Film Financing Series: Sales

Film sales may occupy the murkiest parcel of the filmmaking landscape for most creators, and rightly so: film sales involve third party agents exploiting their relationships with distributors domestically and internationally, and may not directly involve the creative forces behind the film being sold. It's a world that, while essential to the filmmaking industry, is understood fully by a niche group of industry executives.

c/o: www.cinemag.fr

The NYWIFT panel, "Sales Agents, Producers, and Packaging" helped to demystify the film sales players and process. The panel featured Tara Erer (SVP of Sales, FilmNation Entertainment), Ryan Kempe (Founder, Visit Films), Adrienne Stern (Casting Director), and Jamie Zelermyer (Independent Producer), and was moderated by Kerry Fulton (Independent Producer). 

Here are the three ways in which sales agents might be involved in your project:

1. Script Stage - sales agents will pre-sell the project based on creators, cast, territories to finance the film while still in development. Agents working in this stage want to package the film to yield the most value, perhaps especially to international territories, so that they can borrow a relatively low percentage of the budget against the pre-sold rights financing. Pre-selling like this typically requires name recognition and a creative track record. 

2. Post Stage - agents will pick up a project to get it through the premiere festival circuit; success on the festival circuit will help the sales agent to sell through to distributors later.

3. Festival Stage - sales agents will work with a filmmaker and a project once the film has already been accepted into major film festivals. They'll then take the film to distributors at and following the festival to sell rights. 

What does a Sales Agent actually do for your film?

A sales agent's involvement in your project's trajectory and lifespan depends, to a degree, on the stage at which they become involved. A sales agent who is packaging your film with cast and pre-sold international rights obviously has more input on the film itself, as well as where it will play once produced. A sales agent who picks up a film at a festival is working with the product as it is, and may have some markets in mind for your particular film. 

In both cases, a sales agent will take a fee on deals made, not claim the rights to your film (which the distributor will do for a given amount of time per the deal you strike). It's the agent's job to know the buyers and sellers in the market at any given time, create a space for your film in the sales landscape, position your film for any specific buyers, negotiate the terms of the sales deal including rights, and compose the deal memo. 

An domestic sales agent will work the domestic festivals to sell your film to outlets whose taste, slate, and ambitions can be serviced by your film. 

An international sales agent is much more involved as the point of contact with the international distributor. An international sales agent will approve marketing budgets and campaigns, review and approve television deals, and be much more involved in guiding the film's release in international markets.  

Some things to keep in mind:

• Your vision and ability as a filmmaker is integral to your relationship with a sales agent. Film is a relatively insecure commodity, so sales agents are interested in mitigating risk through consistency by forging strong relationships with vision-driven dependable creators. 
• Likewise, sales agents' relationships with buyers are KEY to the sales process. Sales agents know their buyers - from taste to budget range to market needs - and maintain and nurture those relationships through the sales of films. Agents want to go to buyers over and over. Considering your film as a valuable product that will make someone look good and make another feel good may help you to position it for the best sales at any stage of sales involvement. 
• American independent films can be viewed as "Sundance Films" to international territories, even if they're not. The international markets are essential for film sales in the current landscape, so it's worth considering how you might diversify your cast, universalize your story, etc. to make your film more attractive to sales agents and international territories.  

Given all this, it's important to remember that not every sales agent is right for every filmmaker. As always, the right person for your film is someone who loves your film and can advocate for it. In the sales landscape, that means someone who will meet your goals as a filmmaker, has a track record with films like yours, and with whom you could imagine a relationship beyond the film at hand. 

Film Financing Series: Distribution

Earlier this summer, I attended New York Women in Film & TV's "Film Financing Day" to learn from the people who live and breathe film finance, production, marketing, and distribution. This series will capture the highlights of that day. 

First up: Changing Distribution Models

c/o www.purplekittyproductions.com

The panel for this talk was graced by industry leaders representing the spectrum of distribution possibilities available to filmmakers today: Brian Newman ( Founder of Sub-Genre, The Transparency Project), Amy Slotnick (Slingshot Films), Bill Thompson (SVP of Theatrical Sales, Cohen Media Group), Dan Truong (Director of Release Strategy & Financial Planning, The Orchard), Jamie Wilkinson (VHX TV), and moderator Isil Bagdadi (Co-Founder and President of Distribution, CAVU Pictures).

It's no secret that the film media market is flooded with content given the new and proliferating accessibility of technology, and that this glut on content makes it a challenge for filmmakers to find the traditional distribution they perhaps dreamed of when they embarked on a career in film. Simultaneously, distributors - old and new - are playing catch up with new platforms and windowing opportunities both as resources and as competition. The film distribution opportunities available to independent filmmakers have never been so varied and prevalent, but it doesn't mean that the process is any more simple or profitable. 

Here are the highlights from the panel:

• As always, know your goals.

Is it more important to you to see your film in a theater, even if it's just for a week in one market? Or is it more important to share it with as many people as possible, anywhere in the world? 

Knowing your goals can help keep you in the driver's seat of your distribution deal. If your goal is to share your film with the broadest audience possible, you'll want to see a special emphasis on VOD and VOD marketing in a distribution deal. The same goes for theatrical markets, specific territories, community screenings, etc. - knowing where and how you want your film to be seen will help you determine the best distribution deal. 

