Guaranteed Distribution For Series

You can pretty much guarantee distribution for any series these days, but with a caveat. PLUS the power of built in marketing to drum up sales.

I spoke about the Series Distribution landscape recently and have since received some thoughtful emails as well as well-developed pitches ready for market introduction.

One of the new ways we’re approaching the market with series is to go to commissioners with a brand partner who can co-fund the budget. Most streamers and networks at this point look for funding partners to help off-load risk, particularly with ‘unproven’ concepts and talent - and bringing brand partners to the table can be a win-win for everyone. It can also give newer talent and smaller production companies a leg up in a market that typically favors existing commercial relationships.

Guaranteed Distribution

The good news is you can pretty much guarantee distribution for any series these days. If you can’t get one of the big streamers or networks to take it on (which let’s face it, isn’t easy!), you can most certainly get it out via the global AVOD platforms and FAST channels that exist. In a previous newsletter I touched on the downsides to AVOD distribution - mainly it’s lack of curation means your series or feature gets buried amongst the masses and unless you have a marketing machine in play, chances are high that you won’t benefit from any of those AVOD riches everyone is talking about. The advantage of working with brands is that they are already experts at marketing and reaching their audience, so there’s a built-in marketing mechanism when working with them.

What we’re talking about here is a whole new distribution ecosystem that exists for series that goes beyond the ‘Netflixes of the world’, and it’s your job as the Producer to educate these potential funding partners of that and develop strategies around these new opportunities.

I’m exploring this strategy for a low budget scripted series I’ve been developing, and handling a few client projects in the unscripted space. A few years ago, I partnered with a major network and a handful of brands to produce a short form series that we released digitally, and I’m thinking there’s opportunities for that again. With ongoing strikes the buyers are going to get creative on their programming strategies, so it’s a great time for alternative thinkers like us to swoop in and create new opportunities for ourselves.

Once I understood how much the distribution possibilities have exploded due to AVOD and FAST, it unlocked a whole new way of thinking about creatively funding series at a time when the traditional buyers are pulling back, commissioning less, and exclusively working with the producers and companies that have the best existing relationships with.

For newer talent like us, let’s keep in mind this work-around and make it your business to educate yourself on all the new platforms out there… conferences like MIPCOM in the fall will focus on it and I wouldn’t be surprised if film festivals also started to discuss all this more in the future.

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Need A Strategic Game Plan?

I’m taking on just a couple more series consulting clients in the lead up to MIPCOM in the fall. If you have something developed that you’d like help reaching the market with, email me at stacey@filmspecific.com with details on the project, and the assets you already have in place, and I’ll be able to let you know if I can add value to your current situation.

Even ‘movies for TV’ are back in vogue! If you’re looking for distribution opportunities for your completed feature, let me know about that too.

Or if you want to book a strategy call, go here for more details on that.

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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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