“ I’m still a big believer in making the best film you can with the best talent you can afford and trying the Festivals > Distribution route and if you’re lucky, finding a distributor who will invest a little in a small 5-10 theatrical run to ‘push’ the film to market. We saw disproportionate success leveraging this approach with a couple of my films in the last two years and I’ve got a few more in the pipeline where we’re pursuing this ‘traditional’ strategy.”
What I needed to read today.
Thanks again Stacey, hope you’re well. Eyeing the FS Pro group in 2025 after I’ve finished PostProd for our short.
Hi @staceyparks, thank you so much for sharing your valuable insights. I’m very curious about getting an as-accurate-as-possible market value estimate for my upcoming feature film. In David Offenberg’s book “Independent Film Finance”, he mentions that you should either consult with a sales agent, or gather sales data from festivals for films similar to yours from the last 5 years. I’m bumping into a problem, which is most of those sales numbers aren’t publicly available. Do you have any advice for going around this? Thank you!
Hi Jose, they aren't publicly available and require you or your producer have relationships with sales agents that you can tap for this intel. OR... you take a trip to upcoming AFM in November and pound pavement door to door to the sales agents and chat them up for info - it works but requires a little more work :) Alternatively I also include this intel inside my FS Pro private membership - I'm not comfortable sharing everything publicly across the internet but if you're keen to join the community, it's here: https://www.filmspecific.com/fspro
I really enjoy reading your insights and experience. Thank you! At this point, taking a series to test at the moment of direct to consumer distribution via social. It's mildly working?
Thanks @Cherelynn! To clarify, are you asking if distribution of an independently produced series across social media works well? What kind of series? Which social platforms? How are you marketing, etc.? It's how long is a piece of string :)
Hi Stacey. You mentioned a few issues ago how you've changed your stance on independently producing a series for distribution when it’s completed. I have a pilot that I would like to move to series and would appreciate any thoughts or advice you have on independent series distribution. I have been working towards producing my independent TV show Peoria this way for a long time and it's encouraging to hear that there is now a market for it.
@Michael I will cover series distribution in an upcoming newsletter. But basically it's a similar model to film whereby you privately fund it and then you can submit to festivals and TV distributors OR try and get it picked up on a service like Film Hub and license it out worldwide digitally....
https://www.statista.com/outlook/amo/media/cinema/worldwide it seems to me that no one gets a film into theaters any more unless they have a large indy or studio level budget and a cast including stars which reflects that. Is this correct and if so are there any exceptions to this 'rule' that you'd care to mention? TIA Doug Mayfield
“ I’m still a big believer in making the best film you can with the best talent you can afford and trying the Festivals > Distribution route and if you’re lucky, finding a distributor who will invest a little in a small 5-10 theatrical run to ‘push’ the film to market. We saw disproportionate success leveraging this approach with a couple of my films in the last two years and I’ve got a few more in the pipeline where we’re pursuing this ‘traditional’ strategy.”
What I needed to read today.
Thanks again Stacey, hope you’re well. Eyeing the FS Pro group in 2025 after I’ve finished PostProd for our short.
Thanks @Robin!
Hi @staceyparks, thank you so much for sharing your valuable insights. I’m very curious about getting an as-accurate-as-possible market value estimate for my upcoming feature film. In David Offenberg’s book “Independent Film Finance”, he mentions that you should either consult with a sales agent, or gather sales data from festivals for films similar to yours from the last 5 years. I’m bumping into a problem, which is most of those sales numbers aren’t publicly available. Do you have any advice for going around this? Thank you!
Hi Jose, they aren't publicly available and require you or your producer have relationships with sales agents that you can tap for this intel. OR... you take a trip to upcoming AFM in November and pound pavement door to door to the sales agents and chat them up for info - it works but requires a little more work :) Alternatively I also include this intel inside my FS Pro private membership - I'm not comfortable sharing everything publicly across the internet but if you're keen to join the community, it's here: https://www.filmspecific.com/fspro
I see FS Pro requires yearly commitment. That’s even for the monthly plan?
Thanks for your reply! I just bought my AFM tickets yesterday, so I might just do that! I’ll look into your FS Pro program.
Great book as well, need to re-read.
I really enjoy reading your insights and experience. Thank you! At this point, taking a series to test at the moment of direct to consumer distribution via social. It's mildly working?
Thanks @Cherelynn! To clarify, are you asking if distribution of an independently produced series across social media works well? What kind of series? Which social platforms? How are you marketing, etc.? It's how long is a piece of string :)
Hi Stacey. You mentioned a few issues ago how you've changed your stance on independently producing a series for distribution when it’s completed. I have a pilot that I would like to move to series and would appreciate any thoughts or advice you have on independent series distribution. I have been working towards producing my independent TV show Peoria this way for a long time and it's encouraging to hear that there is now a market for it.
@Michael I will cover series distribution in an upcoming newsletter. But basically it's a similar model to film whereby you privately fund it and then you can submit to festivals and TV distributors OR try and get it picked up on a service like Film Hub and license it out worldwide digitally....
Hi Stacey,
This is not related to our productions but merely reflects my curiosity. Reviewing the domestic BO https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/?sort=year&ref_=bo_yl__resort#table and the world wide BO
https://www.statista.com/outlook/amo/media/cinema/worldwide it seems to me that no one gets a film into theaters any more unless they have a large indy or studio level budget and a cast including stars which reflects that. Is this correct and if so are there any exceptions to this 'rule' that you'd care to mention? TIA Doug Mayfield
That's correct! Unless you pay for a small theatrical yourself or an indie distributor puts it in 5-10 theaters for a fee, that is correct.