Distributing on a Budget

Although production on our film opening seems to be our sole concern, productions cannot often find widespread success without research into effective distribution of the film. Due to the fact that our film opening is clearly produced on a low budget, we would pursue appropriate distribution methods. Especially with a target audience of teenagers and young adults (many of whom consume much digital media), it may be wise to seek digital distribution for our film.  

In the article "Finding Distributors for Your Low-Budget Horror Film" from Videomaker Magazine, it is explained that in order to have your film distributed by large Video on Demand services (like iTunes), one must work with Aggregators; Aggregators offer a method of distribution to large digital distributors but require a fee or percentage of profits in advance. Securing a digital distributor would possibly prove difficult (with distributors such as Netflix and Hulu now shifting toward high budget productions with much oversight from the distributors), but if these digital distributors were willing to entertain independent film makers, this could be a good option. 

Justin Schwarz and Laura Kleger, creators of the independent film "The Discoverers", recommended a traditional, smaller scale route to film distribution in an article about the strategies they used for distribution; through crowd-sourced funding on websites like Kickstarter, they were able to raise over $100,000 for the purpose of distribution. According to the creators of "The Discoverers", due to a focus on regions where the film had exposure at festivals and had many people within their target demographic, their film "played in more than 25 cities, was in movie theaters for nearly six months and garnered great press." 

If we were unable to find a willing distributor initially, digital self-distribution, distribution at regional film festivals, and grassroots marketing (utilizing social media and reaching out to individual film reviewers) could publicize the film to the point where larger distributors were willing to pick up the project. Even though many dream of immediately finding box office success and creating buzz across Hollywood, a more realistic goal for amateur filmmakers is finding a local or online audience to consume their films.

Whether we chose to self-distribute and take the burden of marketing on ourselves or seek a willing large/small-scale distributor to work with an possible lose profits but gain an audience would largely depend on our distribution budget and initial audience reception. Digital distribution through an Aggregator seems the most feasible and fitting for our film; it seems to appeal to the digital consumption habits of teenagers, require less-intense spending than traditional distribution, and give us more options on distributors to work with.

Schwarz, J., & Kleger, L. (2016, May 28). Attention, Filmmakers: Here's How to Self-Distribute Your Film. Retrieved March 20, 2018, from http://www.indiewire.com/2014/12/attention-filmmakers-heres-how-to-self-distribute-your-film-66885/

Siegel, J. (n.d.). Finding Distributors for Your Low-Budget Horror Film. Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://www.videomaker.com/article/c12/17035-finding-distributors-for-your-low-budget-horror-film