Distribution

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Hopesploitation…It’s a phrase I’ve been using of late to describe the many avenues that charlatans use to take advantage of the indie filmmakers who are looking for any way to get into the industry and turn to these paid seminars where they offer pitches with industry experts who have no real interest in taking anything you have other than your money. In most cases most of what can learned in these seminars are available online for free if you do an afternoon of research. But the problem goes deeper, there’s a web of lies around some of the bigger institutions in the indie film world that claim to champion the truely independent filmmaker and in the end are just fleecing us the same as their lower-rent brethren. I was on a film set of a moderate budgeted indie feature and I overheard the producer on the phone talking about the premiere. I was a little surprised since the film was literally still in production, but hey nothing wrong with confidence. After the call ended the producer turned to the folks sitting at video village and announced that they were going to premiere at Sundance. I was like how does that work you haven’t even finished shooting? And the producer literally laughed in my face and said that those that submit blind to Sundance and every other large festival were essentially suckers. You have to be in the club to get in and your submission fee pays the salaries of the staff and they take less than a .01 percent of the submissions in the feature world, the rest are all planned premiers for larger indies that still haven’t found a distributor, and have the in with a festival programer. This is the same for all larger festivals if you don’t know someone don’t waste your money or time. We need to stop propping up these corrupt institutions with our money and dreams because of their mythology. It’s all a swindle based on exploiting your hope.

Oscar-Nominated Screenwriter, Meg LeFauve (Inside Out 1 & 2, Captain Marvel, The Screenwriting Life) and Emmy-Nominated Screenwriter, Lorien McKenna (Tab Time, This Thing Called Love, The Screenwriting Life) are sharing their advice, insights, and stories from their experiences working as writers an...

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Dan MaxXx

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1 person likes this
- Daniel J. Pico
16 hours ago

During the American Gold Rush, the ppl who made money sold shovels.

Show Biz same as Las Vegas. They didnt built it for winners; they built it for losers.

Good Luck on your projects.

Maurice Vaughan

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2 people like this
- Benjamin Elliott
- Sam Sokolow
1 day ago

I watched the Tyson-Paul fight and the other fights, Sam Sokolow. The Tyson-Paul fight wasn't that exciting, but it was great to watch Tyson fight again!

Sam Sokolow

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3 people like this
1 day ago

I bet!! I'm a huge Tyson fan, Maurice Vaughan. He grew up in the same neighborhood as my dad - Brownsville, Brooklyn - and we knew Tyson when he was first coming up. One of my first jobs out of colleg...

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Rebecca James

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2 people like this
- Benjamin Elliott
- Maurice Vaughan
1 day ago

Sam Sokolow nice story - would make a cute film.

20 hours ago

That's pretty cool, Sam Sokolow! Mike Tyson seems like a nice, humble guy. I agree with Rebecca James about the film. Maybe the focus could be about "He grew up in the same neighborhood as my dad - Br...

17 hours ago

Yup I watched and JPaul made bank by conning a record live-gate attendance and streaming.

Lots of conspiracy theories saying the fight was fixed; Tyson was supposedly contracted to not punch Paul but...

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2 people like this
- Benjamin Elliott
- Maurice Vaughan
2 days ago

Sucks for Freevee employees, fired before Thanksgiving

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1 person likes this
- Benjamin Elliott
2 days ago

Hopefully Amazon will move the Freevee employees over to the “Watch for Free" department, Dan MaxXx.

Mike Boas

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2 people like this
- Maurice Vaughan
- Benjamin Elliott
2 days ago

One hurdle might be with licensing deals and ad deals. Freevee, while owned by Amazon, is probably operated as its own company with its own accounting and contracts. They may have known they would con...

Shadow Dragu-Mihai, Esq., Ipg

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2 people like this
- Lindbergh E Hollingsworth
- Maurice Vaughan
2 days ago

Yup, well as I have been saying for the last (over a) decade, the ONLY streaming model which will be economically viable is ad-supported. Even Netflix and now Amazon have de facto admitted that...

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1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
1 day ago

Quick chime in - I just spoke to a freind who had a show in development at Freevee - writers room open and multiple scripts written - they're being moved over to Prime and not just shut down. I agree...

Stephen Folker

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2 people like this
- Maurice Vaughan
- Geoff Hall
2 weeks ago

Sadly, not too many options for for indie filmmakers that are transparent / honest. Don't give up! Keep looking.

Ewan Dunbar

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1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
2 weeks ago

Congratulations on completing your feature! For finding prospective distributors, I'd always suggest looking up distributors of similar titles on IMDb. If you look on the companies tab on a film's pag...

Kaunda Mabuya

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1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
4 days ago

In the same boat as you. I suggest, looking to radio stations to market your film and film festivals. Look to tv broadcast networks to showcase your film. That is what my director and I are doing.

4 days ago

If you're looking to have a local network in your area showcase your film, that's a viable option. But if you're wanting a big one, not gonna happen. Jon Shallit - I'd start with having a killer poste...

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2 people like this
- Sam Sokolow
- Ashley Renee Smith
1 week ago

I couldn't believe it when I read about this, Sam Sokolow. I agree, mistakes happen, but I think someone should've caught the mistake if multiple people are approving the package. And that's why it pa...

Debbie Elicksen

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4 people like this
1 week ago

OMG, what a PR nightmare. I think Mattel needs to hire my friend Molly McPherson stat. She is a crisis management queen.

Ashley Renee Smith

It’s awfully. It is. But also, I laughed REALLY hard when I first heard about this. Lol!

We know what websites the marketing team was visiting....

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3 people like this
2 weeks ago

Someone explain to me like a 5th grader how David Zaslav keeps his job at WB? What is the endgame when WB keep losing money every quarter?

Pat Alexander

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4 people like this
2 weeks ago

Wish i could explain it Dan MaxXx. Unfortunately WB's been run like a monkey throwing a shotput at a dart board for the last 5 years, so no idea. You have a company with 2 legacy brands (WB and HBO) a...

Richard Buzzell

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1 person likes this
- Benjamin Elliott
1 week ago

Zaslav has Diddy tapes of all the board members? Only logical explanation I can come up with.

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2 people like this
- Benjamin Elliott
- Maurice Vaughan
1 week ago

Saw Juror #2 over the weekend, great movie by the way! Would rec checking it out. One of my favorite Eastwood directed films for sure

Daniel J. Pico

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2 people like this
- Dan MaxXx
- Benjamin Elliott
1 week ago

Zaslav's business plan is failure. He knows the infrastructure has to become more valuable to sell off, than to keep that means wrecking physical production in California, so he can engineer his plann...

Bradford Richardson

The approach of making Horror fans partners in the film rather than consumers is a GENIUS idea. Great article. Thank you for sharing, Ewan.

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1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
1 week ago

Brilliant campaign and its so inspiring to see this type of innovation and energy lead to the biggest indie box office hit of the year. There will no doubt be more cool campaigns like this to come. Great news for indie filmmakers and the indie film market.