If you like Filmmaking Stuff, you’ll love Jason Brubaker’s Filmmaking Stuff Podcast.
In these audio podcasts, you’ll get valuable information on how to source your audience, audio interviews with industry heavy weights, how to maximize box office revenues, ideas on filmmaking business models and business plans and movie distribution…
To access this FREE filmmaking podcast, click on Jason Brubaker’s picture.
Posted under
This post was written by Jason Brubaker on May 22, 2011
Independent Movie Distributors are great if they offer you a deal. The problem is, many filmmakers do not get a great deal. Instead, many filmmakers end up with a lot of empty promises.
Now, thanks in part to a shrinking DVD market, many traditional distributors have shifted focus to partner with, or become a movie aggregator. For those of you new to the concept, a movie aggregator exists to collect a whole bunch of movies, and then serves as a middle-man between YOU and the marketplace.
The result of this DVD to VOD distribution transition has created a new sales pitch for filmmakers:
“Give us your VOD rights for a gazillion years and we’ll get your title onto iTunes.”
If you’re like a lot of filmmakers, this pitch is all you need to hand over your VOD rights for many years. The result of which allows you to tell all your friends: “Our movie was picked up by [insert bottom feeding aggregator here] and now we are on iTunes.”
Any time I hear this, I want to PUKE.
Why? Because treating VOD distribution like DVD distribution is the difference between lighting and lighting bug (I think that is a quote from Mark Twain.) But you get my point. It can’t be treated the same.
WHY DO I SAY THIS?
I say this because many traditional DVD distributors will add NO VALUE to your VOD strategy.
They will simply get your movie into the marketplace and suck your profits for the extent of your contract. And since most traditional distributors can not monopolize the VOD marketplace (like retail DVD), they will grab any title they can and hope for the best.
Think about it. It doesn’t cost them anything. All they gotta do is get your movie encoded and uploaded into the market – and if it makes money, they make money. If it doesn’t make money – OH WELL!
Like I said. That makes me PUKE.
You see. The problem isn’t your ability to access a VOD marketplace. Your problem is SOURCING an audience.
In retail DVD distribution, it was different. Retail DVD was a predictable sales channel. In the old days, you licensed your retail DVD rights to a distributor. Then your distributor made a few phone calls and got your movie into video stores. People drove to video stores and walked around the store. So if your DVD was on the shelf, your odds of making money increased.
But with VOD? We are talking about people sitting in front of their computers. The marketplace changes at the click of a mouse.
So far, we know that iTunes, NetFlix and Amazon are popular. You should get your movie into those marketplaces. But that doesn’t mean you should give up your VOD rights to get there.
“In this modern era of moviemaking, YOU can get your movie into all the popular marketplaces without locking up your rights!”
Yesterday I sat in on a conference call hosted by Adam Chapnick over at distribber. Many of the modern moviemakers from filmmaking stuff were on the call. There were a lot of good questions.
For those of you who don’t know, distribber is a movie aggregator. But unlike the bottom feeding variety mentioned earlier, distribber works on an upfront payment model. This means YOU pay a little over a thousand bucks and you can access iTunes and many of the other popular marketplaces without locking up your rights!
Now I know what you’re thinking – why would any filmmaker pay to get a movie distributed? It’s a good question. But I think the better question is, do you think your movie will garner more than $1300 in VOD sales? If so, then you might consider distribber or a service like it. Otherwise, you’re going to end up paying a LOT MORE to a traditional bottom-feeder.
And if money is the only issue, you’re in luck there too. Since Distribber is part of indie gogo, filmmakers are encouraged to create a crowdfunding campaign to cover their distribber fee. Creating an indie gogo crowdfunding campaign will not only allow you to raise money, but you’ll also benefit from the social networking aspects of the site – Your contributors will tell their friends. And this inturn will will help you source your audience.
[IMPORTANT: If you do not think your movie will make more than $1300 dollars in VOD sales, distribber is NOT a good fit.]
