Vimeo on Demand: I'm doing it.

dmitrizigany said:
I hate to say this, but... Maybe it's just not good enough?
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Good enough for what?

18 festivals including Fantasia and Lubeck Nordische Filmtage, a Méliès D'argent nomination in Leeds, and critical acclaim on twitch, Ain't It Cool, Badass Digest, FEARnet, Empire Magazine and Fangoria.

If it's not up your alley, that's fine. The critics and festivals like it though, and it's got fans.

Films don't sell based on how "good" they are, they sell on marketing. I can agree the marketing isn't good enough, and that I was naïve when it came to selling it to a distributor as I was making it. That's kind of the point of the blog too.
I see a lot of the same kind of thinking among first time independent filmmakers, and today it's a lot harder than when in 2011 when Marianne toured the festival circuit.

If it had sold to a major distributor, the marketing would have been very different. But this is about independent distribution.
 
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How are the sales in Sweden? Especially in Jamtland region? How are people in other areas with different and very strong accents (Skane) taking it? Is four-walling it in Sweden a possibility or are the economics not there? Btw., why did the blog collapse with only two posts on post-prod?

But interesting as the case of Marianne is, how would you prepare for marketing the film if you were shooting one today? By this I mean that the situation with distribution and monetizing is changing so rapidly these days, that if it takes 1-2 years to make a movie, the situation has already changed by the time the film is ready for release, and whatever preparation you made is no longer relevant (like you said, M. was done by 2011 and already today, two years later the situation is much harder). So how would you prepare to handle a film you're planning *today*, knowing that by the time you're done, it's a new world out there? At least before the internet, the situation with distributors wasn't changing every few months, it was pretty stable and you knew what to expect more or less, the rules were solid and you could count in it, good or bad; today, it's all change and chaos and tomorrow is very uncertain, fy fan.
 
OldCorpse said:
How are the sales in Sweden? Especially in Jamtland region? How are people in other areas with different and very strong accents (Skane) taking it? Is four-walling it in Sweden a possibility or are the economics not there? Btw., why did the blog collapse with only two posts on post-prod?

But interesting as the case of Marianne is, how would you prepare for marketing the film if you were shooting one today? By this I mean that the situation with distribution and monetizing is changing so rapidly these days, that if it takes 1-2 years to make a movie, the situation has already changed by the time the film is ready for release, and whatever preparation you made is no longer relevant (like you said, M. was done by 2011 and already today, two years later the situation is much harder). So how would you prepare to handle a film you're planning *today*, knowing that by the time you're done, it's a new world out there? At least before the internet, the situation with distributors wasn't changing every few months, it was pretty stable and you knew what to expect more or less, the rules were solid and you could count in it, good or bad; today, it's all change and chaos and tomorrow is very uncertain, fy fan.
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Lots of questions!
Ok here goes:

There are only 9 million people living in Sweden, so the market here is too limited even for a microbudget film like Marianne.
The sales and rentals after 3-6 months were practically zero, because the one major chain of rental video stores we have here only keep films on shelves for six months, then it's bargain bin time.
TV in Sweden paid more.
Jämtland is so small population wise, there's one town there where we shot the film, and that's about 50,000 people. No other towns in Jämtland.
there's no difference in different areas of Sweden that I know of due to dialect. Sweden is too small for that.

The blog stopped for a few reasons. My laptop broke and needed fixing, I moved to Stockholm, I had a birthday, I'm right now in the middle of preparing for shooting an entry in the ABCs Of Death 2 contest. The blog didn't have that many readers (between 15-30 visits per day) so it became low priority. I've been meaning to get back to it, and I will, but I'm trying to get life back on track first.

I'm not fourwalling it in Sweden. I sold it to a Swedish distributor in 2012, they released it on DVD and VOD and also have exclusive rights to the film in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. I'm releasing it worldwide on other platforms soon though (except Scandinavia, where it's already out).

