In the world of Internet video, we’ve come a long way since the dawn of the Internet Age. High speed connections have made it possible for people to stream HD quality films in a matter of seconds. If someone said to you in 1996, “Hey, I’m going to stream an HD movie tonight. Wanna come [...]
In the old days, the model of film acquisitions meant that you would give up your film to a distributor for years at a time, in exchange a cash advance and a back-end percentage. You would then move on to your next project and the distributor would send you a quarterly statement. This film acquisitions [...]
When filmmakers talk about a movie release window, they are describing the time between a theatrical run, a TV broadcast and a DVD release. And as a filmmaker, planning a “Release Window” strategy is essential. But what worked in the old days for studio releases is not applicable to small indie films. Why? Because video [...]
Do you remember the old days when you would see a movie in the theater and then wait months for the movie to come out on video? This is an example of a release window. Windows worked for major motion pictures because they put millions behind marketing. And in some cases, having a theatrical release [...]
There are a lot of filmmakers that tell you it is NOT okay to sell directly to your movie fans. The reason for this is based in our industry-wide belief that we must follow traditional release windows, or miss opportunity. “I’m going to do festivals. Then I’ll hopefully negotiate theatrical. Then I’d like to focus [...]
The other day, I found myself in a huge Facebook debate about the importance of building your own audience. Despite the fact that the entire world of movie distribution is shifting away from a physical product and people are now watching movies on their small devices – there are still some fuddy-duddies who believe that [...]
