ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

8 years, 8 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

A distributor is a company who manage the process of getting films duplicated, shipped and scheduled into cinema screens, printing the promotional lobby stuff and quads, they do the advertising and promotion of the film, and they manage the box office returns, take off their fees and expenses, and give the producers £0 at the end of it. Because of this, you sell the film to them for a period of time for a one off fee, which is likely the last penny you'll see from them.

Each territory will/may have a different distributor, so a Sales Agent will offer the film to distributors in all the territories, and they'll pay a bit in exchange for the rights. If you've got Brad Pitt, the distributors will want the film so much that they'll buy the film before you even made it, and this money can help the film's finance/cashflow... But first you have to get Brad Pitt ;-)

Short version - they're your customer if you're seeking a feature film. They're similar to rock'n'roll promoters, if you like - they take a financial stake for the right to get your creation in front of a paying audience. They can lose money if the film flops, but by that point, you've probably got your cash anyway.

8 years, 8 months ago - Gary Braun

Thank you.
I do understand that without a distributor You cannot proceed in selling your piece of art,which is the film?
They have the territory,they do the promotion,...what kind of money do they leave to the producer?
I also do understand they must be very knowledgable in judging the quality of the film and its potential
Audience?

8 years, 8 months ago - Gary Braun

So in order not to get involved with the harsh reality of life with your film,is to participate at festivals?
Or is this also part of the distribution process?
Actually what you are saying is the person who risks the most is the producer?The one who finances the film.

8 years, 8 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

The producer, or the investors he/she finds, is exposed the most on a film. The distributor may also be exposed, but they can cut losses fairly easily.

If you take your film and knock up some posters and do your own press, talk to individual cinemas, and get them to agree to show your film, you're your own distributor. The distributor companies have all this in place, and may have better access to getting the film onto multiple screens, certainly at any one time.

If you exhibit at a festival, it'll either be free entry out cost an entry fee - you won't normally get paid for the film screening. If it's a small festival your audience will be locals and filmmakers. If it's one of the top 10 (eg Cannes), there may also be representatives from distributors there watching, looking to "buy" films (packages of rights), and then you're back where we came in - you'll get a lump sum advance and are unlikely to see another penny, unless it's a huge runaway hit.

It's slightly easier for DVD world as it's not akin to self-publishing and there are a lot of pay-for services to make it easier. When you sell the theatrical (cinema) rights you may or may not include the DVD and download rights, it's individual.

8 years, 8 months ago - Lee 'Wozy' Warren

Distribution is the key to getting your film into the wider world and an audience. Mostly. Self distribution as Paddy mentioned is an option but you then wont have the clout to get the film to a 'wider' audience as your contact base and influence on exhibitors will be limited. All films, or 99% of films, dream of distribution. Without it there is no revenue to pay back investors (even if the investor is just you). And also whats the point of making a film is no one is never going to see it? (other than the strategy of making it to get you known as a professional filmmaker... but then what serious filmmaker would ever not want his/her film seen by an audience?)

Some producers may just want to make films for the pure pleasure of the experience and have no care if the film receives distribution. But any investors will certainly want to see a return on their investment. So without a plan to sell the film / distribute it, the chances of securing finance are pretty much NIL. Would you invest money into a new business that planned to make a wonderful product, but had no plans to actually sell it? No, of course you wouldn't. Same with filmmaking and distribution.

Distribution is also the golden fleece of film. It's so precious and hard to find that most indie films never discover it. They go on the journey that can be long and perilous but find distribution as illusive as that Golden fleece. But still for most, it's an epic journey that's worth the risk to see what can be achieved.

