Principles of Hybrid Distribution
I’ll be hosting a panel with Film Independent in October focusing on the distribution challenges facing indie films, a topic I’ve written about in the wake of The Nines.
A new article by Peter Broderick articulates a lot of the points I’ll try to make. Broderick calls it hybrid distribution, and while he offers ten points, I’d boil it down to three:
- Don’t bank on selling it at a festival. Anticipate distributing it yourself.
- Know your audience before rolling cameras.
- Focus on getting people to see your movie, on whatever size screen makes sense.
As Broderick says:
Today many filmmakers are as determined to retain “distribution control” as they are to maintain “creative control.” Distribution control is the power to determine the overall structure and sequence of distribution, select distribution partners, and divide up distribution rights.
Splitting distribution rights used to seem like a Bad Thing: “They only want the movie for DVD.” The truth is that many movies would be better off letting specialized companies handle specialized jobs.
Sony wanted The Nines for domestic home video, and brought in Newmarket to handle theatrical. If I’d really understood that at the start, I might have pushed our sales reps to draw up narrower contracts. As it is, I have no idea when the movie will show up on domestic cable, because it’s part of a much larger package of movies Sony represents.
Grant each distribution partner only the specific rights they can handle well. For example, if a company is strong in retail DVD and digital, give them these rights, but do not also give them VOD if they have no experience with VOD.
Broderick doesn’t completely discount the Old Way.
If you have a movie that Fox Searchlight knows how to market, you’re in a much stronger position. When it works, traditional distributors have reach and power that can’t be matched, not only theatrically but far down the chain. Yes, you’ll have less control over certain aspects, and may not be able to sell DVDs from your website. But you’ll be able to sell them at Target, which may be the better home for them.
The best distributors have resources, relationships, and expertise, which can be essential to a wide theatrical release. They may also have advantageous deals in place for VOD, DVD, and digital rights. If filmmakers do due diligence (by speaking with other filmmakers involved with the distributor they are considering) and are able to negotiate a fair deal, their best choice may be an all-rights deal. Higher budget, more mainstream features are better suited for an Old World approach.
If you’re thinking about making an indie, Broderick’s article is worth a read.
Articles
September 21st, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Great post! I guess this has been on a lot of filmmakers’ minds recently with the lack of distribution deals happening this year at festivals.
Why not do the distribution? As a filmmaker (albeit an amateur) I would love to package the movie in a box and say, “Done!” but I guess that’s not possible anymore.
September 21st, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Great post. It’s good to read about Indie film distribution not being “dead and gone” but rather something that needs to be thought about more carefully (like everything does in this post-bubble market). I wrote a somewhat similar post after attending the Produced-By conference and getting inspired by the Indie distro panels that all was not doom and gloom for Indies if one was willing to think creatively and intelligently about distro — but Broderick’s article gets into some more specifics, and I’m glad pointed us at it. Thanks!
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I think Peter’s take is spot-on, to a point. My first feature, PORNOGRAPHY, has been running around the gay fest circuit all summer (NY, SF, LA, Philly) and we’re about to head on into all the regional fall fests (Palm Springs, Atlanta, Tampa, Portland, Washington DC, etc). By all accounts, the distribution landscape has changed dramatically in the last two-four years. I don’t know a single film in the circuit right now that got a deal that was even remotely what it would have been two years ago.
Not that that’s completely a bad thing. The question will be whether VOD and emerging technologies makes up for the reduction money from DVD, TV and other avenues for indies. If it doesn’t catch up soon, a lot of low-to-micro budget films, or niche films (like gay films), will have a very difficult time breaking even, even with extremely low budgets. Added to which the sudden lack of real movie reviewers, you suddenly have an atmosphere where there’s, say, some new barely released title at the Sunset 5 or Landmark every week, but nobody has a clue whether it’s some festival detritus or the next minor miracle.
September 22nd, 2009 at 5:58 pm
I read the article, and there was a long list of people to form the sales team. I was wondering where one would look to find all of those people. And more specifically in Canada. Anyone??