Episode 1. The Rise of the Diversified Filmmaker

So, you are an independent filmmaker who has spent two months brainstorming to create emotional characters for your first feature. Another eight months struggling to convince adventurous investors for financial support. Let's say two additional months for principal photography and putting all parts of the film together in post-production. By the end of this enduring one-year process, only one things is stuck into the filmmaker's mind:

Who is going to distribute my film?

I strongly believe we should reevaluate this question.

During the Golden Age of Hollywood, which lasted from the end of the silent era in late 1920s to the early 1960s, the business structure of the Big Five movie studio (Fox Film Corporation, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, RKO Radio Pictures and Warner Bros.) was vertically integrated. But, what does vertical integration mean? In other words, all the production was executed by only one company -in this case the movie studio. From financing to pre-production, shooting, post, distribution, marketing and exhibition. By the end of the period, the studio system was accused of monopolistic activities and the Big Five were forced to disintegrate their different business units.

Let's move forward in time.

Today's Big Six major film studio (Warner Bros., Paramount, Columbia, Universal, Fox and Walt Disney Pictures) have centralized their activities in distribution. Although the companies have relegated the others processes of film production, these six studio still have absolute control over the worldwide film industry. This deductive reasoning leads us to acknowledge that distributors are in a far more favorable position for negotiating the percentage of revenue they collect from films.

In the modern architecture of the film industry,
where does the independent filmmaker get allocated?

For economic reasons, exhibition will be still carry out by the companies or individuals who own the cinemas and multiplexes. However, filmmakers also delegate distribution. Nowadays, where abundant digital tools are at our fingertips, independent filmmakers of the digital era still resign the rights over their own film to get distribution. In the traditional distribution deal, filmmakers get 5 to 10 per cent "if you are lucky" says Cynthia Karena -freelance documentary researcher at ABC TV.


CHALLENGES

The three core motivations for distribution (communication, financial reward and aesthetic) are fulfilled when the film becomes available to the audience. Likewise, distribution determines the ultimate success or failure of a feature film. For analyzing the existing opportunities to reach a niche audience, filmmakers can rely on a 'power law' distribution curve set on the current economic landscape: the Pareto principle or 80-20 rule, where a small number of things have a large impact. This premise leads us to a concept coined in October 2004 by Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine.


a. Don't Forget 'The Long Tail'
Every year, the most renowned Film Festivals around the world screen thousands of films. At the international film markets, like Marché du Film in Cannes and the American Film Market in Los Angeles, art-house to blockbusters films are traded in pursuit of revenue from distribution rights. Here's a fact: the large amount of films that are screened at film festivals, don't make it to the multiplexes. Why? There are not enough screens. The number of cinemas is significantly smaller than the films that are released. The scarcity of screens (or the bottle neck of distribution), ends up distorting the market and people's choices.

Now, we are experiencing a period where films are acquired directly by the audience. Digital distribution platforms (Netflix, Amazon video on demand, iTunes Store, Dailymotion, Hulu, PlayStation Store and YouTube, to name a few) don't suffer from scarcity of screens or space to store films. These days, independent filmmakers can reach directly their niche audience in a more effective and efficient method. Additionally, digital distribution links audiences' tastes to foster the exchange of information for films that have appealed to similar viewers. The result: a boost in sales of films that were not commercially successful at the time they were released.




b. Analyzing the Trends: Australian Box-Office
Although many factors are involved when a person decides to go to the movies, in a simplified model people's decisions are based on the amount of disposable income and the appeal to the films that are running on the theaters.

Screen Australia, recently established Government agency, has been releasing periodically several in-depth reports that uncovers the current and future position of the Australian film industry. "Compared with the rest of the world, Australia's annual per capita attendance rate is the fourth highest internationally and, despite the small population, total admissions are the 15th highest" (George S., 2008).

Conditions are perfect...for US distributors! Specially for the millionfold advertising campaigns, only the Big Six can afford.

Even though previous facts are encouraging for local filmmakers, it's widely known that Australian screens are constantly flooded by Hollywood blockbusters. Australia has one of the world's smallest percentage of domestic film share, even though the country has one of the most vibrant film festivals' calendar and films produced locally are praised by international audiences.

Two other major menaces cannibalize the box-office gross revenue:

• Internet piracy (P2P file sharing networks)
• Home cinema (DVD, Blu-ray Disc, home theater PC and pay-per-view)

Quick recap. Are there any chances for independent Aussie filmmakers?

OPPORTUNITIES

a. The New Declaration of Film Independence
Peter Broderick, president of Paradigm Consulting, helps filmmakers and media companies develop strategies to maximize distribution, audiences and revenues. Peter has recently pronounced on indieWire (daily news site for the international independent film community) the ten principles of hybrid distribution:

1. Design a customized distribution strategy
2. Split distribution rights
3. Choose effective distribution partners
4. Circumscribe rights
5. Craft win-win deals
6. Retain direct sales rights
7. Assemble a distribution team
8. Partner with nonprofits and online communities
9. Maximize direct revenues
10. Grow and nurture audiences

Traditional practices and channels of distribution have been eroded by the nurture of hybrid distribution. Audience's appetite for new content can be satisfied with filmmaker/distributor deals that deliver the extensive variety of films produced -not only the films that big studio decide to distribute according to their revenue analysis.

In this clip of "Behind the Screen," independent producer Andrew Silver joins Tim Jackson to discuss the innovative ways filmmakers are getting their movies seen in the 21st century.




b. Self-Distribution 'Guerrilla Style'
The path to successful self-distribution is already out there.

One of the latest acquisitions made by Amazon is CreateSpace. The free service helps filmmakers make their films become available to millions of customers via Amazon.com and other digital channels. Users can easily set the price for DVDs or video downloads, and start earning royalties on every sale.

Hundreds of non-professional content producers earn thousands of dollars a month (some even make six figures) by sharing the revenue from ads posted on their YouTube channels. The partner program makes deals with media companies as well as with thousand of the most popular users to distribute through YouTube. Both parties share the ads' revenue made from their YouTube channels.




I guess the last thing to say to our independent filmmaker is:

find your audience
+
choose your favorite digital distribution platform