Hi, my name's Ben. I've just spent the past 3 years writing, directing, editing and producing my feature length dream project. It's funny, straight forward, commercial...and has been rejected from every film festival and it's mother over the past 6 months. Fortunately, this was to be expected.
Because we didn't go into this with our eyes glued shut, we began cultivating our audience from day 1. We figured we'd have to self-distribute because we knew when we were done that "the cavalry was not coming to save us." This was going to be on us. And now we're at that point.
We're looking at an end of May self-release date on TVOD platforms (like Vimeo, iTunes, Amazon Transactional). Any thoughts, suggestions or prayers would be greatly accepted on how to go about self-distribution. This release will be our first go around and if you've got something to say, we want to hear it. And I happily will document all of our triumphs and failures to help our indie community. Thanks for your time. And here is our trailer. Love, Ben.
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Ben, congratulations on the completion of your first feature film - wow, I loved the trailer! I know how hard it is, especially with film festivals so launched an alternative film fest for shorts - CMCS Wall of Fame (on Filmfreeway.com). The logline of your film can keep developing - don't if it is too late to update on your film website, YouTube - a bit of mystery/question in the logline can be engaging! TVOD platforms sound awesome. Do you have a PR kit (including a press release and other promo material) for the film? Might help in reaching out to independent media to showcase your film and do interviews!!
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Hey Ben, this is Karen from the Stage 32 team. I just wanted to let you know I moved your post from Acting to Distribution (since you're asking for advice on how to distribute), as it fits much better there. Let me know if you have any questions and all the best to you!
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I wouldn't get discouraged if your film was rejected. Perhaps it just needs a new coat of paint on the edit / submit again! Either way - wishing you nothing but success! And to any naysayers, they can go pound sand!
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Watched it, it looks great. Contact me!
Shooting an e-mail. Thanks everyone. I'll keep the updates coming.
After receiving some info, here are some options for indie self-distribution we're considering. If you have an indie film, these are all worth considering.
IndieRights, I feel this is slightly obvious, but worth mentioning as I've heard nothing but great things.
BitMax: https://www.bitmax.net/
Premiere Digital: https://www.premieredigital.com/aggregation/
Good Stuff!
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Film festivals and distribution are no longer linked arm in arm like it used to be. It's no longer a requirement, and most distribution companies only attend the biggest festivals anyway. I've come to hate film festivals for the way they take advantage of indie filmmakers. My last two films have secured distribution without being accepted into any festivals. I was able to get 5 or 6 offers and secured distribution on my last film without even submitting it to a single festival. Just contact distribution companies directly, many of them are happy to check out a screener.
If you do self distribute, also check out filmhub.
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Hi Brad - I hate that you've had a bad experience with film festivals, as they can play an important role in building a fan base for your film. I worked for 8 years as a programmer, and was able to connect many films directly to distributors while launching them into the fest circuit for extra revenue. I think it's great that you went directly to the distributors, and that's a solid option but don't dismiss all festivals as the same.
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I think that's great for a handful of festivals that are at the top, but there are literally over 12 thousand film festivals now on FilmFreeway, and the overwhelming majority don't really help a film do anything. Building fan bases are an excellent idea, but I've been to so many festivals where the attendance is a handful of people at each screening. You can just as easily build a fanbase with Facebook, Twitter, Instragram, or YouTube. That's great that your work as a festival programmer you were able to help people, you are one of the good ones, but for all the money filmmakers pour into submitting to festivals, not to mention the cost of actually attending one, the scales do not tip in the favor of the filmmaker, in my opinion. I wasn't trying to crap on film festivals, I was just trying to give Ben hope that just because he got rejected by every festival he submitted to, that is not the end of the line. Festivals are no longer the gatekeeper of distribution. Its nice marketing material, but that's about it.
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Thanks, guys. I think I hear you both pretty well. I'd have to be honest and say I was a bit jaded towards film festivals myself, but that's only because I was giving them the unrealistic prestige they seemed to carry due to stories from the '90s. Where the reality is they aren't the golden ticket (even if you get into Sundance) but they can undoubtedly be beneficial in several ways. Whether it's finding distribution, your audience, press etc. I think we all just need to be smarter these days when choosing which ones are financially worth what we're trying to get out of them.
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Hang in there. I am sure you have done this but not every festival is perfect for every film. Try to find festivals that play films that are similar in tone to yours. Those are going to be a better fit. Also find festivals that are close to you. If you can attend the festival, the programers are more excited to consider you since you'll be there. Festivals thrive on the filmmakers being in attendance and that goes a long way. Look at "Film Freeway" and see what is out there that lines up with your film genre and tone. Also how long is you film? What is the run time?
Haha, I'm in Ohio and the Cleveland Film Fest still showed us the door. I mean I get that we're not The Deer Hunter...but we're not exactly Heaven's Gate either. At the end of the day we could have been pickier on which fests are going to consider screening a raunchy comedy, particularly in an ever growing PC world. But that's on us. We're at a nice little 90 min exactly. We're streaming on TVOD now, getting ready to take the Tubi/Freevee AVOD plunge.
I would recommend FilmHub. They are an aggregator and most of the indie films you see on Tubi are there with their help.
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These are epic, thanks Mark. The indie doc "Burn" about Detroit firefighters also has a pretty incredible story on their release. I reached out to their director, Tom and he was generous enough to spend time telling me they more than quadrupled their budget through grass roots cold calling and 4 walling