Robert Baruc at 2010 Filmmaker Forum

Yesterday I attended the Film Independent (FIND) 2010 Filmmaker Forum at the Directors Guild of America in LA.  I was interested in hearing what the experts were sharing with independent filmmakers about the new methods and strategies for prioritizing distribution platforms and the threat of piracy.  There was also a pretty good marketing session and the FIND conference produced an amazing book with the schedule, bios, industry resources and case studies that I’m still reading.

I had a chance to meet Robert Baruc, president of Screen Media Films, a domestic distribution company before his talk where he gave a thorough run down of the current landscape.  He reiterated that he is always surprised about what filmmakers don’t know about distribution before they do a deal. First he covered the difference between a distribution deal and royalties.

Robert says most of the time, theatrical is not the way to go for independent films, but most independent filmmakers really want theatrical.  If that’s the case, maybe start in LA and NY and expand out to the top ten or twenty markets after that.

City Island was mentioned as a successful film that did a slow roll out. The film’s budget was around 6.2 Million.

Then with the DVD market, there’s rentals and sell through. Netflix and Redbox were listed as examples of new, profitable companies.  Apparently RedBox is going to have around 27,000 kiosks by the end of the year.

HBO is more interested in original content then independent films now. Showtime and Stars Encore might be better targets.  Sundance Channel obviously, also shows the films associated w/ their festival and workshops.

His recommendation in discussing international distribution was to split up the rights. That way you have money coming in from two places to see some back end.

Distributors take fees and out of pocket expenses out first, but don’t let them include overhead.

You should always have the right to audit your distributor.

It’s not a bad idea to spend some money and get some buzz on your movie. He said to hire a social media company.

In the distribution case studies session,

Producers Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly discussed their case study for The Way We Get By. Their documentary is about 3 retired seniors who greeted or thanked over 1.2 million troops who passed through Bangor, Maine.  The DVD comes out tomorrow, Nov. 2.

Bangor Savings was a key sponsor, spending $100,000 for marketing around local screening and the opening, and in return they got new clients, good will, awards..

Their theatrical window crossed with their VOD offering. They used Wendy at International Film Circuit of NY, who luckily had another successful film at the same time so they piggybacked on Yoohoo Mrs. Goldberg.

The filmmakers said they don’t take no for an answer. No just means yes at some point in the future.

They used marketing students nationally, including Harvard Business School to create marketing plans and statistics. They basically called the professors and pitched the involvement as a worthy project.

They said making film is a small hurdle, getting people to see it is the hard part.

Ask yourself, where is this film going to go?

I was most impressed with this anecodote. Pullapilly actually went to the buyer at Barnes and Noble who essentially said, no, they would never do a deal with them, as they were too small. She then went to president of Barnes and Noble who eventually instructed a distributor to carry them so they could complete a deal. They will now have end caps, etc.

Celline Rattray, President of Mandalay Vision did a case study about The Kids are Alright. She had 13 investors come on as a result of having distribution early on and a studio. Then she lost the distributor and studio but managed to keep the investors. She had a $2M gross corridor in her deal.  Her original budget was 8-9M but she shaved it down to $4.5M.

Embrace self distribution and create your own model was the closing tip. I had a lot of notes, so I’m doing a 3 part report. Part 2 tomorrow.