to win that competition. 

Utilizing proper niche marketing efforts will dramatically cut down on your marketing expenditure since you’ll know exactly who you want to get your project in front of.  Thanks to social media platforms, you’ll be able to target those people directly using smart advertising buys and strong community engagement from an early stage.

Further, if you do break out of your niche, you’ll already have more noise being made about your project so the costs to market it will be much smaller.

Niche Marketing Can help you fund your film

If you start to get involved in niche communities well before you make your film, then you’ll have a community that you can mobilize to help you raise a portion of your funding through donation-based crowdfunding.  To be clear, if you simply post your campaign over and over to the various communities you want to support your campaign.  You’ll have to ingratiate yourself into them well before starting a campaign.

​The Reason that these people may well be willing to support your campaign is that many niche communities are underserved, and want to have their story shared. 

 They want to see more media made about their interests and themselves as a community.  They want their story told.  Many of them, are willing and eager to make it happen.  This brings us to our final point.

Niche Marketing Gives you advocates for your film

No Films can market themselves completely on their own. They need to get a core group of people to help spread the word. Niche marketing can be a huge help for getting the people who are most likely to be your strongest advocates onboard early. As mentioned above, they’re the people who care the most about your subject matter. They’re the people who will seek out your content and show it to your friends because they identify with it so much.

No one can create advocates, you must find them. The most likely place to find them is within the various underserved niches that have plenty of stories that need to be told. 

Thanks so much for Reading. If you like this and want more, check out my FREE Film Business Resource Pack! You’ll get a free e-book on the business of entertainment, a set of highly useful templates, and a whole lot more. Check it out below.

The Two Main types of Financial Projections for an IndieFilm

As a key part of writing a business plan for independent film, a filmmaker must figure out how much the film is likely to make back.  This involves developing or obtaining revenue projections. 

There are generally two ways to do this, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.  The first way is to do a comparative analysis.  This means taking similar films from the last 5 years and plugging them into a comparative model to generate revenue estimates.  The second way is to get a letter of intent from a sales agent and get them to estimate what they could sell this for in various territories across the globe. 

This blog will compare and contrast these two methods (Both of which I do regularly for clients) in an effort to help you better understand which way you want to go when writing the business plan for your independent film.

Would you Rather Watch/Listen to this than read it? Here’s a corresponding video on my YouTube Channel!

Comparative Analysis - Overview

A comparative analysis is when you comb IMDb Pro and The-Numbers.com to come up with a set number of comparable films to yours.  These are films that have a similar genre, similar budgets, similar assets, are based on similar intellectual property, and are generally within the last 5 years.  If you can match story elements that are a plus, but there are only so many films with the necessary data to compare. 

When I do it, I compare 20 films, average their ROIs from theatrical, pull numbers from home video wherever I can (Usually the-numbers.com), and then run them through a model I’ve developed to come up with revenue estimates.   Honestly, I don’t do a lot of this work.  Most of the time I refer it to my friends at Nash Info Services since they run The-Numbers.com and the brand behind these estimates means a lot to potential investors. 

I will do it when a client asks though, generally as a part of a larger business plan/packaging service plan.  

Sales Agency Estimates - Overview

Sales Agency Estimates are when you get a letter of intent from a sales agent, and as part of that deal the sales agent prepares estimates on what they think they can sell the film for on a territory-by-territory basis.  Generally, they work from what buyers they know they have in these territories, whether or not they buy content like this, and what they normally pay for content like yours. 

These estimates are heavily dependent on the state of your package, who’s directing your film, and who’s slated to star in it.  If you don’t have much of a package and a first-time director, then you’re not going to get very promising numbers.  ​

Comparative Analysis - Benefits

Generally, anyone can get these estimates.  Some people figure out the formula and do it themselves, others pay someone like me or Bruce Nash to do it for them.  There’s either a not insubstantial fee involved or a lot of time involved in getting them. They’ll generally satisfy an investor, especially if Bruce does it. 

Sales Agency Estimates - Benefit

The biggest benefit to a sales agency approach is that if they’re doing estimates for you, they’re probably going to distribute your film.  Also, these estimates have the potential to be more accurate, because they’re based on non-public numbers on what buyers are paying in current market conditions.  Finally, if a sales agent has given you an LOI, these estimates are generally free.

Comparative Analysis - Drawbacks

The first drawback is likely that they’re either very time intensive or somewhat costly to produce.  Also, because VOD Sales data is kept under lock and key, it’s very difficult to estimate total revenue from VOD using this method.  Given how important VOD is, that’s a somewhat substantial drawback.

