The Definitive Hundreds of Beavers Distribution Case Study

A deep dive into how Hundreds of Beavers became a breakout success that grossed over $500K at the theatrical box office and a TVOD bestseller. Co-presented with Filmmaker Magazine.

RSVP with Eventbrite and then you will get a zoom link for the session.

I’m super excited to announce my first monthly 8 Above Case Study Webinar - this month featuring Hundreds of Beavers producer Kurt Ravenwood who also directed the distribution and marketing for that film and Filmmaker Magazine’s Scott Macaulay.  This case study is being co-presented by Filmmaker - more on that below.  

We’re going to investigate how the Hundreds of Beavers became a breakout success that grossed over $500K at the theatrical box office — more than tripling their production budget of $150K.  Kurt will reveal how their team identified, mobilized and grew their audience, how they eventized their theatrical release and created a content strategy to drive more audiences to repeated sold out screenings, how and why they signed a VOD deal before the theatrical release and what ramifications that had for their success (eg - would they do that again?), their windowing strategy, how they leveraged their theatrical success for a unique success in transactional VOD and more.  After Scott and I drill Kurt on all aspects of his release we’ll open it up for questions.  

Time:  October 17th at 2pmET/11amPT

Registration:  The webinar is open and free to you - my Substack subscribers and Filmmaker Magazine subscribers.  You will receive a Zoom link after registration.

If you have suggestions of films with interesting releases that you would like to see a case study done on - let me know in the comments below. 

So why case studies? 87% of you who filled out the survey on the introductory email for this Substack said you wanted case studies! The survey is still running and I’d love your opinions. And of course case studies make the “theory” of distribution and marketing come into focus. 

One of the reasons that I am excited that Filmmaker is co-presenting this case study is that the very first writing I ever did about distribution and marketing (in 2008) which started me on this journey was for Filmmaker here.  The series of articles I wrote then were essentially instructional case studies about the release of my feature doc Bomb It. Take a look at the subheading of that article - my wife was not pleased! Some of the tips I offer in that post seem so quaint (lame) now - but I guess pretty novel at the time since they passed Scott’s rigorous scrutiny such as: “4. Post your photos, key art (in ai and pdf format) and press kit online so that anyone can download them.” But others were somewhat novel at the time - eg the Two Month Theatrical Window (shorter than traditional but longer than day and date).  These articles led to my writing Think Outside the Box Office which also included what were breakout case studies at that time. 

Guidelines for Creating a Distribution and Marketing Strategy

Note that the way I conduct case studies is essentially the same structure that I suggest to filmmakers to create a distribution and marketing strategy - so the core of this post is essentially guidelines for a distribution and marketing strategy which is below. 

As I said - my case study rubric - which is 10 pages long now - essentially follows the structure that I use to I advise filmmakers and work with clients to create a distribution and marketing strategy. I am going to outline that more in depth in a separate post next week.

However the essentials fall into these 8 considerations:

1. Your Distribution Goal (which I recently wrote about here). Was that goal met - how and why.

2. Your Film & Its Unique Attributes

3. Stage/Where you are at/Existing Deals

4. Your Audiences

5. How to Reach Those Audiences

6. Film Rights/Split Rights

7. Windowing/Timing Your Release

8. Your Resources

FILMS IN RELEASE

We have two films in release now - 1-800-On-Her-Own and The Body Politic as well as one additional film for which we are supporting the release Food and Country.

1-800-On-Her-Own

I wrote about this release in my first post for this Substack. Director Dana Flor and Producer Amy Hobby are currently on tour with Ani DiFranco screening the film in the swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin filling venues of up to 800, selling merch and raising money for Emily’s List ($10K to date). One of their primary goals (hey its Amy Hobby - she can have 2 goals) was to make an impact on the election - and so far according to Amy: “We've raised almost $10,000 for Emily's List and generated engagement and conversation around female candidates including Tammy Baldwin and Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin.” A secondary goal was to make money and so far the screenings have been sold out or nearly full. Plus they are selling merch at the theaters and collecting audience emails to upsell and engage those fans. This release will continue till April - check for theaters and tickets here.

The Body Politic

Filmmaker Gabriel Goodenough’s goal was to get the film seen and help it find its audience. Secondly, since the film was self-produced with a limited budget and financed through grants, donations, loans, and credit cards, the goal was to lessen the financial burden on the filmmaker. We handled overall distribution strategy and booking the theatrical release. Last week, it had a very successful week-long run at DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema in NYC, with several screenings sold out and engaged a variety of partner organizations (NYWIFT, BPM, AMDOC | POV), as well as notable film participants including the Mayor of Baltimore, Brandon M. Scott, Erricka Bridgeford, Peace Activist & Co-Founder of the Baltimore Peace Movement, and Dante Johnson, Baltimore Safe Streets Violence Interrupter. Next week heads to Los Angeles for a weeklong run at the Laemmle Noho. The film has its broadcast premiere on POV November 25th.

Food and Country

We have been handling outreach and social media in support of Michael Bracy and his team at Policy in Focus to support the overall Greenwich release of Food and Country directed by Laura Gabbert. The film opened last Wednesday at the IFC Center and it did so well it will be holding over for a second week. Notable guest speakers in NY were Laura and the film’s principal subject, Ruth Reichl, chef Marcus Samuelsson and activist farmer Karen Washington. Notable press has included the NY Times, LA Times and a spot on Morning Joe on MSNBC. In addition, theaters and events continue to expand across the country - buy tickets here.

Special Substack Event for Food and Country

Tonight we are doing a special live event hosted by Ruth Reichl specifically to her Substack audience. I’m excited about using Substack as a way to engage audiences - and I’m opening it up here to my Substack audience. Ruth is hosting with director Laura Gabbert and film subjects - farmer’s Angela and Kerry Knuth moderated by Michael Bracy from PIF. Get your ticket here.