worldwide self distribution

hi all,

I have 8 films and after the experiences I have had with distribs I have decided to distribute them worldwide myself, I need advice on how to do self distribution worldwide.

any advice on how to get about it is appreciated.

regards,
Ace.inc1
 
M1chae1 is right on the money. Great article. I make no budget horror films. So any $$$ is a bonus. Keep it cheap. but make your film as good as possible. Be realistic. Own you own equipment. And make it with cameras as high-end (three chip 1080i/p, 24p) as possible. I have made 0 profit. But I am not in a financial hole. FilmBaby is very good -- you have control of disc and case. Have a great website and a P.O. Box.
 
I have decided to distribute them worldwide myself
You are coming to the same realization that a lot of us filmmakers have come to. Just sell DVD's via your web site and set up an account with Amazon. And with the increasing share of sales coming from Internet, a traditional distributor is becoming less and less of a necessity. Indie DVD distribution is following the same path of the demise of CD distribution. It's becoming all Internet sales.

This article explains it in pretty good detail.....

http://www.junkyardwillie.com/webpages/filmmaking.htm
 
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sonny, did you not read my indieflix thread?

regards,
Ace.Inc1
I did. Nothing was fishy about that. You applied, they denied. So they have your bank account number. They'd also have it if they accepted you. They are not running a scam. You haven't noticed unauthorized withdrawals have you? So there you go.
 
thanks a lot Blade Jones and M1chae1,

now I need to know how to get my movie on amazon.

help me with that.

1. Go with Amazon directly. Info on site.
2. Go with CreateSpace. Amazon owns them.
3. Go with IndieFlix. They place on Amazon through CreateSpace.
 
Are people actually downloading movies yet? And CreateSpace takes a huge cut.
IndieFlix? These indie sites will never cut into Amazon's and iTunes' market share.

advantage.amazon.com That's where you sign up
 
Are people actually downloading movies yet? And CreateSpace takes a huge cut.
IndieFlix? These indie sites will never cut into Amazon's and iTunes' market share.

advantage.amazon.com That's where you sign up

Yeah, CreateSpace will take about 50% if you sell you're dvd at 14.99. Their take becomes greater if you sell it for less. They basically take 4.95 for each dvd plus 15% of the sale price.
 
I did. Nothing was fishy about that. You applied, they denied. So they have your bank account number. They'd also have it if they accepted you. They are not running a scam. You haven't noticed unauthorized withdrawals have you? So there you go.


my point is, first you sign a contract, then you say, "sorry, only film festival material". you could have said that in advance. it would have been different. I mean, why not ask in advance whether the films played at film festivals.

are you getting me?
ace.inc1
 
how do I promote a film that I have at createspace?
This is the grim dilemma that thousands of other filmmakers face when they are competing with 30,000 other DVD's (of all genres) that are released every year. If you don't have someone famous in your movie then just stick a trailer up on YouTube, spread the word about your trailer in chat rooms, set up a myspace page, set up a home web site, attempt to get some press (good luck!), etc. From there hopefully word of mouth about your film will spread like wildfire (as with Paranormal Activity) otherwise you're pretty much out of luck like the other 29 odd thousand filmmakers.
 
After many of years of self-distribution...or attempts at it, I should say, I have found it's well worth the 30 percent to let a distributor utilize their strengths and contacts as I create more content. Because fishing for those can eat up the same time you'd spend trying to distrubute yourself, man throw some ads on mandy & sites of the like and let em come to you.
 
In years past you definitely wanted to be with a distributor. But times have changed with the Internet revolution. 50% of music buyers download digital now according to a recent survey. Video isn't there yet because people don't know how to or don't want to be bothered with transferring the content to a DVD to watch on their TV. Still you can see the shift to NetFlicks as well as a shift of more people buying online if they want to buy. My point is that you don't need a traditional distributor to get your DVD sold online via NetFlicks and Amazon. If iTunes ever becomes a major player in video sales then certainly no traditional video distributor will be need for that either.
Video distributors are really feeling the pinch now. It takes perhaps a year on average to get paid for orders shipped. A lot can happen in that time. You don't want to be hung out to dry if they declare bankruptcy and only pay you 10 cents on the dollar. Getting screwed by distributors is a very real thing to take into consideration.
 
Once our HDTVs are fully integrated with internet...the way we watch (and distribute) movies will change forever. We already have Xbox Live's Netflix stream...and Netflix has a blackbox install with the same thing...so it's begun, but not yet fully integrated.
 
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