Further, these estimates are greatly helped by the name value of who made them.  Likely, if the filmmaker makes them themselves, then they’re not as viable as if someone like Bruce or Me does them.  This is not only because we both have a track record in them, (Bruce much Moreso) but also because we’re mostly impartial third parties. 

These revenue estimates can be very flawed if a filmmaker makes them because many filmmakers have a tendency to only pick winners, not the films that lost money.  In business, we call this painting too blue a sky, as it makes everything look sunny with no chance of rain.  In film, there’s always a substantial chance of rain. ​

Sales Agency Estimates - Drawbacks

The biggest drawback to these estimates is that not everyone can get these estimates.  You have to have a relationship with the sales agency for them to consider giving them to you.  Generally, you’ll need to have convinced them to give you an LOI first.  That’s not always the case though. 

If you have a producer’s rep, they can sometimes get you through the relationship barrier, but they’ll often charge for doing so when we’re talking about a film that’s still in development. 

Also, Sales agencies can sometimes inflate their numbers to keep filmmakers happy and convince them to sign.  This does not look good to investors if that money never comes in

Conclusion

Overall, which method you use to estimate revenue depends entirely on what situation you find yourself in.  If you have the ability to get the sales agency estimates, they can be VERY strong, if you don’t, the comparative estimates are reliable enough to do what you need them to do.  That being said, I wouldn’t advise taking a comparative analysis to a sales agency. 

Thanks for Reading! Creating revenue estimates is only part of raising money for your film. There’s a lot more you’ll need to know if you want to succeed. That’s a large part of why I created my indie film resource package, to help filmmakers get the knowledge and resources they need to grow their careers. It’s totally free and has things like a deck template, free e-book, and even specialized blog digests sent out on a monthly basis to help you understand how to answer the questions your investors will almost certainly have. Check it out at the button below.

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IndieFilm Distribution Payment Waterfalls 101 (How Distributors Pay Filmmakers)

I’ve been quoted as saying that investors get the short end of the stick in film investment.  They end up putting up all or most of the money and then are often left with their hands out.  They’re the last to get paid on the production, and the system is structured in such a way that it’s almost impossible to create a sustainable investor class.

I wrote an entire 7-part blog series on WHY film investment is in the tubes, so I don’t need to do that again.  This blog will focus on exactly what I mean about investors being the last to be paid when filmmakers don’t get any profit share until after the investors have recouped.  The answer to this question lies in the standard distribution waterfall

​But before I list it out for you, I should make a point of saying that this is only true if you pay yourself either a stipend or a salary to produce the film.  If anyone is working 100% deferred, then it’s relatively likely that they’ll get paid after the investor.  However if you paid yourself to make the film in any way, then you have been paid before the investor, often using their money. 

So what is a waterfall?  A waterfall is how money from foreign sales and domestic distribution deals flows to the filmmaker.  The top of the waterfall is the money source, and the bottom of the waterfall is the filmmaker.  They normally look something like this, if the buyer is paying an MG or a License fee to the sales agent.

1. Buyer License fee/MG

2. Distributors fees/wire transfer fees.

3. Sales Agents Commission (20-35%)

4. Sales Agent’s Recoupable Expenses (up to cap)

5. Producer’s Representative Fees (If applicable, 5-15%)

6. Production Company fees

   1. Debt

   2. Equity Investor Investor (Until recoupment+10-20%, then 50% of future profits)

   3. Crew Deferments

   4. Producer share

If the buyer is offering a revenue share deal (Rev Share) then the waterfall will look more like this. 

1. Individual Sales (Total)

2. Buyer’s Commission (20-30%)

3. Distributors fees/wire transfer fees.

4. Sales Agents Commission (20-35%)

5. Sales Agent’s Recoupable Expenses (up to cap)

6. Producer’s Representative Fees (If applicable, 5-15%)

7. Production Company fees

   1. Debt

   2. Investor (Until recoupment+10-20%, then 50% of future profits)

   3. Crew Deferments

   4. Producer share

Generally, a Production Company won’t see ANY money until the sales agent has recouped their expenses.  Once they have, that item is essentially removed from the waterfall. 

The four subcategories underneath the production company are generally what happens after the production company receives money from the sales agency.  Admittedly, the investor is at the top of that waterfall (if we exclude the payments made in production) but they’re at the bottom of another. 