8 years, 8 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUBYysDqrE8 Just by coincidence I spotted this on Reddit - it doesn't do into any depth and is only one person's viewpoint, but it may be interesting

8 years, 8 months ago - Dan Selakovich

What Paddy and Wozy said. I did a lot of work for distributors in the 80s and 90s. One of which was extremely popular with filmmakers for this reason; once the contract was signed, the head of the distribution company stuck to it. Think about that for a second. He got a chance to buy really good films because he was honest. United Artists used to be cool in this way. Things have changed drastically over the years. Even if you get an excellent contract, they may screw you anyway. Scratch that: they WILL screw you anyway. Typically, or was back then, there would be a 50/50 split in points between the producer and distributor. Out of your points, you'd need to pay any cast and crew that you gave points to. I've had points in 12 films. I've never seen a dime. With some points breakdowns, you might even be asked to pick up some or all of promotional costs (these would be very well hidden within the body of the contract). Ideally, for a first small film, you'd want to sell your film outright to a distributor at a profit. Then just walk away. That's the only money you'd see. Nowadays, those deals are like unicorns. You might get some money upfront, then a percentage of ticket sales after prints, promotion, etc where paid for. Often there is nothing left.

An acquaintance of mine some years ago had the beauty of two distributors fighting over her film. She got a great deal, but 2 days before she signed the contract, the film ended up on a pirate site. Both deals fell through. Piracy has taken a huge toll on the industry, and affects everything now. After all, you can't make money if people are stealing it. Distributors aren't ignorant to this, as some book publishers are.

Then there are the scammers. Back in the 90s, a friend of mine made a 250k credit card movie. A "distributor" in Canada bought it for 350k. Great, my friend made a profit, but the film was never shown. What this conman did, was turn in all the "proper" paperwork, with much higher made up budget figures, and got a huge tax incentive rebate from the Canadian government (even though it was filmed in Los Angeles). He was eventually caught, but not before screwing dozens of filmmakers and Canadian tax payers.

Do you have deliverables that a distributor will ask for? These can be daunting, and shock the hell out of most indie filmmakers. A couple of small examples: an M & E mix. That's your film with just a music and efx track. No dialogue. That way when they sell the film to, say, Germany, actors will come in and dub the film in German. You just added a day to the cost of your mix. Did you have a stills photographer on set? Hope so, because that is going to be on the deliverables contract. Every picture he took would have to go to the distributor. Grabbing still from your negative or digital file ain't gonna cover it! Deliverables are pretty vast. If you don't have those things, the distributor will have to do it, and it will cost you.

Never, ever, show a film unfinished looking for finishing funds. They will pounce on you like vultures, and low-ball the shit out of you. And that's all the money you will ever see.

Have you ever thought about 4 walling it? That makes you your own distributor. You rent a theater, promote the hell out of it with hopes of selling enough tickets in a 3 day run to make a tiny profit. Then you move to the next town and start over again. This was absolutely huge in the 80s with kids films. Usually some awful man in the wilderness theme trying to make it through the winter. But they did make money. Promotion was so heavy, that by the time the family realized they'd paid to see a huge piece of crap, the producer would be onto the next town. This is still being done to day, but with religious films in the bible belt. A sucker born every minute. There have been pretty good films done this way. "The Gig" comes to mind.

I think distributors, the honest ones anyway, are still trying to figure out how to make money in this new digital landscape. It's nearly as bad as the music industry. VOD on unknown films with unknown actors are a really difficult sell. Amazon and Netflix deals will barely pay for craft services. If your film is really good, it can be a stepping stone. Tangerine, which was shot on an iPhone, got Magnolia as a distributor. Was made for much less than 100k, has grossed nearly a million now. So success isn't out of the question. If you can get a mini-major or major distributor coming out of a festival, you could do well.

And finally, many go with a "producers rep". They take a high percentage, but good ones know the waters well. Bad ones... well just stay away. And hear this right now: there are only a handful of solid producer's reps. Don't do it if it's not a top guy. Or if you just want to get onto VOD through cable companies, I'd probably look into an aggregator. Given your limited knowledge, this might be a good way to go if you can find one to take on your film. Don't pay a producer's rep up front. And if they don't take a fee up front, still doesn't mean they are any good at all. They'll just sent your film to Lion's Gate with 20 others. You can do that on your own. If you get into a big festival, like Sundance, it would be more worth your money to hire a PR person over a producer's rep.

Well, I guess I've given you enough to keep you googling for the next week. Sorry this landscape isn't more cheery.

