INDIE FILM DISTRIBUTION LESSONS WE LEARNED THE HARD WAY (AND LIVED TO TELL ABOUT IT) - PART TWO

A sample of content originally written as guest content for Smarthouse Creative.

(see the original three part series here)

AGENTS ARE YOUR FAIRY GODMOTHER

It's a well-known fact that actors of a certain caliber have agents. Writers have agents. Directors, and even producers often have agents. But a movie? That's just weird, right? Wrong. We knew so very little when we went to our first AFM in 2013. We were barely out of post-production and had just screened at our first festival. We decided that rather than spend thousands of dollars on the gamble that festivals can be, we'd skip that step and move directly past go to collect our $200. Boy, were we in for a hard lesson.

We went down to the largest North American Film Market around with no badges, no experience and no idea what we were doing. We were very lucky and still managed to snag several meetings with distributors, including After Dark Films. They all listened to our pitches and every last one of them took the one-sheet and DVD copy we had of the film. Some of the people we met with were actually sales agents, though they often heralded under a company name that sounded a lot like a distribution entity. The major difference here is the role each plays.

An agent is the liaison between the filmmaker and the distribution company. The distribution company is the team that actually puts your film in front of viewers either as a DVD, VOD or theatrical release. We did not meet our agent that we would soon sign with at AFM. We met some great ones, but they were all looking for something very specific. On the tail end of the success of Gravity, the thing we were asked most often was, "Do you have any sci-fi?" They didn't even know what sci-fi was, they just knew that it made a lot of money and was about to win a few Oscars. Suffice to say, we weren't quite what they needed.

Rather than get discouraged, we came back to Seattle and hit the drawing board. We started looking at other films that had been released, even in small form on VOD platforms. We compared them to our film to see if we would be a good match and then our director cold-called all of them. Some considered us, some never returned the call. In the end, Ultimately Ruthless Pictures (our agent) picked us up.

It took our agent two years to get the distribution agency to really consider our film, leading to the principal reason as to why your agent is your fairy godmother: they will do anything for you as long as your contract is valid. Your agent doesn't get paid until you do, so much like an actor's agent, they need to sell you. If your film doesn't suit the distributors' needs, they shelve it or dump it because they don't have the time or the money to stick with you. Our agent stuck by us through all of this and found new ways to pitch the same movie to thesame distributor. Every pitch was different until he found the one that finally worked.

TRAILERS ARE A FILM'S BEST FRIEND

Have you ever gone to see a movie based entirely on the trailer? Me too! Pretty much everyone I know has. It was our trailer and poster that got our agent's attention. He saw something in what we created originally. He saw that we had done our homework and that we had a project he could work with. Other indie filmmakers who saw it at festivals got pumped to see the film. You know who didn't? Distributors. They yawned and passed.

We had spent a lot of time on our trailer and spent $500 on a poster design from a specialist who crafts hand painted posters specific to vintage '80s horror. It broke our hearts when the agent said he was going to cut a new trailer and make a new poster. The first poster we had was awesome. The second one he gave us was meh. The new one, well... I know if I was searching on iTunes for a horror movie for Halloween, it would stand out and at least make me watch the trailer.

Think about that for a moment. How do you choose a film, especially one you've never heard of before? Your first impression is the poster. Then you base your judgement on the trailer.

Our original trailer with music from our composer was radically different from the one our agent cut (seen below), which featured music from one of the 17 bands we signed for our soundtrack. The major difference between the two is the energy. The trailer our agent put together simply moves. It moves like a horror trailer - it moves like a movie trailer. It hits every beat that you expect a trailer to hit and it makes you want to see the movie. Which is the entire purpose behind the trailer and poster magic combo: get people to watch your product, I mean, film.