Each piece of the Waterfall takes a slice of the film.  For this example, we’ll assume the sales agent has already recouped their expenses.  We’ll assume another 10,000 dollar sale has come in for easy math.  So in the first waterfall, the sales agency takes 20% or 2,000 USD, then the remaining 80% (8000) goes down the line. 

Then let’s say that your Producer’s rep has done their job and gotten a good deal for you.  They charge the average price which is 10%.  So the Producer’s Rep takes 10% of the 8,000 dollars, or 800, and passes the remaining 7,200 on to the filmmaker.  The filmmaker then passes uses that money to back to their investor, settles up with crew deferments, and then pays themselves whatever is left. ​

If that same 10,000 USD was the result of a revenue share distribution agreement, it would look like this.  First, the distributor takes 20%, then passes not he remaining 8,000 USD to the sales agent.  Next the Sales agent takes 20% of the 8000 (1600) and passes the remaining 6,400 to the producer’s rep.  The Producer’s rep takes 10% (640) and passes the remaining 5760 to the production company.

In both these examples I’ve ignored wire fees, but they can range from 1-3%. 

One thing that you might notice is that the Sales Agency Commission is above their recoupable expenses.  This does mean that they’re taking out their commission before they start to pay themselves back their recoupable marketing expenses.  This is common, and while I don’t agree with it it’s a very difficult thing to negotiate.  That being said, it doesn’t make as big of a difference to the bottom line as you might think.  I’ve done the math, and it often amounts to around 4,000 to 5,000 extra for the sales agent.  I know that’s far from nothing, but it’s the comparably small amount means there are better places to focus the negotiation.

There are a few tactics that you can use to get a better deal and change the waterfall around a bit, but those are tactics that I’m going to leave out of my blog, due to them requiring a deft hand to execute properly. 

On that note, you might notice the extra line item for your producer’s rep, if you’re using one.  You might also think why would you pay an extra 10% to a producer’s rep?  The real answer is that a bad producer’s rep won’t really help you that much.  But a good producer’s rep can not only ensure you get the best deal possible but also that it’s with the best company possible for your film.

A good producer’s rep will help streamline the sales agency selection process and occasionally handle domestic distribution themselves.  They’ll also know exactly which parts of a distribution contract can be negotiated, and which ones can’t.  They’ll generally have long-term relationships with many sales agencies, so the negotiations are likely to go smoothly.  In short, a good Producer’s Rep might take a piece of the pie, but they’ll make the pie much bigger while they do. (See our services for more)

So there’s a primer, but there’s obviously a lot more to know. If you want to dive right in and find out what you need to know to grow your independent film company or career, a great place to start is my indiefilm business resource package. In addition to monthly mailings with the content you need to know to grow your career, It’s got an E-book, templates for decks, distributor content tracking, and exclusive updates on Guerrilla Rep Media Releases and content. It’s totally free, check it out below.

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5 Rules for Getting a Letter of Intent (LOI) From a Sales Agent for Your Film.

In order to properly package a movie, you need three things.  Recognizable Name Talent, First Money in, and at least a letter of intent from a distributor.  I’ve covered steps for preparing for calling agents in the Entrepreneurial Producer, (Free E-Book Here.) I’ve covered some of the ways you can get first money in this blog.  So now, I’ll cover some rules for approaching sales agencies in the blog you’re about to read

The reason you need an LOI is that the cause of films not recouping their investor’s money is that they can’t secure profitable distribution.  Your investors want to know you have a place to take the film once it’s done, so they can begin to get their money back.  Before you start thinking that you’ll just try to start a bidding war after the film is done, you should be aware that generally doesn’t happen. 

Before we begin, This Packaging concepts blog series was recommended by my friend Brittany, in the Producer Foundry group on facebook.  I occasionally look to answer questions people have there, so if you want me to answer something join the group.  Or, if you want definitely want to get some questions answered, you should join my Patreon.  I’m very active in the comments. ​

1. This document isn’t a Pre-Sale.

It’s important to note that there’s a big difference between a Pre-Sale and a Letter of Intent.  A Pre-Sale is something that you may well be able to take to the bank to take out a loan against.  That is, if you’ve got a presale agreement from a reputable distributor or sales agency.  If you’re working on making your first film, that’s probably not going to happen though. 

To get a Pre-sale, you need to have a known director with a proven track record, a film that’s not Execution Dependent, and likely some noteworthy cast.  Even then, the Pre-Sale often only covers the cast.

