Back when I helped run the IFP/Gotham Filmmaker Lab I would give a series of presentations under the moniker “Distribution 101”. This is the first in a series of posts that will go under the heading of Distribution 101 on this Substack. These posts will be an occasional series of guidelines and tips for creating and executing a distribution and marketing strategy. Note: People have been asking me to update Think Outside the Box Office for years - and these posts in essence will serve as the basis for that. (Note that Ted Hope also has a series of posts advising on distribution - I feel that ours will complement each other. And Brian Newman also has some excellent posts that he calls Film 101.)
One of my mantras is: Every film and filmmaking team is different and hence every film needs its unique distribution and marketing strategy.
To create this strategy - the first question I ask filmmakers: What is the goal of your release?
Some of the responses I get are: “A Netflix sale” or “A theatrical release” or “Make the Oscar shortlist” or “lots of film festivals”.
None of these are goals. These are all tactics - a means to an end - not an end in themselves. A Netflix sale may represent a desire for money or audience. Oscars, festivals, theatrical - usually indicate a desire for a career boost (acclaim/reviews).
I find that filmmakers (even experienced filmmakers) haven’t thought about their distribution goals outside of a collection of tactics, and many have not even thought about what their goal might be outside of “distribution” which is usually a form of conventional distribution that rarely happens these days.
For me, a goal for the release of your film can fit into one of these four categories:
MONEY
CAREER
CHANGE THE WORLD
AUDIENCE
Filmmakers need to pick one of these as their guiding light.
Nearly always I will hear “Why can’t I have all of these?” Yes, it would be nice to have all of those. There are a few films every year (or maybe just one) that do achieve all or nearly all of these. E.G. A big sale that also elevates the film team’s careers that becomes viral and also changes the world in some way. The proverbial brass ring - one of the unfortunate dominant myths in our sector.
The reality is that in our current broken distribution system it is very difficult to achieve one of these goals, much less two or three. This is especially true considering that most independent filmmakers have limited resources with which to release their films Even studios and streamers are primarily going after one goal: money, with “career”/awards a consideration for some acquisitions/production (and usually they are not expecting money when they produce/acquire a film for awards-in fact they will often spend more on the awards campaign for a film than they ever hope to earn in revenue).
This is not to say that many films while striving for a primary goal can’t also achieve secondary goals. But keeping to one primary goal is the best way to ensure that you will achieve that goal and it also seems to help achieve the secondary goals as well. However trying to achieve two goals equally will often torpedo both goals.
A little more clarification on the four goals:
MONEY: Pay back your investors, make some money for yourself, create a sustainable living.
The traditional way this happens is through the now rare large acquisition by a streamer or distributor. However in many/most of these cases the filmmaker will lose control over the film and impact and audience (lost in the algorithm) suffer. Unless a large acquisition allows you to carve out impact, usually impact will be in direct conflict with money because of the cost of impact campaigns.
An example - the film Keys Bags Names Words. The filmmakers goal was to create awareness of new ways to slow the advent of Alzheimer’s and dementia as well as ways to change perception around these diseases. They wanted the film to screen as much as possible in community settings to foster discussion. We offered the film for free for a two month window and garnered over 120 screenings in 28 countries (60 screenings/month). After this part of the release there was a need for the campaign to help pay for itself and nominal fees were added to the screenings. Over the next ten months the numbers of screenings continued but at a much reduced rate 80 screenings over 10 months (8 screenings a month). Note in the very early days of the campaign we tested the tolerance for paid screenings and that tolerance was very low - so we went with the free screenings.
There will always be exceptions (and if you know of any - please let me know in the comments). For No Small Matter the filmmakers engaged organizations and relevant funders from inception and then went back to those funders for the impact campaign which was so successful that they were able to pay a staff and earn additional revenue from the screenings release (1300 screenings) while also affecting policy in two states resulting in increased funding for early childhood education. I wrote about that release here. Their primary goal was impact - and this focus on impact from inception was essential for them to raise the money for the release and to earn money from the release. The money was a secondary benefit and would not have been possible without the impact focus.
