Bulletproof Distribution For Your Film
+ your most pressing Distribution questions answered!
Hello dear readers and Happy Wednesday!
Did you all enjoy my last post answering your questions about Development Funds, Tax Credit stacking, and Making offers to Talent? OK well there’s more where that came from!
But for now I want to shift gears and answer some questions about Distribution that have come in…. specifically around how to create a bulletproof distribution plan before you even start filming so you can better communicate to potential investors what your intentions are around getting your completed film to market.
Look, I’ve been a Distribution professional for over twenty years. Even wrote one of the first books on it. I’ve seen Distribution evolve a lot over the years and here’s where we’re at now….
If you want to communicate a surefire distribution plan to investors educate them about the power and reach of the free ad-supported streaming ecosystem. That’s everything from You Tube to Amazon Prime to Tubi, Roku, Google Play, and more.
And if you can stack a premium SVOD release on top of that, even better… but you don’t need that to get in front of massive audiences.
I’m working on a handful of responsibly-budgeted features and docs right now that all have a version of this distribution strategy baked into release plans. And when we can get on the phone with possible financiers and explain to them the enormous opportunity and wide audience potential, they get it.
The issue then becomes about discoverability since swimming in the sea of free ad-supported streaming isn’t guaranteed to bring you views, which is what leads to increased ad-share revenue. So you need a plan in place for that and I’ve got my playbooks down for what drives views and transactions on these platforms.
I’ll go into deeper detail in future posts but for now you can read my Marketing Cheat Sheet For Distribution here.
Distribution Strategy Unlock 🔓
Right now, I’m offering custom distribution plans for features and docs as part of my Consulting services - boarding project to help steer you in the right direction and navigate the entire distribution experience and lifecycle beginning to end.
If you’re interested in working together on a made-for-you and modern day distribution strategy for your project, email me at stacey@filmspecific.com and let’s get the conversation started.
What Distribution Questions Do You Have?
Let’s discuss below! Hit me with your best shot and I’ll see if I can help
And I’ll wrap this up here for today. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and speak to you again soon!
Stacey
+++++
Stacey—if you can generalize—
What's a plausible mix of the various platforms in the marketing plan for a low-budget (sub-$1MM) feature?
Of the four rough distribution categories:
- theatrical
- licensed streaming
- ad-supported revenue share
- self distribution
… I assume a good marketing plan would arrange these sequentially rather than in parallel. But what dollar allocations work best? Should marketing bucks, in a pitch to investors, be divided equally among them?
(Looks like theatrical has shriveled into a loss-leader for indies, so maybe it's a dispensable cost.)
Is it best to stagger the use of these 4 categories over time? I presume a licensed sale to Hulu, e.g., precludes a simultaneous exploitation on an ad-supported platform like Amazon, etc.
So: how to talk intelligently about this to investors?
Hi Stacey. Always love your posts! I have a question. I'm producing an ULB feature film in Philly in late summer/ early fall and we're looking at distribution options. The director told me about Bingeable. Have you heard of it? Basically, Bingeable is a way for people to use social media to market and directly sell movies.
If we were to explore this, it brings up a question for me about cast, so I thought I'd ask you, since you're so up on all these things. In terms of budget allocation, if we went a Bingeable-type route, do you think it would be better to go with an influencer instead of a name actor? Clearly, the acting standard has to be high, but that doesn't always mean name cast, as you know. And also an influencer could have a supporting, not starring, role.
Thoughts?
Thank you!!