Finding a distributor
Gene Goodsell focuses on marketing and promotion in those situations where films do not have distributors secured when the film is completed.
In order to sell a picture effectively, it is wise to obtain the services of a producer’s rep. Other parties who can provide assistance include entertainment lawyers, agents, managers and marketing consultants.
Presenting your film at a well-known film festival is an excellent way to offer your film to distributors. A producer’s rep is in a key position to pursue festival administration to ensure that the film is properly screened. Festivals are useful marketing tools because they have budgets and professionals (including publicists) whose job it is to promote films. Publicists will often co-ordinate with the producer’s rep and filmmaker in arranging interviews and press releases, often at no charge to the filmmaker. The festival’s publicity releases and news items that appear in the local papers should be kept by the filmmaker and used in a completed promo package about the film.
Screening times and dates can be extremely important to the overall plan for the presentation of the film to potential buyers. A ilm that screens on a Friday or Saturday night and is followed by an exclusive party will be much more desirable than a film that screens on a Monday morning. The earlier in the festival that the film screens, the more media that can be generated prior to an awards ceremony occurring.
The main reason for attending a film festival is to create business opportunities. Be prepared to pitch your project on the spot and hand any interested party a one-page synopsis or similar document, which features critical information, clearly presented. You can then follow up with a script at a later date.
Ensure that your entourage features an entertainment lawyer at all times. In addition to the contacts that your entertainment lawyer will have, negotiations at film festivals can occur everywhere,
so there will be plenty of opportunities for your entertainment lawyer to draft deal memos.
An alternative to film festival screenings are industry or arts organisation sponsored screenings such as the Tribeca film screening series. Another approach to the marketing of films is the producer-sponsored screening. This will usually be coordinated by the producer’s rep (under the guidance of the producer).
As an alternative to the above methods, a producer may also wish to selectively distribute the film to key distributors, and sales agents for viewing at their leisure. This can be an effective way to market a film but the downside is that there will be an absence of audience reaction.
If none of the above marketing techniques work for your film, you may choose to screen it before a recruited audience in conjunction with a professional film research firm. The film should be played in a
screening room and distributors should be invited to attend. Following the screening, audience members will be asked to complete a survey about the film.
These are designed by professional marketing research companies that specialise in the movie business. If the results are positive, distributors may be enticed into releasing the film.
A producer’s rep should create competition amongst distributors and facilitate the best possible relationship between the domestic and foreign distributors of a film. Once the buyers have made a commitment to purchasing the film, an entertainment lawyer should negotiate the terms and conditions of the distribution arrangements.
The terms and conditions of the negotiation include:
- the term of the agreement;
- rights being reserved and conveyed;
- territories being sold;
- revenue and cost splits;
- details of any advance;
- distribution fee details;
- details of producer rights;
- tax treatment;
- details on the holding and dispersal of funds;
- filmmaker rights with regards to marketing and promotional activities in different territories;
- details of any licensing agreements;
- warranties and indemnities;
- dispute resolution mechanisms; and
- the extent of producer termination rights.
These terms and conditions are very complicated and should be dealt with by an entertainment lawyer who is skilled in the negotiation of such issues.
Gene Goodsell B Bus LLB (Hons) FTIA is an entertainment manager and lawyer and can be contacted at ggoodsell@navitasmgmt.com.
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Gene Goodsell
I love the fact that Encore are really pushing the boundary of helping filmmakers to do things with more knowledge. Gene, great article!
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