In full disclosure, I have an affiliate relationship with distribber. They pay me to promote them. But I would still recommend them or any companies like them even if I wasn’t getting paid. The reason for my passion is this: I have watched too many of my friends get burned by crappy distribution deals. And I want to help you avoid this.
The secret that traditional DVD distributors don’t want you to know is this: Getting into the marketplace is easy.
The TOUGH part is getting people to watch (and buy) your movie. For that I recommend The Indie Producer’s Guide To Digitial Distribution or at the very least, read some of my other articles on movie marketing and distribution.
And if you’re just getting to know me, make sure you grab a FREE copy of my filmmaking book. Click Here >>
In a future article, I’m going to show you how to leverage VOD distribution for your business plans. Stay tuned.
Posted under Uncategorized
This post was written by Jason Brubaker on March 3, 2011
As a feature filmmaker, it is important to maintain positive thinking and keep your fingers crossed for a great distribution deal. But the reality is – the movie industry is changing. New methods of distribution including Video On Demand and internet viewing continually erodes traditional sales channels.
Good news and bad news: The good news is, you now have one of the most amazing opportunities in movie making history to make a movie, reach your audience (globally) and collect cash.
And here is the not so good news.
In order to benefit as a modern moviemaker, you will have to become masterful at creating buzz, establishing and maintaining a sales funnel website, while simultaneously focusing on increasing your targeted web traffic and converting your visitors into a paying audience… Only then can you create a profit and possibly pay back your investors.
And despite this reality, many filmmakers will still waste time waiting for someone else to “discover” their project.
.
Posted under DISTRIBUTION
This post was written by Jason Brubaker on January 5, 2011
As we get closer to an independent filmmaking business driven by video on demand distribution, I am on the hunt for various case studies that can help filmmakers navigate the changing world.
I caught wind of an indie production company based in Australia called Rapidfire Productions. This is a production company that operates as a self sustaining modern moviemaking business. They develop, produce and distribute their genre specific titles through their own distribution arm. David W. Allen is one of the producers. Earlier this week he stopped by Filmmaking Stuff to share some ideas on how to make, market and sell movies through new forms of internet distribution.
Jason Brubaker
What is your name?
David W. Allen
David W. Allen
Jason Brubaker
How did you get started making movies?
David W. Allen
I have always been into making movies with my long time best friend and director of our most recent feature, “The Gates of Hell,” Kelly Dolen. As kids in our early teens we would always be running around with a video camera making home movies and writing our own horror and action screenplays.
Jason Brubaker
And then when you felt ready, you made the shift to features?
David W. Allen
Yes. Our first feature length film was a low low budget vampire flick called ‘Reign in Darkness’ which we both wrote and directed. We only had $49k to make this with and considering the budget it came out okay.
Jason Brubaker
Sounds like an exciting first feature.
David W. Allen
We jumped on a plane to LA wide eyed and innocent to sell our film and make it big in Hollywood.
Jason Brubaker
I felt the same way after our first feature. It’s like you work so hard to make the impossible, possible. Hollywood sure seems like the logical next step.
David W. Allen
Ahhhh how naive we were all those years ago. [Laughter]
Jason Brubaker
So what happened? Were you able to sell the movie for an amazing cash advance and get a 3 picture deal?
David W. Allen
We ended up getting a distribution deal with a sales agent who we were introduced to by an entertainment lawyer.
Jason Brubaker
Was it a good deal?
David W. Allen
No. We got ripped off and didn’t see a great deal of money for the film. That was 10 years ago. Today the title is still selling out there, online. The movie is making money for other people but not us.
Jason Brubaker
How did that change your perspective about traditional distribution?
David W. Allen
I learned a very valuable lesson with ‘Reign’ and vowed if we ever made another feature film we would distribute ourselves.
Jason Brubaker
I agree with you. Especially when it comes to video on demand distribution.
David W. Allen
I could see where the Internet was heading and knew it was going to be the way to reach our future audiences with our Independent films.
Jason Brubaker
What is Rapidfire Productions?
David W. Allen
Rapidifire Productions was established by Kelly Dolen and myself in 1999 with the sole purposed to produce a diverse, wide range of Independent high concept genre films, ranging from action, drama, horror and sci-fi.
