OK. When you think about film making long enough you realise that distribution is the key to the whole business. Without a paying audience film making is just an expensive hobby.
I've noticed that of all the topics that get discussed, distribution is the one that perhaps we talk about least. I think this is because although we all know that we can get a camera, write a script, shoot and edit a film, finding a paying audience is the one part of the equation that alludes most indie film makers worldwide.
I'd like us to change that. Seriously.
As a group we are spread all over the world and each of us is part of a larger, local film making community or even just part of a larger community with an interest in films.
I guess I'm wondering whether that is something that we can make work for ourselves.
Could we, for instance, set up our own international distribution circuit, showing indie films from around the world in local venues using video projection and PA's for the sound?
Just to put a perspective on this, most cinemas in the UK are charged $140-$200 a week to rent a film print, plus a percentage of the box office. This is the same whether it's the local mulit-plex or the local arthouse cinema. The problem with getting cinema distribution for indie films is that the film prints are so expensive, that print runs are kept low and this decreases the chances of the distributor making their money back.
So, lets imagine that between us, right now, we can set up ten UK based indie-cinemas (referred to from now on as i-cinema), maybe a couple in Europe, four in Oz and fifty across the US.
Let's say that an i-cinema is a video projector based cinema, in a non-traditional venue that has a showing once a month and that each night shows four shorts and a feature, charging $5 a head.
Providing that you can cut a deal with the venue in that they get to keep the bar receipts and therfore they give you the venue for free (a pretty easy deal to cut), if $100 dollars goes to the films ($80 to the feature, $5 to each of the shorts), therefore if you can get 50 people a month to the event, the organiser has $150 to cover any other expenses/profit.
This would mean that if a feature was shown across the entire network it would bring in $5000.
Now I know that this is small money, but the actual value of this is that you can build the credibilty of the film by opening it up to a global audience. This could be used either to lever a mainstream distribution deal or to drive direct DVD sales from a website.
The goal, of course is to set up a network of several thousand venues worldwide. With several thousand venues the maths gets to the point where distribution by this network alone becomes commercially viable for lo budget films.
Of course, there are issues. Of which the most important is, are there enough films of a high enough quality to build both audience and the reputation of i-cinema? The whole thing will die a death if people aren't stunned by the quality of the films.
So, talk to me. I'm not suggesting we set this up this week. All I'm doing is suggesting that we may have the power to do something about distribution, other than pretent that it isn't an issue. I'm open to ideas, but more importantly let's talk seriously about this subject and what strenghts we have as an international community.
Just to give a clear idea of where this could go, in the US alone, with just ten i-cinema per state, the takings for a feature from one showing across the whole network would be $400,000.
I've noticed that of all the topics that get discussed, distribution is the one that perhaps we talk about least. I think this is because although we all know that we can get a camera, write a script, shoot and edit a film, finding a paying audience is the one part of the equation that alludes most indie film makers worldwide.
I'd like us to change that. Seriously.
As a group we are spread all over the world and each of us is part of a larger, local film making community or even just part of a larger community with an interest in films.
I guess I'm wondering whether that is something that we can make work for ourselves.
Could we, for instance, set up our own international distribution circuit, showing indie films from around the world in local venues using video projection and PA's for the sound?
Just to put a perspective on this, most cinemas in the UK are charged $140-$200 a week to rent a film print, plus a percentage of the box office. This is the same whether it's the local mulit-plex or the local arthouse cinema. The problem with getting cinema distribution for indie films is that the film prints are so expensive, that print runs are kept low and this decreases the chances of the distributor making their money back.
So, lets imagine that between us, right now, we can set up ten UK based indie-cinemas (referred to from now on as i-cinema), maybe a couple in Europe, four in Oz and fifty across the US.
Let's say that an i-cinema is a video projector based cinema, in a non-traditional venue that has a showing once a month and that each night shows four shorts and a feature, charging $5 a head.
Providing that you can cut a deal with the venue in that they get to keep the bar receipts and therfore they give you the venue for free (a pretty easy deal to cut), if $100 dollars goes to the films ($80 to the feature, $5 to each of the shorts), therefore if you can get 50 people a month to the event, the organiser has $150 to cover any other expenses/profit.
This would mean that if a feature was shown across the entire network it would bring in $5000.
Now I know that this is small money, but the actual value of this is that you can build the credibilty of the film by opening it up to a global audience. This could be used either to lever a mainstream distribution deal or to drive direct DVD sales from a website.
The goal, of course is to set up a network of several thousand venues worldwide. With several thousand venues the maths gets to the point where distribution by this network alone becomes commercially viable for lo budget films.
Of course, there are issues. Of which the most important is, are there enough films of a high enough quality to build both audience and the reputation of i-cinema? The whole thing will die a death if people aren't stunned by the quality of the films.
So, talk to me. I'm not suggesting we set this up this week. All I'm doing is suggesting that we may have the power to do something about distribution, other than pretent that it isn't an issue. I'm open to ideas, but more importantly let's talk seriously about this subject and what strenghts we have as an international community.
Just to give a clear idea of where this could go, in the US alone, with just ten i-cinema per state, the takings for a feature from one showing across the whole network would be $400,000.
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) This was my first experience with them, but they sure sound like what you are describing. Attendence at this event, while not filling the house was by my estimation near or surpasing the fifty attendees mark. 
