Maverick, Echobridge updated question...

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PhoenixF2B

Member
Hello everyone,

I found a post from a couple years ago regarding what it was like to work with York, and Maverick for distributing their films. The general consensus seemed to be recommending that you produce the film for $5,000 and sell it to Maverick for $20,000. That post was from 2008 and my office is actually about 20 minutes from Maverick's location and we are considering them for our own films.

I wanted to see what people's takes on Maverick were now and I have a couple of questions:

1- Do they still do upfront payments? What is a low end to average amount they pay for a film? Do they offer residuals?

2- Will they pay more for a movie with a bankable name in it?

3- Do they pay more for international rights?

4- Will they accept file based delivery or do they require that you have it professionally mastered? Mastering houses can easily cost $2,500 to have the film mastered to HDCAM but we do have Avid finishing stations and have a good concept of mastering and delivery. If the quality meets their specs will they accept a hard drive with digital files?


Basically I see we have a good mixture of film makers in this community and I would love any input and experiences that people have with them recently. With them being so close I could literally jump in the car and take it to them.

Also what about Echobridge or other low end distributors? Does anyone have any recent experience with them?

Thank you everyone!

Daniel Sanz:cheesy:
 
I hope I haven't crossed any lines asking this. I see many people have read this thread but no posts. The other topic seemed to light up when this was asked in the past.
 
Hi Phoenix f2b. I've been in distribution for 20 years and never seen it quite this bad. It all depends on your film. Big names are good, little names not so much. Rare to get an advance in this day and age and many companies will want to cross-collateralize foreign, and US. Residuals isn't quite the right word as that pertains to guild payments to actors etc. What you hope to get is a percentage of profits, though it's rare for a film to get to the profitable stage after all the distributione expenses are recouped. Deliverables can be exhaustive and expensive including different versions of high def masters for different territories, e&o insurance, mpaa rating, etc.
 
The above post is exactly why, self distribution through digital channels, is not only the future, but indeed the present of independent film. If you have a low budget flick, check out companies like Distribber and Filmbuff. You must learn to market your film to your target market virally, and you probably won't make millions on your return, but with these new digital platforms you keep your rights, and it is a much more transparent model, where the artist isn't forced to give away all the rights to his or her film, for nothing up front, nothing on the back end. Become the studio.
 
I am one that read the post but didn't reply as I have zero experience with Maverick or Echobridge. JLS4 with the 24 Project post in Userfilms and Coming Correct there sold his first film to Maverick but that was several years ago and he's been absent on the board lately.

I was fortunate in this environment to make a good deal for my latest film with a Major distributor...but prior to that I went the self-distribution route with a feature documentary because I had gone with a small distributor a few years earlier with my first feature and still have yet to see a nickel in revenue from it (despite it being sold in several territories around the globe).

Lustgarten is right about the expense and the exhaustiveness of delivering...and I think ATrain is correct about self-distribution if you're not able to secure a decent deal from a direct distributor.

As for your specific delivery question (4), I think you can deliver in SOME cases on a hard drive but some distributors will still require the traditional MASTERS.

(2) Names is a moving target...you get 'names' that impress yourself and crew, heck even fellow filmmakers on a board...but they don't impress distributors unless they're BIG names. They don't count folks who people have simply heard of, who used to be big...they've got to be either "on the rise" or already and steadily "bankable".

(3) I haven't dealt with foreign rights on my latest as yet...in theory they should give you more...but in practice they'll likely try to take those for a little as possible (nothing) as well. Try to carve it out so you can have both a domestic rights bucket and a foreign rights bucket go to different companies. That way if one isn't living up to expectations, at least you have a second chance at it.

and (1)...again, no experience with the companies you mention. I hear many filmmakers talk about NOT getting any advances these days. So, they may be less apt to offer them any longer. Again, it will depend on the film and its quality and marketability and it will be better to have more than one company in the running.

Sorry to not reply sooner but it seemed like a targeted question for those with experience with those specific companies which I actually do not have (well, we had interest from Maverick but were hoping NOT to settle for them so we didn't even send them a screener when we were able to attract larger distribs...obviously we keep the channel open for the future as you never know how any of it will play out).

-Martin
 
Excellent points and I will look into Distribber and Filmbuff. As a starting film, to be perfectly honest I am not concerned so much about retaining lifetime rights and such, I would like something under my belt as a distributed film. Maverick and Echobridge seemed to be ideal for a low level distribution like that and I was just wondering who here had experience working with either of them recently and roughly what kind of purchasing is reasonable to expect from them.

I am looking for realistic numbers as i don't want to produce a film for $10,000 and find I would only realistically get $5,000 from it.
 
Realistically the sky is the limit, but it is all on you to market your film. Distribber has distribution deals with every VOD outfit going right now. You get 100% of the revenue you take in and you get an account that you can withdraw your funds from anytime you want from paypal. It is potentially an indie filmmakers dream. But here is the fine print. You pay licensing fees to the distributers. For iTunes it is $1295-1595 depending on SD and HD. Amazon and Netflix are cheaper, and currently there are no prices on the website for cable VOD, but I would suspect they are in the ITunes range. And it is on you to build excitement and an audience for your movie. Thankfully if you can become a savvy marketer, the Internet is the cheapest and most powerful means to find your audience. But what a great time to make indie movies the power is shifting to the artist, and success is all about you.
 
Guilty.

