Your Distribution Secret Weapon
+ tales from the trenches of three different releases
Well hello there! It’s been a minute but welcome back to my weekly roundup of all things independent film and series.
Speaking of independent film, this week we’re wrapping up my Funding Strategies Playbook course and I’m hearing from students how valuable it’s been. Comments like this one keep showing up…
Thanks Stacey this whole course was extremely valuable and I learned a lot as it relates to getting my project funded. I am in the development phase of my project but this has given me the confidence boost to really push it forward once I get the script to marketable level.
The last two sessions are around Distributor Funding / Pre-Sales and Debt Financing and you’re welcome to join us since all previous lessons are there for catching up. Register today and we’ll get you set up asap. I look forward to seeing you in the course!
Your Distribution Secret Weapon
I’ve been noticing an uptick in Distribution related inquiries lately and with Cannes on the horizon, my sales agent network is already asking what’s on my radar to send to them…
I think we’re in a moment in time when acquisitions are on buyers’ minds as they look out at their programming calendars for late 2024 and 2025 and realize there’s a giant hole due to the dual strikes last year and they need product to fill their pipelines.
In addition to my film Kemba that dropped on BET+ last month I have another feature I produced around the same time that wasn’t co-produced with a network, for which we’re currently soliciting distribution offers. Luckily we’ve received about five offers to sift through and will decide on who to work with in the coming weeks.
One thing that stands out in my conversations with each of the distributors though is that there’s not really much marketing support to speak of, so we’ll need to devise our own marketing push for the film and of course fund it ourselves.
Some of you might remember last year when my film Pinball came out, we got the most bang for our buck by hiring traditional PR to help promote our release. It was like a snowball that kept getting bigger and bigger over the course of a few months and culminating in New Yorker magazine calling it one of the best films of 2023. I mean…WOW. All from the seeds of a tiny PR campaign that caught legs and went viral.
I still think traditional PR, even over social media marketing, is a sound investment as part of an independent film distribution strategy and I’ll definitely be engaging in one again for my next film and everything else I’m planning for this year. Social media tends to be a lot more crowded these days and you have to spend more to stand out.
Of course Studios and the A24’s of this world excel at Social Media campaigns and lean on them heavily for promoting their releases. But they have millions of dollars to work with unlike our anemic indie marketing budgets in the thousands lol. 🤷🏻♀️
I’m considering a Distribution Strategies Playbook course off the back of Funding Strategies Playbook. If you think you might be interested in something like that, please email me at stacey@filmspecific.com and let me know. what you think.
I’d also love to hear some of the biggest distribution related issues plaguing you right now so drop me a line on that too. Is it deliverables? Lack of marketing support? Or other?
On that note, I’ll go ahead and wrap things up for today. I hope you have a wonderful day ahead and speak to you again soon!
Stacey
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There’s a few other ways we can work together on Distribution if you’re ready to hit the market….
One-on-One Help with Packaging, Financing, and Distribution
FS Pro my professional community where you can grow with guidance from me in a group setting
Do you think Indierights.com is a distribution plan?