CAREER Part 1: A Career Launch, Help for Your Next Project, Reviews, and/or Fame
Many directors are less concerned about making money and will be more focused on a deal that raises their profile to help them make their next project - this is often true for producers as well. If a film is press worthy - a theatrical release can help trigger press - but theatrical is expensive and will either cost upfront with a service deal or cost on the backend as those expenses are deducted from ancillary/home video sales. A streaming sale might help a career but could also cut off a year of festivals that could be even more beneficial to a filmmaker’s career in multiple ways.
CAREER Part 2: A Long-Term, Sustainable Relationship with a Fan Base
If you read Ted Hope at all you will be familiar with this concept. This goes back to Chris Anderson’s 1000 True Fans (if 1000 True Fans gave you $50, you could make a record) and of course this concept gave rise to crowdfunding. These true/super fans are the ones will stay with you throughout your career and help to sustain it.
The importance of cultivating a core fan base (for you as a filmmaker and the film project) is why I harangue filmmakers to collect emails at every screening and constantly bug them to have email signups above the fold on their websites utilizing gated content. While the largest-audience-possible approach below concentrates on breadth, this goal focuses on depth. Gary Hustwit is brilliant at this.
Of course the idea of this type of career goal is also future money. However, most traditional distribution deals will not allow you to engage in audience development because the distributor and the traditional platforms they sell to will not give you ANY audience data much less email addresses. So if this is your path - you will be employing a variety of direct to fan techniques. This is especially important to consider when you make films that have a relationship to each other.
CHANGE THE WORLD/IMPACT
Many distribution deals that might accomplish money or career will often preclude an impact campaign (even when there might be some impact marketing associated with the release). Traditional deals involve giving up a fair amount or nearly all control over your film usually preventing the filmmaker from engaging in a variety of impact techniques. You may choose to bypass the traditional film distribution structure and give the film away to groups that will screen the film to affect some kind of change — social or otherwise. While this more commonly applies to documentaries, there are narrative films that would fall into this category as well.
NOTE - when change the world is a goal - it is very important to define what kind of change you are seeking - is it awareness or affecting legislation or other government action. What is the specific action or legislation? This will require resources devoted to these actions that will drain resources away from other forms of distribution/goal achievement.
AUDIENCE: I just want people to see my film.
Distribution has gotten so dismal these days that many filmmakers just want people to see their film. They made their film for an audience and they want to get their film in front of that audience.
One variation on this was from the filmmakers from My Love Affair With Marriage who wanted to see their film in front of audiences in theaters. The film had played in over 100 festivals around the world, winning multiple prizes with distribution in several European countries, but with no offers in the US. We booked the film with an original three month window that expanded to six months. We got butts in seats with outreach working with impact producer Nora Poggi which I wrote about here. We actually specialize in Impact Event Theatrical - utilizing impact techniques to bring audiences into theatres. This can result in achieving secondary goals such as distribution offers that did not exist previously - and this is what happened with My Love Affair with Marriage. But note again - this was a result of a singular goal focus of audience. I touched on that here.
NOTE 1 - YOU CAN PIVOT: After you start with one goal in mind - and discover that your strategies and tactics are not working, you can pivot to a new goal that seems to make more sense based on the data that you have acquired thus far. You should evaluate the success of your campaign throughout your release.
NOTE 2 - WHAT KIND OF CAREER DO YOU WANT: Whatever goal you choose, it is still important to consider what kind of career you want to have and how choosing a particular goal will affect your career trajectory.
NOTE 3 - GET ON THE SAME PAGE: Different members of a film team often have different goals - it is essential to discuss this and get on the same page as early as possible. (Perhaps at inception!)
In sum - it is essential for a filmmaking team to choose one primary goal to strive for - money, career, change the world or audience, when devising their distribution and marketing strategy. This is the only way to actually have a chance to achieve that primary goal - and hope to also make headway on their secondary goals.
Next week - reflections on the Camden International Film Festival and the importance of community.