Jason Brubaker
So you are staying very genre specific?
David W. Allen
Our long-term goal was to make commercially successful projects that satisfy a marketplace craving for intelligent genre films and build a distribution arm for low budget Indy films.
Jason Brubaker
And it sounds like your title called “The Gates Of Hell” fits your model. Tell us about the project.
David W. Allen
The Gates of Hell is a dark psychological thriller and horror flick which is inspired by a combination of “old school” films like The Exorcist and The Thing and the adrenalin of cutting edge video games like Gears of War and Manhunt.
Jason Brubaker
Could you tell our readers where to find out more about your movie?
David W. Allen
Here is the website: www.TheGatesOfHellMovie.com
Jason Brubaker
How did you come up with the idea?
David W. Allen
It was back when Kelly and I were sharing a place together and we were talking about what we can make next for a low cost and high commercial value. We were talking about a filmmaking seminar we attended in Melbourne, Australia conducted by Dov Simmens, a Hollywood indy filmmaking guru.
Jason Brubaker
I am familiar with Dov and his work. What was the most inspiring advice he gave you?
David W. Allen
He said the best thing to do with your first film is to get a bunch of young people and take them to a single location and chop them up.
Jason Brubaker
Ha! I think that is sound filmmaking business advice.
David W. Allen
That was the thought process that ignited the idea for The Gates of Hell.
Jason Brubaker
So once you had your idea, what came next?
David W. Allen
Kelly and I started brainstorming ideas and we come up with an old condemned orphanage that used to house discarded deformed children that upper class people didn’t want.
Jason Brubaker
That sounds like a true horror movie.
David W. Allen
We researched this online to see if in fact a place like this did exist and they did back in the early 1940’s. And then we added some Hollywood to the idea and the first treatment was written.
Jason Brubaker
So once you had the treatment, what came next in your process?
David W. Allen
From there Kelly ran with the idea and developed it into a screenplay which was constantly developed over some years to get it to a stage where it was ready to make. We had a local artist drawing characters for the film and story boards you name it was all happening.
Jason Brubaker
What was your role during this time?
David W. Allen
I focused on the producing and marketing. I was responsible for developing an internet marketing strategy, building the website and creating the entire online distribution business model. I planned an online release from the very beginning.
Jason Brubaker
Building your movie business plan based on an internet marketing strategy is a very new concept. Was there any pushback from other producers or investors?
David W. Allen
The Investors had no intention of going down this path. They wanted the big blue sky and Hollywood. But I knew in the end they would end up going with my plan to self-distribute.
Jason Brubaker
What was Kelly’s role?
David W. Allen
Kelly went out and raised the large majority of the money from investors of our previous film and the new investors came from people he knew from his years selling home audio equipment at the large retailer JB HI-FI. The main investors were customers of Kelly’s from this store and over the years they come to value him as a friend more than just a shop assistant.
Jason Brubaker
So would you say that filmmakers must first understand the value of relationships?
David W. Allen
There is such a valuable lesson to be learned here especially with the social networking explosion on the Internet… Success is all about the relationships both online and offline.
Jason Brubaker
That makes me remember a quote I learned while selling overpriced hot tubs in college. “People buy from people they trust and like.”
David W. Allen
In my opinion this is the key to being successful in offline and online business and film distribution. Over time your followers will come to trust you and believe you, so when you have something to sell they will be far more likely to buy because they feel like they know and trust you.
Jason Brubaker
So let’s talk more about your movie sales strategy. How did you handle the sales, marketing and distribution?
David W. Allen
After the film was completed we took the film to a number of film festivals such as Screamfest, Amberg, Sacramento, and NYC. We also attended some film markets such as AFM and Cannes.
Jason Brubaker
Were you able to gain any traction?
David W. Allen
The film had great reviews but with all the positive hype around the the film the distribution deals were not very favorable and we didn’t want to go down the same path as we did with our first film ‘Reign in Darkness’ where were got a raw distribution deal.
