You’ve poured your heart and soul, and literally all your
money, into making your first movie. Now what do you do with it? There are a
few different avenues that an independent (or student) filmmaker can take once
they’ve completed their feature film. There’s distribution and submitting to
festivals. Depending on how much money you have left because both options can
have hefty expenses. You can also start up a crowdfunding account to fund the
release and/or distribution to your film.
There are a few options with distribution. You can select to
hire an agent (a professional, with all the connections, to market your film),
or you can distribute yourself through POD’s (print on demand). There are
websites available like Distribber or CreateSpace. Each website has pros and
cons to it. There are start up costs associated with each website. You should
always read the fine print. It all really depends on how far you’d like your
movie to reach. If you are striving to go international, you may definitely
want to consider an agent. Most of the POD’s are only throughout Canada and the
United States. Something else that is available would be a producer of
marketing and distribution (PMD). Again, you want to read all the details that
are involved in hiring an agent and/or PMD as well going the POD route. The
last thing you want to do is give away any rights or royalties.
Today there are thousands of film festivals all year round.
However, submitting your finished film to a festival isn’t as easy as it
sounds. There are fee’s associated with entry. It’s also not a guarantee that
you’re film will be allowed entry. If your film is selected, that doesn’t mean
you just show up, and it’s a free ride to the top. You still have marketing and
promoting to do during the festival. Indiewire.com has a good starting
point for a list of film festivals.
This is just a discussion. I do not promote or profit from
any websites discussed.
Cat,
ReplyDeleteI think now with the emergence of the Internet as well as all of the digital outlets to distribution, it can seem a little chaotic on what are the right ways. I think you highlighted a lot of really good points in your blog. For me, online distribution seems a bit to cumbersome for my liking. I prefer to have all that responsibility in the hands of someone who is more qualified then myself. Since distribution is such an important part of the filmmaking process, I think it’s important to have somebody who does it for a living. Now on the hand, there are filmmakers out there who do not have the means to have an agent. Online distribution does have its strengths and weakness. I am just glad that there are more options then there used to be.
Wesley D Swain
This is an interesting post, because I often think that many independent or start-up filmmakers do not know what to do with their work once they’ve completed it. I am not a filmmaker and I wouldn’t know how to distribute a film that I produced, so I appreciate all of this information. Keeping in mind that I recognize you aren’t promoting any specific sites, I had a couple of thoughts on this topic and wanted to get your opinions. Do you have a preferred POD that you personally use for any of your work? I am going to assume that you distribute your films via a digital format. With that assumption, what ways do you distribute – iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, etc.? Also, you mention looking at the fine print when signing up for a service. What kinds of things would you advise to look for as you choose a distribution method?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information!
Dustin