Distribution Opportunities Galore

In current times of disruption with strikes, cut-backs, lay-off’s, and retrenchments everywhere we look - demand is starting to outstrip supply. But where's the gold rush for projects in development?

In my last newsletter we talked about The Long Tail Of Distribution and I received more comments and emails than I have in a while, indicating I’ve hit on something that many of you are thinking about.

To reiterate, in current times of disruption with strikes, cut-backs, lay-off’s, and retrenchments everywhere we look - demand is starting to outstrip supply when it comes to acquiring finished films. Hooray for those of us who couldn’t have paid for this timing!

I find myself with two films in post and two completed films that I’m getting and increasing amount of incoming requests for licensing and sales. It’s a nice place to be in for once as I haven’t seen this level of demand for smaller films since the pandemic land grab of content.

Also since I announced a new distribution consulting offer I’ve received several inquiries on that and to answer the most common question I’ve received - if you have your eye on launching or bringing something to AFM in the fall, now’s the time to act. The timing couldn’t be better!

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A New Way To Consult On Distribution

If you want help strategizing a long tail distribution strategy for your film as well as tapping into my network of trusted contacts, execs, and vendors and ‘fast track’ it, I’m offering a new Distribution Consulting for a limited time while demand is up and we have a nice little window leading up to AFM.

Email me directly at stacey@filmspecific.com with details of your film and I can give you more details on how I can help.

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But what if you don’t have a completed film or one in Post? Where are the hidden opportunities for those of us with projects in development?

In addition to those completed films I also have a slate of projects in development and plan to talk about this more in future newsletters since it deserves a lot more real estate than we have time for today. Essentially what we’re talking about is opportunities for small production companies to leverage the rest of this year and into 2024 which is the timeline that is being discussed widely until commissioning and financing behavior returns to some level of normalcy.

I had a sobering conversation yesterday with a Lit agent at a major agency who said they are planning internally on the fallout from the WGA strike to last 18 months - and more specifically, commissions and series orders not returning to current levels for some time as streamers and broadcasters choose to work through their current supply of projects in development rather than pick up anything new. It’s all about preserving cash instead of going on a spending spree for new shows.

I’ve experienced this first hand on a couple series that I was actively pitching before the strike and which have now gone on permanent hold since the agents repping us declare post-strike the only things that are going to go are the biggest packages and anything that doesn’t have undeniable elements won’t get commissioned for some time. 🤷🏻‍♀️

It’s a bummer but to hedge against this, at my own company we’re focused on an extreme diversification strategy that traverses budgets, genres, and even nationalities.

I’ll report as I go but plan on teeing up some newly conceived projects for MIP in Oct. that are extremely market-friendly and take into account current conditions. Think low cost but still room for marketable talent and auteurs, returnable concepts, and clearly identifiable audiences.

On the feature side, I’m toying with a few bigger IP-based projects that will take time to develop and package anyway so no rush on those.

What about you? Where are you finding hidden opportunities for projects in development? Feel free to ask any specific questions you have in the comments section below.

On that note, I’ll wrap things up for today. I hope you have a fabulous day ahead and I’ll speak to you again soon!

To your success,

Stacey

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