Jason Brubaker
That is a tough choice. Many first time feature filmmakers will consider deals that do not pay a dime, just for the validation that comes from someone else saying “Great work! You’re a REAL filmmaker!”
David W. Allen
Yeah. But being passionate about everything Internet, I was pushing the proposal of just self-distributing online. But it was a hard sell to our investors who wanted to see the film in cinemas and up in lights.
Jason Brubaker
That is interesting. I guess some of those folks need traditional validation too?
David W. Allen
Well, all I wanted was to see a positive net return for sales of the film and focus on introducing the film to its market online and letting its popularity spread over time.
Jason Brubaker
Sounds like a pragmatic approach to your modern movie business. Were you able to get your way?
David W. Allen
I managed to get my way in the end with a little compromise. The investors wanted to see the movie in the cinemas so we did a distribution deal with an Australian distributor for Australian and New Zealand rights.
Jason Brubaker
Sounds like a hybrid deal. You retain some rights, while licensing other rights through other channels. Was this a profitable strategy for your movie?
David W. Allen
As I am writing this, the distributor is still yet to do anything with ‘The Gates of Hell’, which is no surprise to me, but a big lesson for the investors who wanted a quick return and blue sky.
Jason Brubaker
At least you can move forward with your own internet movie marketing strategy. Can you tell us a little more about your marketing plan?
David W. Allen
My marketing plan is simple. With very little money, I am taking the advice of a brilliant marketer Seth Godin and build a tribe and sell the movie to that tribe who over time will spread the word.
Jason Brubaker
What are the mechanics involved in building a tribe?
David W. Allen
I will be collecting emails from prospective customers so we can sell them backend products that they actually want.
Jason Brubaker
What about marketplaces? Where will you actually sell your movie?
David W. Allen
My distribution plan is to start off with selling the DVD then when I get some traction in the market I will approach a VOD distributor and then an iTunes aggregator and Amazon. I will also look at Netflix but I will wait until it gets more popularity so to get a better upfront fee.
Jason Brubaker
You mentioned DVD. Who is going to handle your DVD fulfillment?
David W. Allen
For the DVD distribution I use a company called Disk.com. They were highly recommended to me by some of my Internet marketing peers who use them to create and distribute their information products. They are based in the USA and is a great place for the shipping of the DVDs within the US and throughout Europe and the UK. There are some great companies here in Australia but the shipping costs would be way too high given our main market is in the USA and UK.
Jason Brubaker
Outside of distribution and your website, how are you spreading word of mouth?
David W. Allen
Facebook Pages and Twitter play a bit part in my strategy. I use these platforms to build what is called Market Leadership. I also hit the forums and get involved in the top ones and this is a great way to get people to check out the film.
Jason Brubaker
What about getting prominent website owners to review the movie?
David W. Allen
I am sending out copies to influences in the market place, people who already have a large following in the horror market and if they like the film they will tell their tribe about it.
Jason Brubaker
When I first saw your movie website, I was impressed. I think it has all the components necessary to create a movie sales funnel. But you also have something called an opt-in box to build your mailing list. How important is a mailing list for modern moviemakers?
David W. Allen
Very important! It is such a valuable asset for filmmaker if they don’t abuse it. It takes so long to build traffic to your website so you want to be capturing as many leads as possible so you can stay in touch with them, send them cool free stuff and then sell them backend products related to their film.
Jason Brubaker
Yes. I think filmmakers need to take charge of sourcing their own core audience. But what about in-between projects? How do you leverage your list?
David W. Allen
Between projects, the other thing filmmakers can do is introduce other people’s related products to their list for a fee or on an affiliate basis. Over time your mailing list will become very valuable. The bigger and more responsive the list, the more other industry players will want to pay filmmakers money to get related products or films in front of their subscribers.
Jason Brubaker
What suggestions do you have for other filmmakers who want to create their own movie business?
David W. Allen
Look at the market you’re making the film for first. This is a business and if you are going to spend money on making a film you better be sure there is a big enough and hungry enough market out there to buy your film and other backend products.