If I get another chance at making and marketing a film, I'd do a lot of things differently.
I would create something that was straight genre OR straight drama, and not a cross breed.
If I would make a genre film, I now have a MUCH better idea of what festivals are looking for.
it wouldn't be slow moving. It'd have a stronger hook.
I like the promotional campaigns of movies like Iron Sky, Frankenstein's Army and The Human Centipede. These films have a clear simple concept that's easy to package and find an audience for.
I would find someone to work with me on the project who's a celebrity with an active fan following. By active fan following, I mean like Bruce Campbell or Kevin Smith or Clive Barker.
Those are a few things to build a marketing strategy on, I think.

I'd also find a way to create a demand for the film before it's made, and I'd figure out distribution before making the film. The problem with filmmaking is that if it's your first time you can't figure out distribution first. At least not without an established producer, so with MARIANNE that couldn't have happened anyway. But I definitely wouldn't move without it now.

The best way to prepare for changes I think are just working within the genre of your choice. That way you're at least more likely to get into important festivals and find distribution. I've seen films that were less thought through and made on a lower budget than Marianne get foreign distribution because they were easier to package and sell.
Marianne is too much drama to meet audience expectations for horror, and too much horror to meet audience expectation for a drama.
Also, people who like dramas generally don't watch horror films, and vice versa.
But if you release a zombie film today, that's still going to be a zombie film in three years, so a distributor can package that to zombie fans. Horror festivals can look at it and say "hey we like this more than those other 300 zombie films we were sent, we'll pick that over the drama ghost story, which doesn't have enough horror anyway".

I've no idea what's going to happen these next few years in distribution, but with iTunes, Google Play and a bunch of other platforms, it's not impossible independent VOD distribution will be a viable source of income for independent microbudget feature films.

It could also be that the 6000 people who decided to make a feature film this year and who wouldn't have in 2003, might not make another feature film. Could be it peaks soon because people are starting to learn their lesson.
Or it might take another few years before it peaks.
 
Thanks, Jawa, for all the answers, that was very cool. I love your work ethic and realistic approach. I have a feeling we'll be seeing many more films from you :) BEST OF LUCK!
 
Jawa Ex Machina said:
Anyone else getting their film out on Vimeo on Demand?
I'm also considdering CreateSpace, but the quality and logistics of it seem like a nightmare.
What other platforms should I considder?
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Yeah, just signed a very favorable deal with Gravitas Ventures for VOD. Have you tried them? This would include cable VOD, satellite, iTunes, hulu, netflix, etc for US/Canada. We negotiated for something like four months. Expecting a release date for DOWN AND DANGEROUS around early February. Excited to get it out there.

EDIT: sorry, reading thread now and i see you've got it up on vimeo, which would kill interest from gravitas and companies like them. nevermind! :)
 
Zak Forsman said:
Yeah, just signed a very favorable deal with Gravitas Ventures for VOD. Have you tried them? This would include cable VOD, satellite, iTunes, hulu, netflix, etc for US/Canada. We negotiated for something like four months. Expecting a release date for DOWN AND DANGEROUS around early February. Excited to get it out there.

EDIT: sorry, reading thread now and i see you've got it up on vimeo, which would kill interest from gravitas and companies like them. nevermind! :)
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Actually, I've made a similar deal that will get Marianne out on iTunes and other platforms soon after I put it up on Vimeo (although not because of it) so it's not impossible.
 
that's great! I was thinking more about the cable VOD revenue. I've been told that Gravitas's revenue is about 70% Cable VOD and 30% iTunes. additionally, there is a big difference between getting listed as a premiere title and a library title (exposed on other platforms). To qualify as a premiere title, the VOD release must be the first window and it must be released day and date with a theatrical release in a minimum of 15 US cities. we're largely using tugg.com for this. as a premiere title, the film is listed much more prominently on cable VOD systems in special categories like "Now In Theaters" and the price point is twice as high -- $8 versus $4. A library title gets dumped without fanfare right into the system so the only way for someone to find it is to search alphabetically for your title. this is why they say movies with titles that start with an A or B perform 40% better. I've been advised that the difference between the two is 5x to 10x more revenue. gravitas's projections for our 75% of revenue to land between $100,000 and $250,000 over the next two years. not bad for a movie made for less than $40,000. this is not a definite yet, time-warner still has to review the movie and approve it. fingers crossed! we just delivered our master yesterday.
 
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