The takeaways from this video for me, were:
Control the process.
Don’t waste your rights, but choose different distribution companies for varying strategies, i.e. theatrical, educational, online video and digital releases.
Know your audience. And it isn’t “everyone”. Everyone is not going to see your film. Everyone is really a sign that you don’t know who your audience is!
What are your takeaways?
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I'm not convinced self-distribution is a viable option. Better to partner with a sales agent who'll work either for commission or a fee. Someone who knows the market both domestically and internationally.
It's like with novels, there are lots of online outlets, and you can probably get into one or two independent bookstores, but really, Amazon is 95%+ of the self-published market, and the majors have all the slots sewn up at bookstore chains. If you invest hugely in marketing, you might get some kind of visibility.
Similarly with self-distributed film, you can put it on YouTube and Prime, and you might get into a couple of off-beat cinemas, but without massive marketing investment, it's not going to get seen.
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John Clive Carter Hi John, I don’t think they were promoting self-distribution, but hybrid distribution, which is based on several key partnerships.
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Hybrid distribution sounds a bit like making a fairly simple process complicated. Logical, when it comes to what Peter Broderick is actually selling - if you check on his website.
As a director I design my films and videos specifically for a medium. Meaning, I know from the complete beginning of the movie making proces what I want in which medium and what territories - though it gives many comparisons, theatre is a completely different window to produce for than TV, let alone a PC or phone in f.e France, Germany or the US. My take is if your entering hybrid distribution you have to implement a strategy that should already have been there (how have you done your casting?).
To filmmakers I would say keep it simple and have a strong knowledgeable specialist (sales agent) you can afford do the distribution for you, and trust. It's more important you produce a really good movie that audiences actually want to see. A sales agent brings your film to the attention of the appropriate target groups, such as international festival programmers, distributors and the media, with the ultimate objective of selling the film to a distributor who will then release it in a specific territory as good as possible.