The movie distribution industry is a competitive one. You’re emotionally and physically worn out after struggling and perspiring to complete a movie.
You just want to take a break and relax, but you are unable to do so since only half of a movie has to be seen. It’s time to join the world of movie distribution.
For aspiring filmmakers, the world of film distribution may be challenging. To deal with the financial aspect of marketing movies, one must struggle to turn off the creative imagination.
What I’ve discovered the hard way is that a movie’s marketing and promotion come first before its release.
Social media is a cheap approach to promote your movie and build a powerful online viral buzz.
Doing the film festival route is a great way to get your movie in front of spectators and possible movie buyers, but from talking to other filmmakers over the years, it seems that the film festival industry is becoming too congested these days.
Filmmaker Wayne Daniells of LiarDice Productions in the UK informed me that his last visit to the Cannes Film Festival was a merciless feeding frenzy.
There was a surplus of movies, and producers were vying for distributors’ attention.
Wayne concluded by saying that it was a waste of time and resources to pitch his movie there. Several directors who are dissatisfied with the film festival scene and no longer consider it as a good method to achieve movie distribution have expressed the same idea to me.
Personally, I like to ask movie distributors directly whether they’d be interested in receiving a screener. If you have already been utilising social media to advertise and promote your movie online, it will assist here.
Distributors are more keen to buy movies that already have a significant internet following.
I’m just opining from the standpoint of a genuine independent film. In the realm of movie distribution, studio budget films are a whole other species.
When it comes to movie distribution, independent producers and filmmakers often incur the risk of creating the picture without any firm guarantees of movie distribution in place.
To sell it, they often have to look about. So far, it has been my own personal experience. I’ve never produced material with a pre-existing movie distribution agreement.
Similar to drafting a script on the go, but for a movie. It is crucial to advertise and promote a movie on social media.
Before your movie is even completed, begin. As a result, your movie will have more appeal when you start reaching out to movie distributors since people are talking about it.
The majority of the films that independent film distributors release get relatively little promotion.
It won’t be advertised outside of the typical insert in a movie distributor catalogue if your movie doesn’t have any celebrities or famous faces associated with it.
Hence, once you do acquire a movie distribution contract, you are already helping your movie via marketing and self-promotion.
Let me go back to looking for a movie distribution contract since my thoughts is all over the place right now. Wait on a moment. Right now, a good Miller Lite would help me concentrate.
Now that is much better. There are many methods to get a distribution agreement for a movie. You may use the funds to go the festival route. During film festivals, deals are made all the time.
But, there are just too many film festivals. As compared to the amount of movie distributors that distribute independent films, the number of film festivals is wildly out of proportion.
Many indie film producers find that avoiding the festival circuit works best when they don’t hire well-known performers or are certain that their subject won’t appeal to an art-house audience.
If you decide to completely avoid the film festival scene, hiring a film sales agent is a wise choice. A film sales representative or producer’s rep may help you get your movie shown since they have connections with distributors.
Also, a lot of them can help you get your film published in publications like Indie Slate and MovieMaker to improve its appeal to movie distributors.
They also keep an eye on you when it comes to contracts for the distribution of movies. It might be intimidating for filmmakers to review movie distribution agreements.
There is a lot of “mumbo jumbo” legalese in there intended to lower the amount of money you get from movie royalties or a basic buy-out of your movie.
It’s simple to be taken advantage of unless you have expertise understanding movie distribution contracts. I have the habit of reading all contracts in their entirety, especially while a great sales person like “El Tigre” is watching my back.
You’ll be astonished by the additional fees and expenses that some film distributors attempt to hide from a filmmaker in the contract definitions section, of all places.
I once discovered a set rate of $50,000 for marketing expenses in the definitions section with my film sales representative.
Another wise choice is to hire an entertainment lawyer, although doing so is often out of reach for a true independent filmmaker. Also, in my personal experience, an entertainment attorney is less useful in obtaining a movie distribution agreement or publicity than a film sales salesperson.
Well, that’s not what an entertainment lawyer does. When it comes to negotiating your movie distribution deal, they’re fantastic. Yet unlike a film sales agent, the majority won’t help you close a purchase. After a transaction has been agreed upon, you may invite them in.
When it came time to sell a reality programme I created dubbed “America’s Wildest Bachelor Party,” I had two savvy industry attorneys who kept me from being burnt. They were successful in obtaining a contract that was advantageous to the producer and ensured that I received payment on schedule each quarter. I’m happy I chose them.
If hiring a film sales representative or entertainment lawyer is just out of your price range, you may still acquire significant movie distribution by working hard on your own.
After promoting and marketing your film online, you should put together a tidy film package to present to distributors. Keep it simple by using a DVD screener, one-sheet artwork, a succinct summary, a tagline, and extremely brief biographies for the main actors or crew who have prior IMDB credentials.
See which studios are putting out films in your genre to compile a list of possible distributors. Nowadays, it’s rather simple to get contact information online.
For film submissions, movie distribution firms often feature a contact page. Send your film package in accordance with the instructions. Be patient if you don’t hear back right away since they get a tonne of film entries.
Movie distributors go through phases when they actively seek for films to add to their collection and phases where they have all they need right now. I’ve noted down the purchasing months.
They will Google your movie as soon as they get your film bundle. Being actively marketing and promoting your film online stands out in this situation. Just having a website or blog won’t cut it.
To make your movie stand out in the eyes of movie distributors, you need some publicity and support from internet film bloggers.
In a book I authored on independent filmmaking, I included a chapter on movie distribution. You may use it to get more specific information on movie distribution. Best of luck selling and promoting your film. For more details John Wick: Chapter 4
