Can International Festivals Help With Film Distribution
+ a tale of two circuits
This week I wanted shift from the heady topic of the Future Of Film Production and touch on something ‘simpler’ but which I seem to get many questions about - do international film festivals have a place in your overall distribution strategy and can they help?
I have a few stories to recount which point towards (spoiler alert) YES…
Deal Alert: Black Friday Early Access
But first! I wanted to slot in a reminder that I’m extending early access to our Black Friday promo this year - Packaging and EP Consulting Services at ‘Friends & Family’ rates.
Because why not get a head start on attaching talent to your project now, before the year ends, and make every effort to trigger a green light for next year…
Here’s the deal - if you commit now to having us help you package your project (Packaging consulting) or Packaging plus pulling all the financing pieces together (EP Services), we’re offering special rates that won’t be available next year. Or after Nov.24 for that matter.
So if this sounds like just what you’re looking for right now, head over to this link to get the ball rolling by filling out the application at the bottom of the page. I’ll respond quickly with whether I think I can help and how I can help, and provide a customized discount quote. I’m hell-bent on putting together a slate of client projects for 2024 for which I can leverage my expertise and network to get over the finish line.
As of this writing, about half the slots are already spoken for. I do all the work myself so only have so much capacity to take on new projects in this capacity. Look forward to seeing your application in my inbox!
A Tale Of Two International Film Festival Circuits
OK let’s call a spade a spade - for most of us, the ‘premiere’ international festivals like Cannes and Venice won’t be reliable candidates for our indie films. One look at their slates the last few years will confirm they are mostly marketing vehicles for studio and studio-level films. If you’re playing in that category - wonderful! I’m a big proponent of let’s shoot for the stars and I even have one or two projects on my slate for which I’m targeting those festivals. But it’s good to keep a healthy perspective…
On the level below these Tier One fests lay a whole network of international ‘discovery’ festivals just like we have in the US. And guess what, we’d be lucky to get into any of those too. There’s even a layer below that which can be valuable for attracting local distributors.
Recently I closed a deal for a film in a European territory which is notoriously difficult to get a deal in as an English language independent film that didn’t have a Sundance premiere. The way it came about was that as part of our international festival strategy, we screened at a local festival in that country, and even though local distributors didn’t attend, the festival director really took the film and wanted to take it out to distributors. What did we have to lose? Cut to him securing VOD distribution and a local TV deal in the span of a couple weeks. Now, money-wise it was nothing to write home about BUT it gets the film exposure in a territory where I can guarantee we wouldn’t have been able to get a deal otherwise with a traditional sales agent. Remember how I talk about the ‘nooks and crannies’ opportunities? This is one of them.
In another case, I had a film which had a premiere at a well-known international festival that does attract distributors. We didn’t need the festival director to promote us on the side because local distributors were already paying attention to the lineup. We ended up leveraging that premiere for a deal in a territory where we may not have been able to get a deal sans premiere with a sales agent. Just stating the facts. Not trying to say sales agents don’t do their jobs, but sometimes a local premiere in a territory does more for a film than any agent can do on their own.
Finally, I was an overseeing distribution on a doc a couple years ago where the filmmaker really canvassed the international circuit. And several deals in multiple territories came out of that one. Docs tend to have an easier time internationally since there’s a well worn path to distribution with state owned broadcast networks. Again, no one got rich off of those deals but the exposure and knock on opportunities were nothing to sneeze at. That filmmaker now has relationships in key territories with distributors who can pre-buy or engage in a co-production on his next project. Bingo!
So yeah, you can say I’m a big proponent of having an international festival strategy that runs in parallel to distribution. As you roll out into more festivals, more opportunities may come your way, further extending your long tail of distribution.
What questions do you have on this front? Feel free to hit me up in the comments below or email me at stacey@filmspecific.com.
On that note, I’ll wrap things up for today. I hope you have a wonderful day ahead and speak to you again soon!
Stacey
+++++++++++
Great article to reinforce "nooks and crannies' of the film cycle of life. Thank you! Sending an email with a question about the legal realm of using a dead celebrity image in film. Good times ahead!