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10 Tips For Strategizing Distribution Today

by Peter Knegt (April 30, 2009)
10 Tips For Strategizing Distribution Today
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

2. Online Revenue Is Going To Come From Different Places

“You Tube, I think, from its conception was really a great place for film just by virtue of the fact that it’s video-based and people are sharing stories and we have millions of people around the world tuning in to see what those stories are. It makes a lot of sense for film to be there. But I think there’s a lot of work to be done… I don’t think there is a silver bullet for monetization online. I think that it’s gonna come from a lot of different places. We’ve clearly been experimenting with ad supported viewing and sharing ad revenue in the launch of shows and movies. But I think the money isn’t always going to necessarily come directly tied to that video on YouTube, but there’s a lot that goes on in ancilliary markets to help drive that revenue.” - Sara Pollack

3. Be More Open To Working In Different Ways

”As filmmakers, you need to be more open to working in a different way. I think when we launched our day-and-date program [in which films are released simutaneously in theaters and on IFC’s Festival Direct on cable on demand], a lot of people didn’t understand it, and it took a lot of convincing. But I think as we worked with Steven Soderbergh [on ‘Che’] and Gus Vant Sant [on ‘Paranoid Park’], and a lot of major filmmakers, and also a lot of young, first time filmmakers… I think people have become a lot more open.” - Ryan Werner

4. Change The Philosophy of the Theatrically Driven

“You know, I think the DVD market place is only part of the whole market place. I mean, in some ways, it doesn’t matter to me whether a film comes to me downloaded, through a DVD, a network… You know, however it is. The real question is how do you market it? The real question is how is the audience going to find out about it? That’s what [IFC’s] Festival Direct was about. That was the whole thing. I mean, use a platform that gives you visibilty that allows you to then build off of that platform, by - in fact - changing the philosophy that everything has to be theatrically driven. That everything does not have to come out theatrically, be market-driven out of that theatrical exposure, and everything follows from that.” - Geoff Gilmore

 
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posted on April 30, 2009
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