An LOI is a much less serious document.  It’s essentially a letter guaranteeing that a sales agent will review the film on completion, and if it fits their business needs they will represent the film.  Generally, the producer will give the sales agency an exclusive first look for the privilege of using their name to help package and finance the film.  Sales Agencies can’t just give these to everyone, as it waters down their brand.  You’ve got to compensate them in some way for taking a risk on you. 

This is not the final document, you’ll negotiate a distribution agreement once the film is done.  Don’t try to negotiate one at this point, since you’ll be in an inferior negotiation position. ​

2. Make sure there’s a time window on the sales agent’s first look

If you fail to put a time window on the sales agent's first look, you can lock yourself up and potentially lose the first window on the film.  Generally, I’ll say something like 14 or 30 days from initial submission on completion of the film.  This gives the sales agency time for review but doesn’t hurt the filmmaker’s options if they take too long.  This also prevents them from tying you into a contract. ​

3. Only approach agencies that sell films like the one you want to make.

This may sound obvious, but if you’re looking for an LOI for a horror film, don’t approach sales agencies that deal primarily in family films.  If all goes according to plan, this sales agency will be distributing your film when it’s done.  You want to make sure they’re well-suited to sell your film when the time comes. ​

4. Look at the track record of the agency you want to work with

You need to look into what films the sales agent has made in the past, and how widely those films have been distributed. At this stage, doing this isn’t as important as when you negotiate the final distribution deal, but it is something you should know when going after a letter of intent. 
​
Also, the track record of the sales agency or distributor has a direct impact on how valuable the LOI is.  An LOI from Lionsgate means a lot more than an LOI from someone on the third floor at AFM this year.  Looking at the track record can help you more accurately assess the value of the document you hold, so you can better present that information to potential investors. ​

5. Getting an LOI is Heavily Dependent on the Relationship with the Sales Agency.

If you walk in cold and start asking for an LOI on the first meeting, you’re not likely to be successful.  It takes time and a fair amount of correspondence to get to the point where a sales agency is willing to take a risk on you. ​

​If you don’t want to spend the time and money to establish these relationships by going to markets and having calls and emails with the sales agency, you may want to consider a Producer’s Rep. 

Most producer’s rep will require some level of upfront payment for this sort of work.  I charge a relatively small amount upfront and a larger amount on success for this sort of work.  That said, I’m relatively selective about what I take on.  If you’d like to find out more click the links below to submit your project, or book a call with me on Clarity to pick my brain about the next steps.  Alternatively, you can sign up for a free strategy session and talk about what the best next steps for you would be.  I also offer educational programs that will teach you how to get these for yourself.  Those start with a one-hour strategy session.  In this one-hour strategy session, I'll help you figure out where you are, what the next steps for you are, and what the best course of action for helping you get there would be.  

Thanks so much for reading! This is only a primer, and in order to succeed you’ll need a lot more information on the business of indie film. If you want help getting that, you should check out Guerrilla Rep Media’s independent film business resource package. You’ll get a free-ebook, lots of templates, money-saving resources, and even a monthly content digest delivered to your inbox to help you grow your indie film company and premier. It’s completely free and linked in the button below.

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The 5 Windows of DIY Distribution

Not every film is well suited for traditional distribution. Most market distributors have a saying for what they’re looking for, “Bullets and Babes.” So if you’ve made a film that doesn’t fit the hot genres and doesn’t have any notable talent, you’re going to need to plan your distribution carefully. Luckily, there are tools that can help you make the most out of your DIY distribution. Here’s a top-level view of them.

Window 1: Promote and get Partners to help you

Whether we’re talking about traditional distribution or self-distribution, phase one is always to spread awareness of your film. It’s generally best for this to start in the early stages of making your film. However, it’s never too late to get started.

First seek out partners with expertise in traditional distribution, online marketing, and festival promotion. They can help you minimize costs and maximize your efficacy. They’ll also help you build and engage with your community. You should also retain a publicist if you can afford it, as it’s generally the best marketing money you can spend.

After that, start submitting to smaller festivals and those that fit whatever niche your film falls into. If you made a film about environmental issues, there are a lot of green film festivals. If you happen to be an Asian American there are festivals that were created for you as well, including CAAMfest. If you made an LGBTQ film, then there are quite a lot of festivals available to you. If you’re in SF, the big fish is Frameline.

