Distribution

Should be a hoot!

Sam Sokolow Shorts is really great for growing a channel. Especially if you create them on TikTok, which makes it so easy to do the one minute. Those videos automatically save to your phone and you can upload to YouTube. Then I go into the YouTube Studio and optimize it with tags, etc., and watch which platform gets the most hits. Sometimes it's YouTube. Sometimes it's TikTok. Since doing this consistently, I've seen my lives and videos get more traction. It's still slow as molasses getting subscribers, though. I think once you get to a certain point, the floodgates open.

Still, like everything else, the content is king. The storyline has to attract the viewer. But also the title. I've been using TubeBuddy to help with tags and titles.

Sam Sokolow I’ll have to check out YTTV Sam. What’s caught your eye, so far?

Hey Geoff Hall - its a combination of things including monthly price, ease of use, unlimited recordings and being to access it from any and every device. Its just cool. You need strong wifi so we upgraded to a mesh system and it's been terrific.

Sam Sokolow thanks Sam. We have a 125 mbs broadband service, with WiFi signal boosters in the main room, so I guess we should be okay.

Now here’s a question that’s been burning in me for a while. YT as part of a distribution strategy? Yes? No? Maybe?

Have you used it for any of your projects, Sam?

Geoff Hall It's the biggest search engine and makes billions each quarter, provides a truckload of tips and resources for users -- of course you use it for a distribution strategy. :) It's where everybody on the planet lives.

Hi Geoff.

I’m arriving in Cannes tomorrow morning. Will you be there? Let’s meet.

That's great for Arthouse creatives, Geoff Hall! I love watching mainstream films, but Arthouse movies feel more personal and more impactful sometimes.

Maurice Vaughan yes it is, Maurice. It’s kinda my niche too, so it’s now on my radar.

Thanks for sharing!

Great strategy for indie filmmakers, Karen "Kay" Ross!

Awesome story. Should be noted, this was a decade ago. A lot has changed. Many no-name, no-budget filmmakers use to get foreign sales, now they don't and it's dropped on YouTube and Tubi by distributors. Nonetheless, you have to try different things to make money and be positive (and realistic)!

So cool. People need to see this. Karen "Kay" Ross thanks for sharing this.

I’m a big fan of these guys at Show & Tell — talks a lot about docs but very applicable to narrative films. https://show-tell.teachable.com/p/starterprogram

David Santo brother, thank you for sending me this document! Very Helpful. I'll be suing these resources.

Dear Ahi, The films were created in my native language, so I gave them to Swedish public access television stations.

The first movie was filmed in the way it was supposed to. With actors in front of the camera. Here is the trailer.

https://vimeo.com/111783195

When I created the second one, a disaster happened. An emergency solution. Not funny. Definitely not funny. Here is the trailer.

https://vimeo.com/182128117

When I created the third one, a different disaster happened. On with the morph suit again, but this time in front of the chromakey background with a doll. Not funny. Definitely not funny. Here is the trailer.

https://vimeo.com/308083543

Suffering from disasters due to a lack of money is not funny. But one learns from it. And the situation is even worse for those who depend on other people's money.

So learning how to do without money is highly relevant.

About successes. Well, nothing special, but having credits makes it easier to impress upon other people, so i am optimistic.

I recommend this Stage 32 webinar taught by the amazing Kristin Harris on securing distribution for your films: https://www.stage32.com/education?p=8944873079091

Ahi Black It's the first you're hearing of this because filmmakers will very often resent it when a producer wants to test the movie with an audience. So it's not something creatives really encourage. It's something that execs use to determine whether to invest in the marketing. But if you're a serious producer, you have to embrace this aspect of the process because you need to know if the film you wrote and directed rocks or sucks before you spend millions marketing it.

By agency I meant a testing company. Sorry for any confusion. ERM Market Research is pretty well known in the film space. They will take your call even if you're new. As far as distributors go, you can absolutely reach out to them once you have funding in place and are seeking attachments and some idea of the value of the package. But prior to securing equity, I would NOT hit up distributors. It's too early. Without money you have nothing. Literally nothing. A script is nothing. Best not to call anyone until you raise a significant portion of the financing.

Ahi Black my advice for what it’s worth, would be to plan distribution now, before production. Who is your audience? If you don’t know that, then you’ve got a bit of research to do. It’s not private lenders you are looking for, but private investors. However, think about maybe raising development funding via a film funding site like Seed and Spark and then look for equity funding. With development funding you stand a better chance of attracting talent to the film.

All of this process will help you understand more about “where do we go from here?”

Geoff Hall "Alpha," "The Death of Robin Hood," "11817," "Encore," "Nuremberg," and "Double Booked."

Not reporting quarterly numbers won't have an impact on anyone, anything except Netflix.

Thats interesting after so much fuss was being made last year to push streamers to be more transparent overall.

This is partly why the WGA strike was such a smoke and mirrors show. What difference does it make what you negotiate when the other party won't disclose what your script is worth to them? They have zero intention of paying out residuals. Cause writers would be able to figure out exactly how much the platform is earning with their I.P. and rather than risk that disclosure, platforms would rather pay the WGA fines as the "cost of doing business".

I used this company for my case studies in my Budget Challenge for studios to help them save close to $50 Billion USD.

If you would like to see the budget challenge, please communicate with RB and Support. (Filmmakers, Studio and Talent Challenges). On my Stage 32 Wall. One of the biggest examples are Content Write-Offs Tax Incentives. Can save you billions.

Those decisions are why he gets the pay rise.

He is not there to make movies. He is there to facilitate making money, which is done in the movie industry.

Craig D Griffiths is right, Pat Alexander. He's not there as a Creative Executive, he's there to run a corporation which means making money and keeping shareholders happy. By making decisions like axing Batgirl and Coyote vs. Acme to make more money back in the tax write-off, he upset fans and viewers, but likely made the company back more money than they would have in box-office numbers coming out of the strike when fewer people are spending money in theaters. I'm a HUGE Bat-Fam fan and was so excited for the Batgirl movie. But the reality is that he likely made the shareholders very happy with those decisions. Also, the streaming service flubs have been ridiculous, but it's a great example of what happens in the industry when someone new comes in and takes over a sandbox full of toys. HBOMax was already struggling and as the new person in charge, rebranding the service as Max was his way of trying to turn that around and make the service less focused on WB Content that he was acquiring. He wanted it seen as a space for his Discovery content that was merging in. It didn't work perfectly, but he's not the one who chose to name the streaming service HBOMax in the first place, which I always thought was a branding mistake from WB at the start. All of the streaming services are struggling currently and in some ways, Max is doing better than others.

Yeah, Craig D Griffiths, but he's making $49.7MM while a lot of the people who come up with the ideas for the movies and shows and make them are struggling. Ridiculous.

Couldn't agree with you more, Maurice Vaughan. It's ridiculous and gross. But it's also the sad reality of how larger studios operate. These are corporations first and creative entities second.