Another piece from Anne Thompson at Variety about the changing distribution strategies indie producers/distributors are pursuing:

[F]ilmmakers with an easily defined niche and some marketing flair can still assemble a distribution plan. After doc “Beautiful Losers” debuted at SXSW in March, the filmmakers considered traditional offers from distribs but decided to release the doc on their own. Sidetrack Films partnered with Nike Sportswear to sponsor art workshops, and a shoe and apparel company helped pay for its Aug. 8 launch at New York’s IFC Center and subsequent rollout to four more markets.

Longtime fest film seller John Sloss‘ Cinetic Media also entered the fray this year with the Digital Rights Management group, led by former SXSW film fest director Matt Dentler, who is taking on some of the thousands of titles that are undervalued and haven’t sold after playing the fest circuit. Cinetic will take rights exclusively as a distributor does, and share all revenues 50/50, with no advance.

Filmmakers don’t have to give away the store with DVD deals anymore, but can pursue online distribution via Amazon and a host of rival online indie distribs, from iArthouse and iTunes to IndiePix, Jaman, Hulu, Vudu, Cinequest, Spout and GreenCine.

Laure Parsons at Infinicine points out that holding on to digital rights is not necessarily the path to riches when most people are still watching DVDs:

It may seem like a coup to retain digital rights if you do a DVD deal but you may be shooting yourself in the foot.  A good distributor will manage your digital rights in concert with the DVD to make sure you see the maximum revenue on the balance sheet.

The film business has always been a high-risk venture, but now at the onset of a deal, the willingness to give is at an all-time low. Filmmakers want to hold on to whatever they can, in hopes they can parcel off rights for some benefit in case one or another distribution partner fails.  Distributors want every right, so that they can consolidate their campaigns and also have different avenues to fall back on if one strategy fails.  The only protection you have as a filmmaker ultimately is to know who you’re getting in bed with and their track record- or to do it yourself, but armed with a lot of knowledge and some good consultants.

I’ve been meaning to blog about Anita Elberse’s Should You Invest in the Long Tail article for a while now because it highlights some key misunderstandings about what the long tail actually means for producers and aggregators/retailers of niche content ie. it absolutely does not mean that niche content is suddenly turning into blockbuster material and neither does it mean that niche content producers/aggregators no longer need to worry about big, mainstream successes. In fact the hits are vitally important to support the content in the tail (and savvy aggregators will exploit this key relationship between mainstream/hit content and the niche – between the head and the tail). Her advice to producers:

The Tribeca Film Institute’s Brian Newman has some very astute comments on Elberse’s research:

She gives many scenarios of advice for both producers and distributors of content to consider, but the implications are pretty clear – the long-tail does exist, but the business models to best exploit it may not be what many in indie film have thought. It’s very clear that aggregators, online stores, etc. need to have a mix of both popular and niche content – there isn’t some mythical consumer that only values niche content, and your little film is much more likely to be found if someone can get there while investigating something much better known. This is nothing new of course. Film festival programmers have always used the strategy of mixing an experimental short, say, in front of a more popular feature to build audience for the more obscure title. It works this way online as well. Anyone thinking about how the long-tail impacts the indie film business -festivals, distribution, producing – should study these findings closely because it’s very possible that the idea of separating indie/niche content from popular content (i.e. current practice) is not a good idea in an online, interconnected world.

The Independent Filmmaker Conference takes place during Independent Film Week in NYC September 14-19. The Conference covers lots of great areas: Making Your First Feature, Filmmaking 2.0, The Global Marketplace, Alternative Distribution, The Truth about Non-Fiction, Film and Philanthropy. Click here for full schedule.

You can also hear conversations with Kevin Smith, Robert Greenwald (Brave New Films) and Rick Allen (SnagFilms).

Interesting New York Times article about how Bottle Shock Director Randall Miller is releasing the film himself, together with his wife and co-writer Jody Savin.

Along with the expenses incurred if you go it alone there are other caveats to bear in mind:

“You‘ve got to have the phone numbers,” said Tom Bernard, the longtime co-president of Sony Pictures Classics. “Self-distribution is good, it can work, but filmmakers who are so innovative in making movies have to channel some of that into learning how the marketplace works.” He said major pitfalls were “carpetbaggers” and “middlemen” who may agree to represent a movie at a place like Sundance, but gravitate to the easy sale and leave their less fortunate filmmakers high and dry.

We’re doing a bit of a catch-up on things that have been happening in the blogosphere over the past few weeks and wanted to draw your attention to this piece by Noah Harlan on the Filmmaker Magazine blog – written after he returned from the Sundance Producer’s Lab. In it he addresses online, ad-supported business models and comes to the conclusion that “In an ad-based model you would need a minimum of at least 800,000 viewers and possibly as many as 3.3 million just to break even.” Give it a read and make sure to read the comments – there are interesting thoughts from people like Jan Rofekamp (FilmsTransit), Doug Block (D-Word) and Scott Kirsner (CinemaTech).

HD EXPO is coming to NYC (September 22-25) after seven successful years establishing itself as the premier trade show, education, and community event for the content creation industry. Registration for the EXPO is FREE in advance and includes all panels, exhibit hall and Intensive Workshops which sounds like a very good deal to us indeed! Workshops include Sony, Panasonic and Adobe equipment and software and there will be panels on subjects like The Art of Editing in the 21st Century: Creativity and Technology – plus lots of exhibitors to check out.

You can stream panels and workshops from past expos on their website too.

We blogged earlier about Laure Parson’s excellent new blog on digital distribution. She has recently relaunched the site with even more resources for filmmakers including a list of online markets and a discussion board. The latest interviews on the blog include Doug Block, Sujewa Ekanayake, Caachi, IndiePix and Shooting People’s Ingrid Kopp. This is a great resource for folk trying to get a handle on all the latest distribution options. If you find this helpful be sure to check out Lance Weiler’s Workbook Project too.

From the Tribeca Film Institute’s website:

The Tribeca Film Institute asked Intelligent Television to launch an examination of the current economics of independent film and video distribution in the United States to help producers, distributors, and funders better understand current realities and trends in the film and video distribution market.  This study, supported in part by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, is intended to be of mainstream value—documentary films and education film and television remain popular, and education ranks high among the subjects American viewers watch online, tied in popularity with music, after news and comedy. “The Economics of Film and Video Distribution in the Digital Age” (PDF Download) thus investigates current financing models for independent educational media, the revenue that such film and video productions have realized from sales and licensing, and the potential for alternative models of video and film distribution in the digital age.

Scott Kirsner has a useful post on CinemaTech entitled How To Get Your Film on iTunes (… It’s Not Easy) – which explains how you have to go via an aggregator first. Kirsner says Amazon’s CreateSpace is the best alternative option if you just want to do it yourself (films can then be sold via Amazon Unbox, a digital download service) but “you’ll have to drive customers to your work — unlike iTunes, where the customers are already buying movies in big numbers.”

Moviestorm has launched some free software that allows you to make simple animated films, quickly and easily. This is obviously great for first-timers but perhaps it could also be useful for more experienced filmmakers who want to test out ideas quickly? The basic package is totally free so give it a try and see what you think. Thanks to SXSW News Reel for the info!