Having just closed our distribution deal with Hanover House for the indie film HappyThankYouMorePlease
(http://budurl.com/htympdistributiondl) there are a couple tips I learned from the experience that I wanted to share:
Take Your Time
It’s easy to go with the first person that makes you an offer, but really spend your time doing your research and analyzing the deal. Does the proposed deal make sense for everyone involved (investors, producers, actors)? What’s the distributor’s reputation? How have the distributor’s other movies done?
It’s All About the Marketing
Don’t be fooled by a large upfront fee if there is no money for a strong P&A (Prints and Advertising) campaign. Especially if your movie is an indie you need a strong marketing campaign to spread the word. Sometimes it’s better to go with a company that has a smaller upfront fee and a bigger P&A budget with a great split rather than go with a company that’s going to give you a large upfront fee but then will not really support the movie.
Carefully Study Your Release Date
If a company is offering you a deal and has offered a release date — do your research on the date. What else is being released that day? Is there another movie that is in direct competition with your movie? And, if yours is an indie movie and you are planning on doing a roll-out campaign, make sure to check what is being released in the next couple of weeks after the release date and analyze how those new releases will impact yours.
Overall, when picking the right distributor, it’s important to not just go for the most amount of money without really weighing all the other factors than can determine the success or failure of your movie.
P.S. And make sure to go see HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE August 27th in LA, NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, and Dallas (it will then roll out to more cities over Labor Day).
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