I too was one of the readers. I have dealt with Maverick and I wrote a long reply last week then read it and erased it LOL! Sorry man. I originally wanted to just write "Run" but then went into a more detailed explanation. So let me try this again.

I signed a deal with Maverick 2 years ago and if I could do it over, I would not sign with them. Only because it was my first feature film and I was so eager to get it out there and like you I also wanted to have that title of having a film distributed. But If I knew then what I know now I would self distribute. Not to get into too many details but I'll try and answer your questions the best I can.


1- Do they still do upfront payments? What is a low end to average amount they pay for a film? Do they offer residuals?
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In my case yes, I had to fight for it but ultimately after all the cost for deliverables and other expenses it's like I gave it away for nothing anyway. Don't want to go into any specific numbers but it was in the range you mentioned above. And the contract does state Residuals but truthfully you will never see any residuals due to that "new math" those kind of distributors do. And the typical residuals they offer are usually 60/40 split and that's only after they recoup expenses which in my situation was $100,000. And yes the 60/40 split is in their favor.

2- Will they pay more for a movie with a bankable name in it?
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Yes they will. I had no name actors in my film which was their argument for not wanting to give me upfront money. So it does help but not sure how much so.

3- Do they pay more for international rights?
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This is the part that bugs me more than anything and wish I could do over. I gave them Domestic and International rights. They claim they haven't sold the movie oversees yet but someone said they saw it in Japan lol.

4- Will they accept file based delivery or do they require that you have it professionally mastered? Mastering houses can easily cost $2,500 to have the film mastered to HDCAM but we do have Avid finishing stations and have a good concept of mastering and delivery. If the quality meets their specs will they accept a hard drive with digital files?
Click to expand...

My film was shot on the DVX100A, so I didn't have to deal with HD, I was able to Render the movie myself using Quicktime uncompressed. I sent it to them on a Hardrive. They also want different audio files and such. The deliverables was a major headache, but I some how got it done. Keep in mind, what ever upfront money you are offered, deliverable expenses will be minus from that if you can't produce certain deliverables.


I only have experience with Maverick and not the others you've mentioned. Someone once said York and Maverick are the same company, look into that cause I'm not sure.

Bottom line, your negotiation skills have to be on point to get a nice decent upfront money. Frankly that will be the only money you will ever see as sad as it sounds, so make sure you don't short change yourself, especially if you believe in your project.

It does sound like the money is not a big issue for you but more of getting the movie out there in a wide scale. If there's anything good I can say that came out the Maverick deal for me was that, someone in Milwaukee can walk into Walmart and see my movie on the shelf. They do get the movie out there nationwide, that's not a lie but at the expense of your blood sweat and tears.

What ever you decide I wish you the best. I wish I could say more but I hope the little I've said somehow helps you in your decision.

And finally, besides the International Rights thing, the other big thing is the years you give them rights for. They will ask for 25yrs, try and talk them down to 5. I was able to talk them down to 15. I was naive and eager to get my film out there and I didn't know any better. I just finished my 2nd feature film, you better believe I'm seriously thinking about self distribution if I can't get a major distributer to buy.

One last thing :), try and hold out to the last, very last second, make sure there aren't any other deals on the table before you give your baby away.

Best wishes to you.
 
That actually helps me out tremendously. Ok here is my situation. I have a small production company and we have been researching and preparing for film production for many years. We have all of our own basic gear, HVX200 with Letus 35mm extreme DOF adapter, basic lights and audio, and Avid Media Composer. We have the resources to shoot the film for almost free if we keep it simple, cost being mainly cast and crew.

Whatever film I would produce and want to sell to this kind of distributor would not be my baby. I have a long list of films that I really want to craft and nurture. I also understand that in order to be taken seriously and secure investors later, we need to have some sort of established history.

Maverick has a clear product and very clearly expresses what kind of movies they can sell. We are willing to specifically make a film for their model for as cheap as we possibly can with the resources we have. I want to sell it to them and get it out there for some credibility. These films will be specifically targeted and quickly produced to fit within that business model.

As far as deliverables go, do you have a list by chance of everything they ask for? I believe that we are able to produce most of it inhouse but if I could see a reference that would be an incredible help. Plus they are literally 20 minutes away from my office and I can physically go to their location to meet and deliver materials.
 
I am sure that Maverick would give you that list upon request. It's not some secret they keep and it doesn't mean that they will accept your film just because you can meet those deliverable. All broadcasters have deliverable requirements upon request. Domestic distribution has fewer requirements and many DVD distributors don't do a a very strict QC process as they do for broadcast.

Also, I see your approach to the market, and distributors are very open to discuss what they are looking for genre wise, what works for them etc. It is still up to you to deliver to whatever their expectations might be. So I suggest setting up a meeting, and have both discussion - what they're looking for, and what the deliverables will be. Making early contact is not a bad thing.


Michael
 
A lot of excellent advice in this post, thank you all very much. You have given some good insight and brought some things to my attention that I will take note off when I approach them. Thank you again :)

Also just figured I'd throw it out there...any tips on approaching a named actor for movies with budgets of $5,000 or below?
 
If you can pull off a feature flick for 5 grand, that will meet QC specs, pulling a name actor is the least of the things you have to worry about. Focus on five things Story, Story, screenplay, production value, and then casting the right actors. Not the best or most famous, the right ones. If you have a great film recouping 5 grand will be easy, you don't need a name. And at that budget you wouldn't want the hassle of approaching them either.
 
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