Relationships, reason enough to distribute a film: Mackie

Transmission Films managing director Andrew Mackie admitted that sometimes the company has agreed to distribute films that it “may not normally do” because of the importance of its relationship with filmmakers.

“Relationships are just as important as the films whose rights we have; they are one of our key assets as a company. There are films that we only take on because of relationships,” Mackie told Encore.

According to Mackie, having strong relationships from his time at Dendy Films allowed him and business partner Richard Payten to hit the ground running when they started Transmission two years ago, instead of having to spend years establishing trust within the industry.

When Transmission has taken on board a film to build or maintain a relationship, the distributor knows from the beginning that the project may be “commercially challenging” so the expectations are set accordingly.