Do I need an agent for distribution?

R

rickstar32

I know distribution can be tricky, but getting close to landing a deal with a distribution company. Do I need an agent to get me through the process or if someone can shed some light on what this process entails.

Thanks

RR
 
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As I said for me the jury is out. We are due our first set of sales figs now so I'll see if we get any money out of them. I have had minor issues of attention to detail but for the most part they are easy to deal with and have done (again so far) everything we expected of them.

Guess we'll see!
 
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A side note to the "25% is industry standard" comment.

This is incorrect only because there is not a "standard" percentage: it's all dependent on how difficult that sales agent thinks your film will be to sell.

You can get a very good domestic sales agent (AKA producer's rep) for between 5-30%

Good foreign sales agents are anywhere from 15-40%

I have just recently (last week!) secured two sales agents, one for each of my indie films that were both shot on DV and have no recognizable names but have decent festival attendance (just not the big ones).

For my horror feature I was able to get a low percentage because it is good enough that it will be an easy sell.

For my indie drama the situation was much worse, even with decent festival attendance. It is a very difficult film to market and sell, and therefore I had much less room to bargain. While we did settle in the middle of these percentages, it was still an eye-opener to see how different the situation was for these two films.

My advice is to see what numbers keep getting thrown at you, and then try to get repped for at the very least 5% less than the average. The worst that can happen is that they can say no. The beauty of this business is that a sales agent will not cool to your film most of the time. Product is product, and if they think they can sell your film today, they'll still want it next month. For these guys, it's all about filling up their slate so that they have enough product to bring to the markets...

Good luck,

-Jim
 
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My experience has been in CD disrtribution. Without the help of any lawyer or manager I had Capitol Nashville and American Recordings contacting me. I wound up inking with a CD distributor that coincedentally owns DVD Planet and Deep Discount DVD.

Now there seems to be far less people trying to sell DVD movies compared to musicians selling music CD's, AND there's WAY more DVD distributors than CD distributors, AND DVD distributors seem to welcome unsolicited product. Yes? So how hard is it to buy a book like the Hollywood Distributor's Directory, send out mailers to every company that fits your criteria and find interested buyers?
 
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Not at all. But the issues comes without a sales agent you dont have the legal backup and knowledge, the buying (or in this case selling power) or the international market attendances.

I happily took a 25% loss per sale on Left for Dead to ensure I didnt have to worry about all that shite!
 
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