8 years, 8 months ago - Lee 'Wozy' Warren

It's funny because for the initiated, the landscape is bloody hard work to maintain, if not impossible. But we try and make it work the best we can. For the uninitiated, its a fairytale. But I guess you have to switch the jaded view off and see it with a somewhat rose tinted spectacles view or you'd go mad and quit.

We've just signed a distrubution deal on a feature I was a producer on and Im almost certain that we wont see a penny out of it. But its a good deal... However, the film now stands a chance of hitting theatres or VOD or Bluray etc and I'll have another feature that was 'picked up'... so maybe thats the payoff. It depends how you measure success. There's more to being successful than just revenue!!! Just dont tell the investors.

Wozy

8 years, 8 months ago - Gary Braun

Thank you,looking into my question.
I guess that nobody in Film Schools,Film Colleges,film Clubs deal with that question about Film Distribution as you did.
It is far far from encouraging,however I suspected very much that reality is like you describe.
Thank you,for your honest answers.
(Interesting how and where one can learn how to become a film distributor?since they seem to have a better chance to make
Money.)

8 years, 8 months ago - John Lubran

It's self evident that there's more than three or four reality paradigms concerning the business of film and TV. Clearly there are producers and film production entities who make money and lots of it. If it were not so the industry would have collapsed long ago. Stepping up from the lower levels though, where entirely different business models are essential for sustainability, is restricted by the pyramid structure of the 'good old boys club', which includes the notions of 'distribution' within the context of this particular discussion so far. Those who provide professional services can often run viable and even wealth making businesses working repeatedly on loss making projects because they don't depend on earning from distribution, they're paid up front from the production budget. They must be thankful for what is evidently a lot of funds knocking about that are either not attached to an aspiration for financial return, are tax avoidance schemes or are otherwise foolishly blinded by the glamour. Let's not even suggest that some projects might be associated with scams, heaven forbid!

Gary previously revealed an interest in factual/documentary. Factual can achieve distribution success at much lower budget cost than drama, especially if associated with a broadcaster. The odds of a drama achieving any real success with ultra low budgets under six figures are very long indeed. For ultra heroic low budget dramas of less than £20K statistics suggest that worrying about distribution deals in the same way as a producer of a serious film enterprise might is naive to the point of being absurd. Doesn't mean to say that such projects cant be monetised in other ways though. There are alternatives to the long established narrow business models and distribution procedures such as have been considered here so far. I've droned on about them before in some detail so I won't labour them repeatedly; check the archives for them. In short, make films that big enough audiences really do want to see made, perhaps even more than they want to see the film themselves. Get that audience to provide the budget. Include in the budget the entire true cost, including paying everyone proper fees and a sustainable production fee/profit. Give the film away for free using every available platform. There's quite a bit more to it than just this. It doesn't take the brains of a rocket scientist or a brilliant producer to work out the missing bits though.

8 years, 8 months ago - Dan Selakovich

First, sorry for all the typos in my above post. Wozy brings up an excellent point: just getting a distribution deal is huge. That gives you some clout on the next one, for sure. When I fixed films in trouble, every one of them got a distribution deal and that got me a lot of work over the years. Most films made don't get a deal, and I mean 95% or more. BTW, my post above has been my experience in America. The UK may be a much more positive picture.

8 years, 8 months ago - Gary Braun

Am very happy I am a member of Shootingpeople and am able to receive honnest advice from knowledgable people
Like you.I really appreciate it.

8 years, 8 months ago - Audelia Rowe

its true they are good ! ;))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

7 years, 3 months ago - Vasco de Sousa

IF you want to know more about UK distribution, I found this course helpful:
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/film-distribution/
I already knew a lot of the stuff, but there are interviews with actual distributors, and they say what they're looking for and what makes them tick. These include distributors of indie films like eOne and Sony releasing.

7 years, 3 months ago - Vasco de Sousa

Oh, the course is free for the time being, but after 27th of May, it will be locked. It's supposed to be a four week course, but I breezed through it because I really like hearing about distribution. Futurelearn has other useful courses from professional groups as well as top film schools.
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/film-distribution/