10 Tips For Strategizing Distribution Today
by Peter Knegt (April 30, 2009)
David Fenkel, Geoff Gilmore, Sara Pollack, Jon Reiss, Cynthia Swartz, Ryan Werner, and Steven Zeitchik at the Tribeca Talks: Industry panel Tuesday afternoon in New York. Photo by Peter Knegt.
Aimed at aspiring or challenged filmmakers, a Tribeca Film Festival panel discussion examined the emergence of innovative new strategies for marketing as well as digital distribution, and how there are now multiple ways for filmmakers to control what happens to their film. Six industry insiders gathered at the School of Visual Arts Theater in Manhattan to discuss alternative distribution and marketing 2.0 during the “Tribeca Talks: Tools of the Trade” session, moderated by The Hollywood Reporter‘s Steven Zeitchik. Participants included an eclectic mix of voices, including Oscilloscope Laboratories founder David Fenkel, Tribeca Enterprises’ Chief Creative Officer and former Sundance head Geoff Gilmore, You Tube’s Entertainment Marketing Manager Sara Pollack, “Bomb It” filmmaker Jon Reiss, 42 West publicity’s co-head Cynthia Swartz, and IFC Entertainment’s Vice President of Marketing, Ryan Werner. The conversation was targeted at answering filmmakers’ questions about the best formula for success in this confusing new landscape Here are ten tips from the panelists: 1. The Safety Net Is Gone “The system that we’ve evolved from has been going through this enormous change without us really even understanding [it]. Thirty years ago, video didn’t exist. Pay television didn’t exist. Those two ancillaries became the safety net for independent film. Everybody went out there with the idea that even if we don’t make back theatrical we’ll get half our money back with a pay television sale or some sort of video release. It’s gone. After thirty years, that safety net is gone. And I’ve been using this joke for the last several years and it’s not a very funny joke: The good news is that more films have been distributed in the theatrical marketplace than at any time since the 1950s. And what’s the bad news? That more films have been distributed in the theatrical marketplace then at any time since the 1950s. Because the marketplace itself is so cutthroat, and so crowded, that all of the truths that used to be what made independent film work, are now going away.” - Geoff Gilmore
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@BigStar, I’m all for new distribution opportunities. Maybe I’m a little prudish in not wanting my film next to the other indie films like “Never Been Touched” or “Desperately Horny Housewives”. Granted, the adult industry has always been a technology innovator/energizer (VHS, CDROM, online subscriptions), but I’d prefer to have completely different distrib platforms in cases like this.
Independent filmmakers who are interested in selling digital downloads of their films online should check out http://www.bigstar.tv - they have a non-exclusive contract, and you set your own prices.
Their whole site is dedicated to independent film.. It’s the best one I’ve found so far.
That’s a great link, raveboy. Though I do have to say I found the statements here also quite helpful. Occasionally a little broad, sure, but this is a 1000 word article, not a book on how to make films. The last five statements in particular - which don’t discuss the “old theatrical, DVD and television markets” at all but instead speak - broadly, but insightfully - to the evolution of publicity and marketing that, at least for me as a fairly new filmmaker that doesn’t get a chance to attend film festivals very regularly, was very helpful.
Honestly, these just sounds like empty broad statements talking about the old theatrical, DVD, and television markets that don’t give any direction of specifics to start even thinking about.
There was a online roundtable a few weeks ago that I found a lot more insightful and the contributors seemed to have more specific and interesting ideas, or at least not as much “more of the same” that these points seem to make. Here’s the link to that roundtable: http://bit.ly/UVDd3