Distribution

THE HARD NUMBERS

Over at The Hot Button,, David Poland, while discussing Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival, throws out some industry analysis that feels pretty dead on and which is the kind of thinking that a lot of first-time filmmakers I encounter don’t really understand when they talk about the value of their film: The new small distributors are trying a new model. 12-16 movies a year. Nothing too big. $15 million is the top. Nothing too small. A $1 million or $2 million pick-up is possible… but only if the film looks like $8 million or more. Cover most of the money […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 28, 2006
CROSS COUNTRY DIALOGUE

Over at Green Cine, Hannah Eaves writes up a panel on new distribution models that overlaps the discussion I moderated earlier this week for the IFP. Filmmaker Caveh Zahedi was at both panels, and the Sonoma, California panel went into different tangents and featured folks like moderator Joel Bachar (of Microcinema), GreenCine’s Content Acquisitions Director Jonathan Marlow, Wellspring’s VP of Theatrical Sales Marisa Keselica, Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos and Houston King of Goodbye Cruel Releasing.
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 14, 2006
NOTES ON THE DISTRIBUTION PANEL

I posted below a response to Sujewa in the comments section, but I thought I’d repost it here along with a few notes coming out of the panel I moderated last night sponsored by the IFP entitled “Distribution Now! Distribution How?” Prompted by IFC’s opening of Caveh Zahedi’s I am a Sex Addict this week, the panel brought Zahedi together with two other filmmakers – Susan Leber, producer of Down to the Bone, and Jay Duplass, writer/director of the upcoming The Puffy Chair, whose films took the long road to getting their features in theaters. (Down to the Bone opened […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 11, 2006
WHAT WOULD THE COMMUNITY THINK?

There’s a good debate going on over at Indiewire prompted by a letter from filmmaker Jim McKay about the future of the AIVF and the role of community in independent film.
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 10, 2006
DISTRIBUTION NOW… DISTRIBUTION HOW?

I’ll be moderating an IFP-sponsored panel this coming Monday on the challenges of the current distribution environment for indies, focusing on filmmakers who have persisted despite initial adversity to see their films out in the marketplace. It’s linked to the New York opening of Caveh Zahedi’s I Am a Sex Addict and tickets cost ten bucks, but $8 of the ticket price goes back to the theater screening Caveh’s film and you get a voucher enabling you to see the movie during the first week. We’re doing it, obviously, to help Caveh’s grosses in the first week as these are […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 6, 2006
HYBRID DISTRIBUTION

The Hollywood Reporter’s Gregg Goldstein has a piece up about alternative distribution, discussing how films like Anytown, USA, The Dogwalker, and Tennis, Anyone are getting in front of audiences after being passed on by traditional distribs. In the piece, Peter Broderick coins the term “hybrid distribution” to describe these filmmaker/alternative distrib partnerships. Among the companies discussed: Without a Box, Truly Indie, Emerging Pictures and Film Movement.
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 30, 2006
HOW TO FIX TIME WARNER

I linked to Erick Schonfeld in the post below and now just see on Anne Thompson’s blog this link to a new piece of his, “5 Ways to Fix Time Warner.” It’s a very interesting piece with ideas that should be considered by anyone distributing media today. For example, Schonfeld advocates a move away from the blockbuster to the “nichebuster”: Once the businesses are organized around audience niches, creating blockbusters becomes less necessary. Instead, media businesses that are focused on narrow audiences will naturally give rise to the more cost-effective “nichebuster.” A nichebuster is any kind of content that becomes […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 23, 2006
SELF DISTRIBUTOR NO MORE

In Filmmaker this issue writer-director Andrew Bujalski interviews Caveh Zahedi, whose I am a Sex Addict won the new Filmmaker-sponsored “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You” award at the Gotham’s this year. As a sidebar to the piece, Zahedi penned a “Self Distribution Manifesto” explaining the moral imperative behind his decision to distribute his film himself. Zahedi started the piece by admitting that he had always dreamed of getting big distribution deals for his film and that none were forthcoming for Sex Addict. But midway through he turned what could have been a sour-grapes rant into a […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 28, 2006
THE FUTURE IS NOW

First there was inclusion of video in the iTunes music store, an now, with Friday’s announcement by Google, is the new Google Video Store, currently online in a beta version. For those slow to the party, here’s a good Los Angeles Times piece by Chris Gaither explaining Google’s approach, which allows producers to upload their own videos and set their own price for downloads and decide whether or not to allow copy-protection. (The copy-protected works on the site use Google’s proprietary technology and are annoyingly not transferable to video iPods.) Google is launching the service with 5,000 titles, including films […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 7, 2006
STRAIGHT TALK FROM SUB POP

Filmmakers looking to score quick tunes from up-and-coming bands for their indie flick often don’t understand the realities of licensing pre-recorded music and wonder why their producers can’t clear a song on the fly. Here, then, is some straight talk from Sub Pop Records, the label that spawned Nirvana and which has a handy $500 festival rights quote but also plenty of provisos that filmmakers need to follow: “A sync license for a Sub Pop artist will run you $500, half of which goes to Publishing, the other half of which goes to Sub Pop. If you do not want […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 29, 2005

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