Jason Brubaker
You keep mentioning marketing related products. Could you explain this a little more?
David W. Allen
I look at the film itself as a lead generation product for the purpose of building a big list. I am not all that concerned about making the money back on the DVD itself but on other monetizing avenues over time including advertising.
Jason Brubaker
That is an interesting concept. Most filmmakers do not think like marketers. Yet if we want to make money making movies, it makes sense that we would need to diversify our product offerings.
David W. Allen
The modern filmmaker needs to think beyond the film itself as the only means of generating income. The money online is where the eyeballs are. Think about it.
- – -
To find out more about Rapidfire Productions and their titles, GO HERE
Posted under DISTRIBUTION, INTERVIEWS
This post was written by Jason Brubaker on November 27, 2010
I have no idea how this chunk of wood relates to Filmmaking. But it looked neato. Image via Wikipedia
I always hated math. Then last year after finishing up one of our movies, we realized that most of our distribution offers sucked.
So in order to make back our money and (hopefully) make a profit, I had to learn some math. The actual equation was really quite simple – and a good case study for your own filmmaking projects.
Let’s suppose you go out and raise $100K for your movie. And let’s say you make your movie, but you do not garner a dream distribution deal. And for the sake of this article, let’s say the only way you can recoup your investment is by making $4.99 (after expenses) off of each VOD download sold.
Then here are my questions to you: How many VOD downloads must you sell to pay back your investors? How many VOD downloads must you sell to make a living as a professional filmmaker? And how will you plan your marketing to make this a reality?
Posted under FILM FINANCING
This post was written by Jason Brubaker on August 5, 2010
Filmmakers can now sell their movies on iTunes - Image via Wikipedia
As a filmmaker, uploading your movie to iTunes is a pain in the butt.
And if you’re new to feature filmmaking, let me explain a few things. One of the biggest challenges you have is getting your movie seen and sold.
Assuming you’ve traveled the festivals, you probably know that the distribution deals that once fueled your filmmaking dreams have dried up. And these days, even if you get a deal, one of the selling points of the deal will probably involve some distributor touting the wonders of iTunes.
Now before you protest, I’m not saying that better deals aren’t out there. They are. And I’m also not saying that you can’t get a dream distribution deal – you can. And great job if you land one!
But for the other 98% of filmmakers, if getting a return on your movie is a goal, some choices will have to be made. Typically your choices are:
If you’ve been reading this Filmmaking Stuff long enough, you probably know where I’m going with this. So let me take you there… If your deal does not pencil, it is NOT a deal! Period.
It simply comes down to this: do you want 3rd party validation? Or do you want cash without the middle man?
If you picked the ladder (and I hope you did), then your next order of business is to focus on a marketplace. And if you haven’t gone down this road before, let me tell you that there are only 3 TOP markets for your movie.
When attempting to get your movie seen and sold, if you do not get a deal, and you are not on those sites – then as a filmmaker, y you have cut your potential for revenue significantly. This is because the big 3 provide a marketplace full of hungry customers ready to buy movies.
“OK, Jason Brubaker – That’s great. But how do I get my independent movies on iTunes?”
Great question.
I am pleased to announce a strategic partnership with Distribber. They are owned by IndieGoGo and as a company, the service provides a one stop shop for filmmakers working to get their movies on iTunes, Amazon and Netflix. You simply pay a 1 time fee (which is reasonable, especially if your production team decides to buck up and each pay a little.)
Then assuming your movie makes the cut (there is a screening process), you get your movie on the Big 3. And unlike traditional distribution deals, this movie sales tool offers 24-hour access to your sales stats and your money. So once you’re set up, all you gotta do is log in to your account, check out your sales and view your cash balance.
And the cool part? No waiting for checks. No more “creative Hollywood accounting.” With this movie sales tool, you may withdraw your funds at any time via Paypal. To learn more, check out the site at: www.MovieSalesTool.com
If you have questions about this service, you’re welcome to email me. jason(at)filmmakingstuff.com
Posted under DISTRIBUTION
This post was written by Jason Brubaker on July 14, 2010
