How to Sell Your Feature Film: Intro to Film Distribution

Explore how international sales agents license film rights, negotiate distributions, and manage costs, performance clauses, and territory strategy to maximize revenue and safeguard recourse.

Learn how a producers rep acts as a liaison between filmmakers and distributors, leveraging festival and platform relationships to secure screenings and deals, while weighing upfront fees and commissions.

Learn from producer's rep Ben Yennie about securing fair film distribution, avoiding bad sales agents, negotiating minimum guarantees, and balancing traditional and self distribution in the streaming era.

Film markets unite buyers and sellers, including AFM in Santa Monica, the Cannes market, and the European film market in Berlin as the three largest.

Attend film markets to gain education on the business side, network with distributors through pre-arranged meetings, and weigh costs against real financing and selling opportunities tied to market trends.

Plan ahead, schedule meetings, and execute your market strategy to maximize outcomes; research vendor catalogs, present a professional image, attend workshops, and network authentically by leading with service.

Learn how the American Film Market operates as a licensing hub, the role of pre-sales, and why markets differ from festivals amid streaming-driven shifts.

Explore how ott delivers movies and tv content over the internet, without traditional cable, and its role in the video on demand ecosystem including cable supported vod and ott apps.

Define tvod as purchasing or renting digital media on platforms like Amazon, Apple TV, or Google Play, with perpetual access when bought and time-limited access when rented.

Analyze subscription video on demand (SVOD) within the streaming wars, comparing monthly subscription access to transactional rentals and highlighting platforms like Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max.

Explore AVOD, advertising-based video on demand, where content is free but interrupted by commercials, and discover platforms like Pluto TV, Crackle, Voodoo, and YouTube.

Explore how cable and satellite video on demand provides rental-only access through traditional providers, with limited viewing windows and pay-per-view events, not purchases.

Busts VOD myths by showing that traditional TVOD revenue is limited without a rabid audience, while AVOD and other VOD paths offer viable indie film revenue.

Explore premium video on demand (PVOD) as a higher-priced alternative to TVOD, enabling day in, day out releases or films not released theatrically, with COVID driving adoption and independent titles.

Deliver a master in Apple prores HQ quicktime with embedded 5.1 and stereo audio, in 1080p or 4k at 23.976 fps, with closed captions and start/end black frames.

Master your film’s audio by delivering stereo and five-one master mixes with stems for dialogue, music, and effects, and provide a Dolby encoder and a print master.

Film aggregators act as middlemen between filmmakers and vod platforms, securing placement on major tvod services, handling deliverables, and managing revenue, but offer no guaranteed pitches and incur high costs.

Explore Distribber’s collapse and its impact on filmmakers, who faced millions in lost revenue as films remained on platforms via aggregators like Netflix, iTunes, and Google.

Learn practical guidelines for using film aggregators, assessing platform viability, audience targeting, and ROI, and decide when to focus on iTunes and Amazon for transactional VOD rather than shotgun listing.

Do your homework and consult other filmmakers to choose a film aggregator with transparent revenue accounts, responsive support, and clear reporting. Evaluate platform realities and consider direct distribution options.

Navigate the shark infested waters of film distribution with updated guidance on platforms, revenue models, and predatory distributors and aggregators.