No matter what, make sure to submit to your local festivals. You can start a loyal fan base and grow hometown recognition by submitting to these festivals. Often, they’re easier to get into. This is less true if you’re in San Francisco or a major hub. If you are, you might want to target the newer film festivals.

These festivals won’t do much for you in terms of traditional distribution. The only ones that will are the top tier festivals, I.E. Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, Tribeca, and SXSW, and most of the top 20 Genre festivals like Frightfest, FantasiaFest, or similar. If you can get into any of those, then your chances for traditional distribution go up substantially. Although, it’s not likely you’ll get in. Here’s a chart on Sundance submissions vs. acceptances for documentaries as it’s the best image I could find. The numbers for the narrative are in the same ballpark.

Feel free to submit to the next top tier festival that’s coming up. The submissions are not incredibly expensive, and if you get in the career boost is substantial. Since they require premier status, you might even want to hold back accepting a place in any of the other festivals. That said, if you don’t get into that first one don’t wait for the next one. Start taking festival spots, once they’re more than a year old, they’re a lot harder to sell. Films are not evergreen. ​

Window 2: High Touch PPVOD and DVDs in Store

​As soon as you get into a single festival, get your film on Allied Vaugn, VHX, and Vimeo On Demand. There will be an up front cost for most of those. Potentially as much as about 300 to 500 USD All in.

Vimeo On Demand and VHX (Now Vimeo OTT) are VOD platforms that merged a while back. I prefer VHX, but we’ll see what happens in the coming months after the merger. They’re both 90/10 splits, with the 90 going to the filmmaker. Vimeo requires up front fees, VHX currently does not, unless you upload A LOT of content. That said, they’re not available on as many platforms as accessible as something like iTunes or google play. Additionally, they’re not great about helping with Marketing. But retaining the 90/10 split is much better to earn some money for your creation. VHX also lets you keep track of people who buy your video and even add their emails to your list.

Allied Vaugn is a DVD wholesaler. It’s the platform used by booksellers large and small, as well as many other brick-and-mortar content-selling businesses. You’d be surprised where you end up with your content on Ingram. *COUGH*

This window should be done concurrently with the first window. When your project gets into a festival, make sure to call local DVD retailers and bookstores to let them know that your film is in a local festival and they can get your DVD on Ingram. Make sure you include local stores with your DVD on your handouts, as well as the VHX and Vimeo URLs. You’d be surprised what support you can drum up. You could include a QR code, but hardly anyone uses them.

Window 3 –Broad TVOD

Around the same time of your initial VOD release, towards the end of your festival run you should consider hiring an aggregator and getting your film on iTunes and Google Play. Depending on which aggregator you use, you may want to do Amazon Video Direct yourself, since it’s relatively easy.

It’s nearly impossible to get on iTunes without an Aggregator. You’ll want to pick your aggregator carefully since some have been guilty of severe financial mismanagement.

It will take up to 6 months to get it placed on most TVOD services, so plan accordingly. Amazon Video Direct is pretty quick, with a turnaround of only a few days or at worst weeks the last time I did it.

Make sure you do your research on aggregators, In general, I’ve found Filmhub and Bitmax to be the best, but that might change by the time you read this. Allied Vaugn can get you on some TVOD platforms and more AVOD platforms as well.

Window 4 — SVOD

After about 6–9 months on Broad TVOD, it’s time to boost your brand by getting your film on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Paramount+ some others. You won’t get much money for this, but you will get a lot of visibility. You’ll need connections through Distributor, Producer’s Rep, Talent Agent, or maybe a sales agent for this one, as they don’t take open submissions. Additionally, this is far from guaranteed, they generally only take fewer than 1 in 10 of the films they’re pitched.

The real point of this is to build your brand for your next film. If you want to build something better, telling investors your last film is on Netflix helps them understand that you are experienced and tested.

Window 5 — AVOD/Loss leader

If you can’t get an SVOD Deal, or once the exclusivity period expires you should work with your aggregator to get the film on as many Ad-Supported Video On Demand outlets as you can. This can often be the most profitable window for independent films, at least as of this writing. Again, as of this writing, Tubi has the most viewers and as such tends to pay the best.

You’ll need to go through an aggregator, distributor, sales agent, or tastemaker who has a vendor license with Tubi or whatever platform you want to be on. You should consider giving the film away for free on your website, and perhaps even youtube or regular Vimeo.

