Hi,

I am about to contact film distributors in Asia (Japan, Indonesia, and Thailand) to offer them the rights to my short film*, and I was wondering what sort of money I should be asking for. And what sort of contract. I have read in Kevin Lindenmuth's "Making Movies On Your Own" that the usual contract is X amount of money for the rights to a movie for 5 years. Is this accurate?

Thanks

*The film is 23 minutes long, with Greek audio and English subtitles.

I don' t know about shorts but for full length films....

Japan ask 25 take 5K
Indonesia ask 5 take 2K
Thailand ask 5 take 2.5K

Accept only cash up front buy out offers from out of the USA. No percentage deals.

Thanks for the information. Do you have figures for other countries as well, or know how I could get hold of them?

I would also suggest researching how lucrative short-film distribution is in these markets. Distributors are obviously looking for a product they can sell, either to retail stores or to rental outlets. It all comes down to the same question -- how many people are willing to pay money to see a short film? Usually the consumer tends to opt for a feature length product, so a 23 minute movie by itself would be a hard sell. IF the movie was combined with 2 or 3 more movies of comparable length, then you might be able to sell it as a compilation of short films.

Someone else on this site recently asked a similar question -- how much money can I expect to make with my short film. The answer that came back (might have been directorik who replied) ask a question in return -- how many short movies have you purchased for your own collection?

Short films don't sell in Japan, Indonesia, and Thailand. You will not be
asking for money, they will make you an offer if they are interested.
The usual contract of X amount of money for the rights to a movie for
5 years is typical for features. A 23 minute short won't get that kind
of deal.

Please let us know what the distributors in Asia say, okay?