Obtaining a sales agent for a doc

gorillaonabike · Mar 30, 2016

Has anyone on here had any experience of this? If so, what were your experiences?

Reason is I want to try to get a sales agent to engage with distributors but don't really know where to start.

Sweetie · Mar 30, 2016

The trick is to get a list of those who handle your types of docos and pitch them.

I assume you have someone handling domestic?

NickClapper · Mar 30, 2016

I would get yourself up to Sheffield for Doc/Fest this year and set us some meetings there. You want to get yourself into the Meet Market there https://sheffdocfest.com/articles/339-meetmarket

I walked round a couple of years ago (not pitching anything, just curious) and its big and buzzing all week. Not to mention that, as a doc maker in the UK, there's no more important week of the year.

gorillaonabike · Mar 30, 2016

Sweetie said:
The trick is to get a list of those who handle your types of docos and pitch them.

I assume you have someone handling domestic?

The biz plan (which I posted on here) was to get really strong in one market. Television coverage, (I'm talking mainstream TV), attach a local 'name,' get newspaper coverage etc... and have really good leverage in one market.

This market then naturally leads to sales in three, other related countries.

The objective is then to bring in a sales agent, effectively 'give' them the business we have spun up with the idea they then try to sell to the US and other, international markets. This is kinda where we are in that we have traction, TV etc... and we are in a really good place to sell in one country and will have decent chances in three others. However, there is no money in those markets and the real cash is in the US and other, international markets.

So we can approach a sales agent with potential sales but the quid pro quo is they take us into other markets. The difficult bit is we don't know any sales agents!

Also, we haven't finished the doc and there is one, really critical piece of filming. This piece of filming is the most important element and if our subject messes it up, we've got nothing.

Sweetie · Mar 30, 2016

I'm going to suggest something. It'll cost you something like $40us. Go to filmspecific.com and sign up. They have some resources to help you deal with sales agents, what to look out for, contract terms etc... oh, and an agency database. Their distributor database may be of value to you too.

In the mean time, I sent you a PM with enough leads to keep you busy for the next month or so.

PS. I have nothing to do with their site/business/whatever. I'm just a fan of the quality of the material they make available for producers and other businessy film people.

The difficult bit is we don't know any sales agents!

I know a couple but the doco world is very specialized. You'll need to hunt for one that is a great fit for you. Don't expect a lot of money (if any). They market is quite depressed. I knew one local travel channel doco maker who had to pay to get it on the air. I'm not sure why he accepted that deal (production value wasn't high) but that's the way the cookie crumbles I suppose.

If all of that fails, I do have another lead for you, however it'd be quite unconventional for you to consider and the chance of them saying yes is quite slim unless you're doing a travel/food doco. Last time I spoke with them (about a year ago), that's what they were mostly after.

Sweetie · Mar 30, 2016

PS. A sales agent typically only deals with foreign sales.

The doco world may be different though.

gorillaonabike · Mar 31, 2016

Sweetie said:
I'm going to suggest something. It'll cost you something like $40us. Go to filmspecific.com and sign up. They have some resources to help you deal with sales agents, what to look out for, contract terms etc... oh, and an agency database. Their distributor database may be of value to you too.

In the mean time, I sent you a PM with enough leads to keep you busy for the next month or so.

PS. I have nothing to do with their site/business/whatever. I'm just a fan of the quality of the material they make available for producers and other businessy film people.

I know a couple but the doco world is very specialized. You'll need to hunt for one that is a great fit for you. Don't expect a lot of money (if any). They market is quite depressed. I knew one local travel channel doco maker who had to pay to get it on the air. I'm not sure why he accepted that deal (production value wasn't high) but that's the way the cookie crumbles I suppose.

If all of that fails, I do have another lead for you, however it'd be quite unconventional for you to consider and the chance of them saying yes is quite slim unless you're doing a travel/food doco. Last time I spoke with them (about a year ago), that's what they were mostly after.

If travelling means travelling on 2 wheels at 175mph with a broken back... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5HALvW69uc

As mentioned, we're in with a chance of getting sales in one country and possibly 4 in total due to the press and television coverage we're getting as well as having a minor celebrity in that area of the world. This means we have something we can take to a sales agent.

Sweetie · Mar 31, 2016

If travelling means

You'll have to ask them. It's not my area. If I were to guess, I'd say no.

Be careful before you make a sale. Once you get a single sale, it may exclude you from some of the bigger players (who may only interested in worldwide rights or be concerned with your price precedent).

They're usually interested in whether they believe your show is sellable. They may also be able to achieve a higher price in that region than you could.