This window is likely to be 3–4 years after release. Personally, I prefer giving away streams in exchange for an email. This will help you if you want to crowdfund a movie, or when you release your next film for windows 1 and 2. If you want to know how that would work, it would probably look really similar to the process you’ll see from signing up for my resource package down below! Take yourself through it for a UX guide, and you’ll also get some templates and a free e-book for doing so. It’s truly a Win-Win!

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The 7 Main Indiefilm Distribution Deal Points

A lot of people are afraid of the complexity of deals with sales agencies. They have a reputation as being very dense, and difficult to understand. While there is truth to this, there’s also a general layout every filmmaker should understand. Many of the pitfalls for distribution can be avoided by knowing these 7 major deal points. That said, you should always have a lawyer or a producer’s rep look over your contract.

This list is not meant to be complete, but it does cover the most important aspects of the deal.

1. Term

This is not really different all that different from the standard legal definition of the term, it’s simply how long the contract will remain in place.
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For film, a good term is anywhere between 3 and 7 years. The sales agent will generally be able to sell the film to third parties [i.e Buyers] for terms that extend beyond the contract with the filmmaker.

2. Territory

The territories are where the sales agents have the right to sell your film. These rights can be both exclusive and non-exclusive, but if you’re selling to a sales agent without the help of a representative or a lawyer, you’ll likely be selling them all rights.
Generally, territories are broken out by both region and country. For example, Germany would be considered a territory in the Western Europe Region. This can get confusing, in that Latin America is both a territory and a region. The Region also contains Mexico, Brazil, and a few others.

3. Languages

One must keep in mind that the business of international sales a global one (as the name would imply.) As such, it means dealing with both cultural and language barriers. Often, a territorial sale is heavily influenced by language. For instance, France is often sold with French Canada.

4. ​Media Rights

Media refers to the different Delivery methods that a sales agent can sell your film by. Different rights would include the following.

1. Theatrical
2. DVD/home video
3. PayTV
4. Cable/NetworkTV
5. VOD [Et Al]

Read more: The 5 Main Indiefilm Media right types

Generally, a sales agent will sell by any combination of these three types of rights. Most of the time, these rights will be exclusive, but sometimes they will be non-exclusive. This is more common for VOD deals, with some notable exception for SVOD deals. These deals are also subject to a term.
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Exclusivity is necessary, and does help the filmmaker as well. Without exclusivity is the only thing that creates value when the thing you’re selling can be replicated infinitely. If the supply is infinite, there’s no way to have enough demand to increase the value of the content. Exclusivity helps maintain the value of the content.

5. Revenue Split/MG

A Minimum Guarantee (MG) would be the payment a filmmaker receives upfront. These are something that filmmakers can receive, but it’s somewhat rare. Generally, you’ll need recognizable talent and a hot genre in order to get one.
The revenue split the Sales Agent takes, as opposed to what the Filmmaker takes.
These splits generally vary between 20% and 35%. Generally, sales agents don’t like to negotiate this deal too much. There are other ways to negotiate these deal points.

6. Recoupable Expense

These are the expenses a distributor can charge before paying a filmmaker. Travelling to film markets gets quite expensive, often costing in the mid-5 figures to the low-mid 6 figures. As such, film they should always have a cap. If there was an MG, this would be part of the Recoupable Expenses.
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Generally, these should be somewhere between 20 and 50 thousand, that’s not including any MG. That number could also be substantially higher if there’s a theatrical release involved.

7. Exit Conditions

This is how you exit the contract should things not go well.   This is much more complex than simply including an arbitration clause.  If The arbitrator only arbitrates based on the initial contract, so if you don't have exit clauses you're not in a great place.  There are lots of different provisions for this, far too many for a blog post, but here are a few things you could include.

• Optional Reversion if X% of the budget not meant by 18–24 months after deal signing.

  • This would mean that if you haven’t made a certain percentage back by a certain date, then the rights would revert to you. Generally, you’d put this number at 30–50%.

  • In an all-rights deal. It’s your film, you deserve to get paid.

  • While you deserve to be paid, this clause is harder to negotiate in than it once was.

• Optional Reversion if the company is wholly acquired by a third party, or goes bankrupt.

  • International sales is a risky game, and often the newer players in it don’t last long. Because of this, it’s important to make sure that you include this clause.

As I said at the top, I’m not a lawyer and this isn’t leagal advice. These are simply the best practices I’ve learned from a decade in distribution. If you found this useful want to better prep for success in film distribution, you should make sure you grab my FREE indiefilm business reseource pack. It’s got distributor contact tracking templates, research guides, deck templates, and a whole lot more. Get it for free below.

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