Long Distance Vision

When I sit on a panel at the Seattle Film Summit or any film festival, I often feel like I’m talking at the air. Hopefully something I say has weight and sticks. I mean I really hope someone in the audience will glean useful tips towards making their own films. This week I spoke to 9^th graders in Walla Walla, WA, a place largely untouched by the film community. If teaching teenagers is difficult on a regular day, trying to impress upon them how every classes they’re currently in can relate to film was a challenge.  But the take away, for them and for us, is the long-term investment.

For kids in high school, their goals are simple: take enough classes to graduate, get marks high enough to get into the college of their choice, begin the steps towards a career in something that interests them. I guarantee none of them think of their day to day like that. And even fewer filmmakers do. But that’s exactly what I have learned over our last five years as an independent filmmaker.

I cannot tell you how many green filmmakers come to us with an “idea”.  It’s usually a grand idea for them, and often very personal. It’s also not a very interesting story to a wider audience. Two people in a coffee shop is super easy to film, it’s also super boring. My husband and I partnered in film about five years ago. Since then, we’ve seen dozens of shorts and one feature through. We made a pact that we would only make films we wanted to see. So when a filmmaker comes to us with a dull story the first thing we ask them is “why do you want to tell this story?” If they can’t answer that question, we pass. If their answer is blasé, we pass.  If they have no intention of putting in any of the work to make it happen, you guessed it, we pass.

Filmmaking is not a quick turn around. Often there are long hard hours in development, pre-production and post can drag on for months or even years. The production- actually filming- is probably the most exciting phase but it’s also the shortest. For our first feature we were in development and fundraising for five months, shot for 18 days and post for a year. Three years later and a lot of tough-love-learning as we went, we have a UK and US distributor and are finally seeing fruit of our labor. 

Think about that for a minute. Over a year and a half to actually MAKE the movie. Another year and a half to see the film into distribution. That’s the equivalent of spending the whole of your high school or college years with a single goal in mind.  If you are not interested in the film your making, or it’s a dull story, can you imagine pouring 3 years of your life into it? My guess is no.

We also never stopped. Even though our feature was in post, we kept going. We made three more shorts and a music video to follow up. My husband snagged a feature and a short film in post and we both worked on a couple dozen commercials. All while continuing to pursue a course for our first feature. It’s paid off. This fall we will see our first feature film in distribution, and have the road paved for our next feature.

There were three points we left our students with and I’ll share them with you here.

1. Learn Everything You Can.  Every class you take can relate to a career in film. It’s impossible to tell a student whose favorite class is gym that they have a career in film, but they do. Ever seen a Marvel movie? Able-bodied individuals with a passion for athleticism are going to have healthy careers making movies. I reexamined my US History courses writing my last screenplay and I am constantly in needed of people who excel in math to help me budget our films. The student with a passion for cooking is able to cater my film and the student who really only cares about computers can program my special FX.  I’m constantly reading books and blogs from those who have gone before and I learn something new from all of them. Never stop learning, and always embrace the little things. You never know when you might need that course you once took on geometry to measure the distance and angle from your camera to your subject.

2.  Define Your Success.  The allure of the red carpet and an Academy Award is difficult to resist. It’s also not the truth for the majority of filmmakers. But success can be. I’m reading a book currently by a filmmaker you’ve never heard of, who earns a comfortable living making and selling films.  There’s a documentary on Netflix titled I Know That Voice about actors whom you probably know but couldn’t pick out of a line up.  Filmmakers in my hometown have screened their films at Sundance and Toronto and Cannes. They’ve sold those same films to Netflix or you can watch them on any of your digital devices. I know them- but you probably do not. My husband and I are full time filmmakers, and it’s probably this is the first time you’ve heard of me.  What we all have in common is that we work as filmmakers, and have done so for several years.  Success is not defined by how famous you are. It is defined by the quality of work you have created that allows you to continue providing for yourself and your future.

