Navigating Foreign Sales Agencies

A consulting client of mine recently asked how to avoid getting ripped off by foreign sales agencies. So I decided to come up with a few tips on how to protect yourself from sales agents. Please note that foreign sales agents, and sales agents, are one in the same.

When looking for distribution for your independent film, you may be approached by a sales agent whose job it is to sell your film to various distributors worldwide ie: broadcast networks and dvd distributors. For performing that service, they will demand certain fees. After being a foreign sales agent for several years myself, I can tell you that most of these fees are completely warranted. Foreign sales is the one area that is difficult to take on DIY, so it’s well worth it in my opinion to hire a specialist to do the work for you.

Here are three areas where you can negotiate with sales agencies to get a better deal for yourself:

1. Agency commission

The standard agency commission is anywhere between 10% and 30% of each sale made. Personally, I think 20%-25% is a fair commission to take – so plan on negotiating this in your contract. You can
negotiate lower but in most cases you will be responsible then for all
marketing expenses (see below).

2. Marketing Expenses

In addition to a sales commission, an agency will want to recoup at least $10K to $50K in marketing expenses for your independent film.
These marketing expenses include things like making dubs, creating
artwork, shipping viewing cassettes to buyers, and inclusion at all the
international film and television markets. Personally I think $10K to $15K is
fair amount of expenses, but only if you the filmmaker are willing to pitch
in and provide your own artwork, dubs, FEDEX account number.

3. Producers approval

Sales agents will absolutely balk at this, but try to negotiate producers approval on sales. Otherwise, they have the authority to sell your indie film for pennies on the dollar as part of big ‘package’ deals, instead of what it’s really worth. If they have to seek your approval before doing that type of sale, they will not be inclined to include your film in the package deals, and will have to work harder to get market value prices.

Again, these are only a few suggestions of how to deal with foreign sales agencies. Since this is my area of expertise, I cover a lot of ground on this stuff in Insiders Guide to Film Distribution which you can see in the left panel of this blog ☺ www.film-distribution-secrets.com.

If you have any specific questions pertaining to your situation, please drop me an email.