Raindance Producers' Lab Lo-To-No Budget Filmmaking, 2nd Edition

20 Alternative Distribution

 

 

TRADITIONALLY, YOU MAKE a film and sell it to a distribution company. They then arrange marketing and publicity to raise awareness of the film and book it into theatres where people can go to see it.

With the rise of video, DVD, cable and the Internet, other distribution channels became available—and were quickly snapped up by the distribution companies as new ‘windows’ from which they could make money.

Say minimum required audience for a film is 50,000 people. If you've made a film about a niche subject, there might only be 10,000 people in England interested in that niche. No distributor will pick up those UK rights. But if you know that there are another 25,000 in the US, 7,000 in South America, 7,000 in Australia ...