3. The Long Road. We were very naïve as filmmakers when we set out. We made a single short film our first year. The second year we made 3. The next? Eight shorts and one feature. It took time to plan them all. It took time to see them finished. It took time to see any sort of return on them. But we kept working, kept pushing and continued to follow through to the end of each goal.  It’s been a three year process to get our first feature into distribution. The short films all ended up online, and we’ve made some money off of all of them.  It took patience and perseverance to follow through. If you give up after the first rejection letter or the first project that falls through, you’ll never see the end of the road. The writer/director of The Fifth Element had that script for fifteen years before it became a reality.  Now he has 56 writing credits and 21 directing credits. Kathryn Bigelow directed for thirty years (some pretty amazing films) before the Academy recognized her work.

The same thing I told those 9^th graders is what I’d like to leave you with.  Find your passion, find your voice and keep going. The future belongs to those who move forward.

American Film Circus, er Market

For every independent filmmaker, the dream and ultimate goal is to secure world wide distribution. But any TRUE independent…and I’m sorry, George Clooney I love you, you are not an independent filmmaker… but those of us who have to get creative to find funding in the first place will tell you that it’s an uphill battle from concept to completion.

This year, for the first time, we found ourselves in the right time and the right place with a feature film in the can and package ready for potential buyers. We had just experienced a very successful month on IndieFlix, a killer review from Cinema on the Rocks and two highly receptive screenings. American Film market was just days in front of us and we had done our homework. We had our one sheets, our synopsis, DVD copies and copies of our 18 band soundtrack in hand. But this was our first AFM, hell this was our first film market period. To say we were a bit doe-eyed would be an understatement. Because being ready and being prepared are not the same thing.

Luckily, the AFM is very helpful. They have a full page dedicated to who’s going to be there, what they are shopping and how to get into contact with them. They also have a full page dedicated to a first-timers “How to” guide.  So early October we made our game plan and our hot sheet of companies we wanted to meet with and how to get a hold of them. We were told by a colleague that we didn’t need to purchase badges ($245 for one day or close to $1000 for the week) because all of the handshaking and deals happened on the main lobby that was free access to all. So we did not purchase a pass and just worked on making appointments.

We sent our meeting requests to 17 companies with two contacts each. We had responses from 5 companies and 12 people, and met with three.

Our first meeting was with After Dark Films. This is a company that specializes in genre film and has a high success rate for those films. We had chatted with them a bit before our meeting and then again that morning to confirm. They had only watched 1/2 of the film when we met, but they were excited about it which was reassuring. They were super excited about the 18 band angle, but we don’t have any A-list talent so they have to sift through the rest of the market and see what’s being pitched before any decisions can be made.  At least a month, so we shake hands and move on to our next meeting.

Next up was Spotlight Pictures. Spotlight is not a distributor. They are a sales agent, the middle man that takes the film to the next market and launch the sales.They explained how this works, and talked to us about their process as a company. They currently have four James Franco films in their roster, so this is the sort of company you want representing you. Especially because they do what you can not: take your film all over the world and negotiate a sale. Another successful meeting but again, no deals are struck and it’s at least a month before they’ll know if they want to represent the film or not.

There was an un-official meeting with a documentarian and Home Video distribution from Germany. She took all of our information, noted our story and shared a coffee with us. She was very nice, but I’m still not sure what her angle was.

The next day was World Wide Entertainment. They are the company that picked up fellow NW Film “Divination” and took it to Red Box. This to us meant we were interested in their company because they’ve taken care of a filmmaker we know personally. That may seem like a silly reason to trust a company, but for us, personal relationships matter. Knowing that there’s a filmmaker in our home town that trusted them enough to take their film gives them a leg up on our trust scale.

The rest of the week was full of other meetings, orientation for our editor at IATSE and then a day of rest before we hit the road for our 19 hour drive home. The best thing about the insanity is that AFM is not unlike the networking events hosted by Seattle Film + Music. It’s not unlike the privately hosted screenings we’ve held for our films, or that other filmmakers have hosted for their own. AFM is one large social networking and hustling event. It’s intimidating, but manageable. And once you overcome the fear that you’re just an independent filmmaker you remember, so are they. Everyone is just trying their best to make movies and get them in front of an audience. And that is very reassuring.