Distribution Question?????

[pirate40]

Does it hurt your chances of finding a distributor if you sell a couple thousand DVD's yourself first?

I have an low budget independent comedy that has been in two film festivals so far. We won the peoples choice award at one, I would like to self distribute some DVDs before looking for a distribution deal. I have not sought out a distributor yet for a couple of reasons.

1. We have several more festivals after the first of the year that we have applied for.

2. Our main actress has just got word that could skyrocket her into the limelight next year in the country music field. Which I believe would increase the value of our film.

Meanwhile...... There is a buzz here locally about our movie that I would like to capitalize on. Would a future distribution deal be in jeopardy if I self distribute first?

 

[Chris Adler]

First off, you didn't mention which avenue of distribution you're referring to. In general, the more "buzz" and hype your movie has, the better. If you've sold a few thousand dvd's of your movie you're demonstrating there is some kind of market for it. There are too many variables to consider to answer your question, but creating/demonstrating a demand for your product is always a plus.

 

[Cassius]

Some festivals require that film has not been released before, and that might count, so check the rules of whatever you have coming up. A distributor is, at the very least, going to be concerned if the only people guaranteed to be interested- the fans you already have- are an already tapped market. It might not cause you any problems, and they might look at it as a test you took the risk on instead; but be prepared for it to be a problem if you choose that route, just in case. If you want to be sure you could try contacting the distributors you think would be interested.

 

[MichaelP]

From a distributor POV, it doesn't really hurt and in a lot of cases, proves that there is in an interest in the film. Stacey Parks does a lot of consulting in distribution (www.filmspecific.com) and actually recommends in this new era of distribution that you actually negotiate a deal where you can continue to do so after the deal (depending on size of distributor). One of the reasons, is that no distributor will do as much marketing, social media, etc. than the filmmaker themselves and you should benefit from that directly with a higher percentage of the revenue when purchased directly from you. Her latest podcast (by membership) talks about actual net revenue to the filmmaker when going through a distributor depending on theatrical, DVD, etc. and it's not pretty - giving credence to her recommendation that you negotiate such a deal.

A person I met here at DVUSER contacted me offline once with a distribution contract he received from a distributor and basically he was on the hook for all DVD replication, marketing materials, and associated costs. Now depending on the "rolodex" of the distributor - what are they really bringing to the table then? Each deal needs to be looked at for how long they keep it, what they can offer, what other films do they have in their catalog, how they are being marketed, and if possible, track down one of those filmmakers and see what they think of them.

And then in some cases, it takes a looooong time to see money. In my case, a small horror film I produced a few years back was picked up by a sales rep, it has sold into 4 foreign markets over the past two years and I am still waiting for first monies to show up. But this deal was a good one for me at the time, I had to concentrate on other things and having a dynamic sales rep company take the film around the world to all the markets is worth it. I don't have the time or the money to do that. But in our deal, there is a limited time they have to rep the film (renewable based on my call) as well as a "cap" on overall marketing expenses. I am consulted on every deal and marketing material produced for sign-off.

Michael