Presentation looks at filmmakers who have used the internet to get their films seen using platforms like YouTube, Facebook, iTunes, via a mobile app or from their own sites. By the end of this talk you should know whether online film distribution is right for you and the tools you can use to do it.

1. BEYOND THE BOX
OFFICE
presents
Distributing Your Film Online
by Malaika Mose
http://www.beyondtheboxoffice.com

2. Old World for indie filmmaker
• Filmmaker
• Plays film at festival
• Sells your film to distributor
• Distributor gives filmmaker
• advance
• a percentage of revenues
• Distributor sells to audience
• Audience pays for film & gives
• money to distributor
• money to filmmaker
• money to investors
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/Bnewman01/tribeca-all-access-online-tools-making-money-and-building-audiences-for-film

3. “You find that scenario along with...”
Source: Torley on Flickr

4. “In fact it was more like...”
• Filmmaker
• Maybe plays film at festival
• Maybe sells film to distributor who has rights to it everywhere forever
• In which case Distributor gives filmmaker
• advance of $0 - $15k on average
• a percentage of revenues around 30%-60% after expenses.
• Maybe distributor sells to audience
• If theatres book or buy audience pays for film & gives
• money to distributor
• money to filmmaker
• money to investors
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/Bnewman01/tribeca-all-access-online-tools-making-money-and-building-audiences-for-film

5. “Except after expenses...”
Marketing
DELIVERY
Prints & Advertising
Cross-collateralization
staffing
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/Bnewman01/tribeca-all-access-online-tools-making-money-and-building-audiences-for-film

6. “Except after expenses...”
fee fee
Marketing
fee DELIVERY
fee
fee Prints & Advertising
fee Cross-collateralization fee
fee fee
staffing
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/Bnewman01/tribeca-all-access-online-tools-making-money-and-building-audiences-for-film

7. There are never any revenues
•money to distributor ✔
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/Bnewman01/tribeca-all-access-online-tools-making-money-and-building-audiences-for-film

8. So...
•money to filmmaker
•money to investors Not so much
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/Bnewman01/tribeca-all-access-online-tools-making-money-and-building-audiences-for-film

9. Filmmaker Speaks
“
A distributor will acquire a film just to put it in
their library and they'll sit on it. You can't do
anything to put it out there so ... the most
frustrating thing is a deal that sucks
financially but also sucks in terms of nobody
hears about your film because distributors too
busy with other films or doesn't know how to
market your film – we've heard a lot of
frustrations from filmmakers because of that.
-Mynette Louie, Producer, Children of Invention

10. Change is a comin’
here

11. People are shifting their watching habits
This is mostly video streaming &
Netflix is the lion’s share
http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/17/netflix-largest-internet-traffic/

12. Fewer theatre-goers
Source: http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/they-may-be-all-right-are-kids-leaving-multiplex-27355?page=0,1

13. Why Online?
•The Need for Instant Gratification
•The Eschewing of Constraints

14. New ways look like...

15. The Film Festival Revisited

16. The Film Festival Revisited

17. The Film Festival Revisited

18. Other reasons to do the circuit
•Prestige attached to getting into a festival
•Get Buzz
•Sometimes a pre-requisite to distribution
(online or otherwise)
•Network/Share
•Build your brand
•Find your audience

19. Filmmaker Speaks on
Finding Audiences
“ What's nice about going on a Festival Circuit is
you can sometimes find out that maybe you're
wrong (about your core audience). We always
hoped, that it would have a broader appeal than
just in the independent film scene, and Asian-
American audiences as we went to the festival
we found that the film played very well to people
who had families. The core audience ended up
being a little broader than we initially
expected which was nice.
-Tze Chun, Director, Children of Invention

20. New ways look like...

21. The Short Film Revisited

22. Thomas Beale Cipher Stats
Source: Andrew S Allen,

23. Filmmaker Speaks
“ I was soon taking calls from studio
”
execs, production houses, and others
interested in collaborating on future
projects
-Andrew S. Allen, Director,Thomas Beale Cipher

24. Filmmaker Speaks
“ The wide release — where a short
film can make its biggest impact —
happens online.”
-Andrew S. Allen, Director,Thomas Beale Cipher
”

25. The Short Film
Reincarnated as Web Series

26. New ways look like...

27. Give it away now

28. Now for a personal story...

29. I watched The Yes Men
for free

30. Ended up $75 poorer

31. WTH?

34. Filmmaker Speaks
“
The biggest thing I learned from this
experience is that giving something
away to earn people’s trust and build
a fan base makes selling future
creations much much easier—be it a
”
feature film, web series, or even
merchandise. -Andrew S. Allen, Director,Thomas Beale Cipher

35. New ways look like...

38. Mobile Distribution

39. Mobile Distribution

40. Facebook Distribution

41. Tools of the trade
•Video Sites
•Aggregator (req’d for iTunes, Hulu, etc.)
•Application Developer
•Embeddable players

42. Video Sites
• Babelgum
• Vimeo
• Blip.tv
• itzon.tv
• FilmAnnex
• Crackle
• YouTube
• Boxee
• Veoh
• Snagfilms (docs)
• Jaman
• and many more...

43. Aggregator: Distribber

44. Aggregator: Indieflix
•70/30 split, after costs
•Help with promotion
•Also stream on their site

45. To Mobile Devices
•Aggregator
•Video sites that have mobile version
or app
•Application Developer

46. Mobile app/sites
and many more...

47. Film App Developer
specialize in mobile apps
specialize in film apps

48. Freelancers

49. Facebook Apps for Films

50. All in one: Embeddable Player

51. Built-in monetization
http://www.chrisjonesblog.com/2011/02/selling-your-film-from-your-webpage-with-dynamoplayer-how-did-we-do-in-our-first-week.html

52. To TVs
•Aggregator - VOD
•Connected TV Apps for Over the Top

53. STB/Connected TV Apps
Platforms

54. Parting thoughts...
•You can put it there, but you also
have to get people to come

55. Parting thoughts...
•When making distribution deals,
don’t give everything away

56. Parting thoughts...
•There’s no “right” way

57. Resources
•Peter Broderick’s Welcome to the New
World
•Brian Newman’s blog
•The Workbook Project

58. http://beyondtheboxoffice.com
@malaikamose
malaika@beyondtheboxoffice.com
http://quora.com/malaika-mose