144: How To Sell Your Film To A Distributor
[Podcast] How To Sell Your Film To A Distributor
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In this episode, we are joined by returning guest, Scott Kirkpatrick, SVP at DRG.tv. Kirkpatrick shares with us the day-in-the-life of a film executive and how they go about buying and selling films and filmed content.
Questions for a Film Executive ...
In this podcast episode, you'll get these questions answered:
- You've finished your film, now how do you sell your film to a distributor?
- What is the day-in-the-life of a Film Executive?
- What are your next steps after you've completed your film?
- What elements are a no-brainer for Film Executives?
- How do distributors prefer to be marketed and sold to?
- How do you work with a distributor when you're in the development stage?
- How best to vet you and your project?
- How to sell your film to a Film Executive and Distribution Company?
What is Indie Hollywood?
According to Scott Kirkpatrick, former Executive at Mar Vista Entertainment and current SVP at DRG has said this about Indie Hollywood ...
There are the 6 major studios ...
Then there is everyone else who make and sell movies for a living ... This is "Indie Hollywood".
Indie Hollywood would be the world of the film markets. Learn more about this topic in the previous episode, "Don't Take Your Film to a Festival."
The 6 Gold-Mine Genres ...
Indie Hollywood needs writers who can write quickly, command one of the following genres, and be reliable in their delivery.
Do you think you can be a master in any one of these 6 Gold-Mine Genres?
- Family (Christmas Dog Adventure)
- Family Safe Tween Romance
- Woman in Peril - Thriller
- Creature Feature (Monster Movies)
- Aging Name Actor Comeback Action Film
- Young Boy’s Action/Adventure Film
No matter what the trends are in the film industry, these 6 Gold-Mine Genres will always be made and be sold easily across the world.
Where Does Indie Hollywood Play?
There are two worlds of Independent Film ... The film festivals ... and the markets.
Indie Hollywood plays in the world of the film markets.
Again, get an in-depth analysis of film markets in the past episode, "Don't Take Your Film to a Festival."
How many film markets are there?
January:
February:
European Film Market - EFM (Berlin)
March:
April:
May:
September:
Toronto International Film Festival - TIFF (Canada)
October:
November:
American Film Market - AFM (Santa Monica)
December:
Day in the Life of a Film Sales Rep ...
How does a Film Sales Rep do their job? If we take the Hollywood Indie Film Distribution Scenario, it would look like this ...
Working in budgets between $1M-$10M, a representative from one of these Indie Hollywood distribution companies would attend these film markets in order to secure:
- Pre-Sell (money committed prior to film being finished)
- Theatrical (licensing rights to exhibit the film in theaters)
- All Rights (ideally, one buyer would pay for all rights to the film's license)
What is the incentive of these investors?
Experienced investors in the world of Indie Hollywood films, work hard to make smart investments with the least risk.
*Remember* Distributors have limited cash flow ...
They have to pay a staff, pay for office space, and when it comes time to invest in a movie, they won’t just pull money out from a bank account and risk their entire company's future on one movie.
What do they do instead?
They’ll partner with other entities. All these entities will chip in to make the film.
A Film Sales Rep will take a collection of movies and go on meetings every day at these monthly markets.
And these were meetings that have been setup 45 days prior to the market even starting.
A Film Sales Rep will go on a meeting every 30 minutes.
A meeting may be with a distribution company who is the biggest all rights buyer from Germany ..
Or the biggest all rights buyer from Japan ...
Or Turkey, or Australia ... Meetings all day long.
What are these all rights buyers looking for?
They are looking to buy first access to movies for their country.I’m going because I have a slate of movies that I think could be potential big sellers.
The Film Sales Rep is going to these markets, because they have a slate of movies that they think could be potential big sellers.
*Important Note* None of these films exist yet!
The job of the Film Sales Rep is to broker a deal to finance a portion of the budget for these slate of films.
When the Film Sales Rep returns back to the office from a market, they will have a stack of signed contracts from various buyers who have committed to buy the film when it's completed.
The Film Sales Rep will go to qualified bank to get a loan for the full budget of movie.
To learn how producers and distribution companies really make their money, be sure to sign up for the FREE video series on "The New Adventures of Film Distribution".
EERRGGHH!!!
I finished my film ...
But now what?
You're in luck!
This FREE video series can help.
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About Scott McMahon
Scott McMahon is a Fellow Film Trooper at Film Trooper, a website for helping filmmakers attain filmmaking freedom. Scott recently made a feature film for $500 with no crew called, The Cube. Want to know what equipment was used to make that film? Grab a FREE gift at www.FREEGEARGUIDE.com
