How to Get Major Platform VOD Distribution for Your Movie with ZERO Out-of-Pocket.
By: Phil Autelitano
Tags: Movies, TV, Film, Business Development, Filmmaking

By Phil Autelitano

@PhilAutelitano

It amazes me how many filmmakers venture into a film project with no idea what they’re going to do with their film once it’s completed. They dump every cent they can muster up into the project itself, with no actual plan for marketing and distributing it later.

Now forgive me as I’m coming into this industry from a different side; not the creative side, but rather the business- and technical side. The way I see it, is many filmmakers view their completed project as the product, when, in fact, the completed project itself isn’t the product at all — it’s merely the prototype. And like every other prototype that’s created in the business world, it doesn’t actually become a “product” until you actually start manufacturing and selling it — or in this case, distributing it and making money from it.

The actual film product is the film once it’s obtained paid, mass-distribution. Until then, it’s not really earning you anything, is it?

Like every other successful product in the universe, a successful film product requires planning from Day One. The time to start thinking about distribution is before you finish it. The worst thing you can do is launch a new product to millions of deaf ears — that almost always results in instant failure. The best thing you can do is start promoting the idea of your product long before it’s finished — and have a concrete plan for it’s roll-out, marketing and distribution well in-advance. Just imagine how less-stressful and how much easier things could be if, after your film project is completed, you already have everything else in motion to ensure it’s distribution …and success.

If you spend all your money up-front making your movie, you’re sure to run into challenges later when it comes time to secure distribution for it. In the end, you have this great movie, but you’re grasping at straws trying to figure out what to do next — and you’re just another one of hundreds, if not thousands, of filmmakers in the same situation, all reaching out to the same people, in hopes of achieving the same results. Suddenly, your “unique” film is in competition with hundreds of other films that otherwise wouldn’t even be considered competition for it.

…and every day your movie goes without distribution is another day you’re losing money.

Today, the fastest route to he broad market is video-on-demand (VOD) distribution. Connected TV and time-shifted viewing have all but replaced traditional television and Cable TV and are taking an increasing toll on cinema. The growth of VOD platforms is unprecedented — VOD and Connected TV platform technology is the fastest growing new technology since the Internet.

Opportunities abound! For filmmakers, digital technology is both the single best and the single worst thing to happen to them since the invention of color film, as the more opportunities technology creates, the more challenging things seem to become.

Filmmakers who can afford it have multiple solutions available to them, for instance, aggregation. Film aggregators like Distribber and BitMax make it easy — er, for filmmakers to distribute their films across multiple VOD platforms, but that comes at a price, and so far, in my experience, not every filmmaker can pay that price. (And some just don’t want to.)

In the days of old, you made a movie and you found a distributor willing to put their own money, time and energy into marketing it and distributing it. If you were lucky, you got one of the “big guys” to do it. Or if you had the money, you financed it all yourself. Or worst case, you could always duplicate it a thousand times yourself and sell the DVDs out of your trunk. Today, is no different — except that giving your movie away for “free” on YouTube in hopes of earning some ad revenue has replaced hawking DVDs out the trunk.

If you have the money to spend on aggregation, do it. If not, let me propose yet another solution…

Every day my inbox is flooded with TV shows and movies looking for distribution across the major VOD platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and others — anywhere and everywhere. Most of these filmmakers are contacting me because they’ve exhausted every other avenue, and/or they just don’t have the kind of money needed to use the various aggregators. It’s a shame because many of them are great movies, too! And it’s because of this, that I’ve decided to endeavor further into the realm of VOD distribution and launch my own direct-to-VOD distribution “label” — Streaming Features.

When you create a product — whether it’s a new car, a new clothing line, or a movie — you want the “creative types” doing what they do best and creating it. However, when it comes time to sell it, you want the salespeople selling it. My background is sales and marketing and business. It’s not “making movies.” And out of fear of objectifying your project as something other than the work of art that it is, I don’t see your movie as a work of art, I see it as a product waiting to be launched — one that we (you and me) need to squeeze every dime out of, while we can. If that insults you or scares you — see ya later — and forgive me for assuming it’s called the “movie business” for a reason. If you “get it,” however, read on…

You have a great movie. It’s finished and it’s ready to go. You’ve pitched a bunch of distribution outlets and the various platforms themselves, and you’ve gotten nowhere. Your budget is tight and every day your movie goes without distribution is another day you’re losing money. You’re concerned about spending $500 to $1,000-plus per platform with an aggregator. If this sounds like you, then allow me to pitch you…

Submit your film project to Streaming Features for distribution consideration at www.StreamingFeatures.com and let my team and I review it. We are not an aggregator — and we do not charge any up-front fees for distribution. We are a bona fide distributor that takes a genuine interest in distributing and marketing every film we represent. Our goal is to make money on your movie — not you. That’s not to say aggregators are bad, or that they’re just out for your money and care nothing of the success of your film; as I said before, if you can afford that route, take it. If not, Streaming Features may just be your only hope.

Submit your (completed) film or television project at www.StreamingFeatures.com and discover what we can do for you.

— P.

Details at www.mediarazzi.com

Phil Autelitano is founder/CEO of Mediarazzi, a leading developer and producer of TV channels for Roku and Connected TV platforms. www.mediarazzi.com.

Streaming Features is a Mediarazzi company. www.StreamingFeatures.com

@StreamingFeat