Indies Still Rock

I pulled some interesting distribution statistics from the Hollywood Reporter that I thought I'd share with you all.

Basically, Indie filmmakers seem to be defying a general worldwide boxoffice slump for U.S movies with an estimated $3 Billion in foreign sales in the last year. That means,indie filmmakers sold their films to foreign distributors to the tune of $3 Billion spread out over theatrical, DVD, and Broadcast deals.

The last year has proven that indies are still strong in the marketplace. Great news for all of us!

Of the $3 Billion in foreign sales, here's how it all broke down:

$1.8 Billion from Europe alone - Germany the best buyer of indies, followed by the UK, France, Spain, Benelux,
and Scandinavia in that order.

So when seeking foreign distribution for your films, these countries may be good ones to target since they seem to be good customers.

Just some food for thought...

Oh, and where do you find distributors in these countries without relying on a foreign sales agent to do the work? Markets like AFM are ripe with them, as other other film and TV markets like MIPCOM, MIPTV, Cannes, and NATPE.

You can always check out my Top Ten AFM Buyers list for some guidance, and to top it off I'll even watch your online trailer and throw in a few others specific to you for good measure.

You can start here with the Top 10 AFM Buyers List:
http://www.film-distribution-secrets.com/index_anatomy.html

Let me know if you have any questions!

Regards,
Stacey

People Powered Film Financing

Are you all familiar with the work of Robert Greenwald? He's the indie filmmaker who raised $267,000 from 4 emails in 9 days for his movie "Iraq For Sale".

There was a great article in the Washington Post about how he did it and I was so inspired by it that I thought I'd share it with all of you.

Many of you are out there trying to raise money for your films through various types of investors, but I urge you to also think about this new style of people-powered financing.Especially if you have a niche product, or your film can be tied in with any type of affinity group (Christians,skateboarders, you name it!).

So have a look at this fascinating article and let me know if you think this isn't the wave of the future for film financing...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/18/AR2006081800210_pf.html

Enjoy!

Warmest,
Stacey

PS: There's still a few days left on the extended 15% off sale for my Film Financing Secrets consulting package. I'll help you get a business plan together with realistic sales projections so you know just how much to go and raise from your community. Secure your space here:
http://www.film-financing-secrets.com/special-offer.html

Netflix For Indies

Ted Sarandos, chief content officer of Red Envelope, the
Indie division of Netflix, said it like this:

"My thought was, how could it be that these films would just
happen at a festival and then disappear from the culture,
and is there something that we could do, enabled by our
ability to efficiently market films, to creative a living
archive of these films."

Sarandos started the company's Red Envelope Entertainment
division as an outlet for the kind of films that were good
enough to get into film festivals, but not broadly marketable
enough to get picked up.

Hooray for Ted Sarandos!

Sarandos says often conventional distributors won't touch
something that's expected to only sell 100K units. But that
could be a decent run for Netflix because it has such low
overhead.

So it seems like Red Envelope could be a great alternative to
traditional DVD distribution for indies. Also, if your film
happens to gain popularity in the Netflix system, it could
lead to getting noticed by one of the bigger distributors
who may have interest in picking up your next film, or even
financing it. This has already happened with several
filmmakers who have gone through Red Envelope.

Anyone out there already working with Red Envelope? Any
positive or negative feedback to report? I'll be sure to
share any feedback I get with the group so everyone can learn
from it.

All in all, I'm happy to see that Netflix is leveraging their
technology to offer subscribers unique and original content
to which they wouldn't otherwise have access.

And what about filmmakers?

This original content initiative creates a national
distribution channel for films and entertaining programming
otherwise not available to broad audiences. Everyone wins!

Have a great weekend everyone!


Best,
Stacey*
PS: My AFM Top 10 Buyers List and Anatomy Of A Distribution
Agreement is still available at only $29! With it, you can
submit your completed film directly to distributors and
decipher what a distribution contract looks like. Check it
out here at: http://film-distribution-secrets.com/anatomy.html

$1 million Movie Making: A Tough Sell

Producer-director Gary Winick announced that in January
he will close shop on his InDigEnt film company bringing an end to the high profile production outfit that championed low-cost, independent, and digital movie making.

InDigEnt made headlines at 2002 Sundance Film Festival with movies like "Tadpole" and "Personal Velocity".
When asked why he's closing shop, Gary said the million, instead of the $1 million to make $10 million."


I think this raises some interesting questions when creating budgets and business plans for independent films. Either you budget for less than $250K, or over $3-$5 million, but not in between for fear of not recouping that money back.

In recent years independent films have become more expensive to produce as more and more stars work in them. And as the movies' box office has improved, money from the specialty divisions of major studios (otherwise knows as mini-majors)has raised the stakes.

The good news is that in the future, Video On Demand revenue for indie films will level the playing field again, as itbecomes a significant revenue source for filmmakers. But until then, think long and hard about how much money you are trying to raise for your production and what makes real financial sense for the near future.

Also think about where your revenue is going to come from and if you are willing to do a platform theatrical release on your own to perhaps bring some more revenue into the coffers.

And if you want an evaluation of your project that you're thinking of writing up a business plan for, just email me back and I'll be happy to answer any questions you have.

When you're ready to dig in and get to work on a financial plan and distribution strategy that makes sense for the film you want to make, sign up for my Film Financing Secrets package and you'll have a solid plan in no time that you can present to potential investors:

http://www.film-financing-secrets.com

Until then, please continue to reply with any feedback you have and any experiences you've had with regards to raising financing and recouping strategies - I love to share real case studies with the group.

All the best,
Stacey
PS: Don't forget, maybe it makes sense to double or triple your budget and make a film that has potential of making even bigger returns that you imagined.

Top 10 AFM Buyers List

Sorry, I realized I forgot to leave the link for this. So here it is: My AFM Top 10 Buyers list and Anatomy Of A Distribution Agreement:

http://film-distribution-secrets.com/anatomy.html

Enjoy!

Stacey
www.film-distribution-secrets.com