• Get everything in writing

Every deal is different and negotiable, but the basics of a distribution deal are: 

• Rights – the scope of ownership the distributor assumes in selling your project, including ancillary, sequel, merchandising (“any future technologies”), and  festival rights
• Distribution Fees - a percentage taken of the profit usually not inclusive of  any marketing or applicable expenses though those expenses will be deducted before fees are applied 
• Profit Share - the percentage of profit the filmmaker and distributor will see as revenue comes in; can be proposed as tranches to balance over time/as revenues increase
• Timeline - the amount and scheduling of time that the filmmaker makes a commitment of rights, and the distributor commits its marketing campaign and windowing
• Territories - where the distributor has the right to sell the film

As the filmmaker, it's essential that you advocate for your film and goals, and recognize that a distribution deal is often a profit-seeking venture, not a necessarily a career builder*. If you have film festivals lined up or still want to apply, make sure that's written into the distribution agreement. If there's a theatrical market of special interest or value to you, ask that it be specified. Whatever it is you want for your film, GET IT IN WRITING. 

*You can make a distribution deal a career builder with the right counsel, clear goals, and enough of a budget to make choices independent of cash flow. 

• Keep your costs low and focus on the film's "distribution currency"

What's low? According to one panelist, $350,00 is the maximum budget at which to produce a film and make your (and your investors') money back. Films in the $350,000-and-under range most consistently see a return, meaning those filmmakers can create trusting, long-lasting relationships with investors who will be available invest again. 

The dollar amount you spend on your film has no direct correlation to its value in the eyes of a distributor (though it may inform the kind of distribution deal you take, or reject). Focus on increasing the market value of your film by paying attention to the territories of special interest, market size, and audience engagement. Can you co-produce in the UK and therefore be of special interest to UK theaters, television channels, and audiences? Do it! Can you cast internationally to increase your appeal and tap into existing audiences? Do it! This kind of packaging increases your distribution currency - it gives sales agents a broader set of interested parties and more ammunition to demand a higher price. 

• Plan Your Budget & Your Release for Maximum Financial Return

Reserving or raising 30-50% of your total film budget for distribution and deliverables will give you leverage to make smart distribution choices. That chunk of change will enable you to decide if a more traditional deal is the best way forward, or if independent distribution (and independent marketing & publicity) makes more sense for your goals. And it will pay for the deliverables either way. 

Screening in 10-15 major markets positions your film for the premium VOD price point. In independent distribution terms, this means at least 300 community screenings, plus awards. 

Consider a service deal where traditional full distribution deals aren't optimal. Service deals can mimic a traditional distribution release, but the filmmaker retains rights in exchange for direct payment of marketing costs. 

• Audience, Audience, Audience

he audience is your most valuable asset whether you go with traditional or independent distribution. In a traditional deal, your audience can provide you the leverage you need to reach your goals. An identifiable audience can justify a theatrical release, improve your VOD price point, and help you hit your market benchmarks as the distribution campaign rolls out.  In an independent distribution campaign, an audience is the engine that drives the success of your film. Audiences can create a conversation, meet the market requirements for high value VOD deals, and - most importantly - become advocates of your filmmaking career. 

IndieLoop to Rep NYU at NYU-Yale Pitch Competition!

In the Spring of 2015, the CRI granted Dagny Looper its first research and development grant for her project, IndieLoop. She and her team were then selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants to participate in the Leslie E-Lab's prestigious Summer Launchpad, which provides NYU's most promising entrepreneurs with skills, resources, and connections to develop their startups into commercially viable ventures. 

IndieLoop is a web platform for indie filmmakers to collaborate and share resources

IndieLoop is a web platform for indie filmmakers to collaborate and share resources, dramatically lowering the cost of filmmaking. IndieLoop's co-founders, Dagny Looper (CRI '15) and Colin Whitlow (CRI '14), are filmmakers themselves from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Prior to coming to NYU,Dagny got her PhD in Astronomy and studied acting in Hawai'i. Colin came from a tech background, working for 5 years as a Senior Strategist at YouTube.

As one of nine teams selected for the Summer Launchpad 2015, IndieLoop will launch in August 2015 in beta beginning with the NYC film community. IndieLoop is one of 6 teams competing in the NYU-Yale pitch-off on Thursday, July 16th from 6:30-9:00 pm. 

The pitch-off will take place at: 

NYU Global Center for Academic & Spiritual Life
238 Thompson Street 
Grand Hall, 5th Floor 
New York, NY 10003

Admission is free, so check out this game-changing project and support filmmakers helping filmmakers!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/yale-nyu-summer-accelerator-pitchoff-2015-tickets-17411926541

IndieLoop is supported through a Cinema Research Institute 2015 grant, the Leslie e-lab Summer Launchpad 2015, and the IFP Made in NY Fellowship.

CRI PROJECTIONS

In April 2015, the 2014 CRI Fellows - Forest Conner, Artel Great, Michelle Ow, and Colin Whitlow - presented their yearlong research as well as  the models and tools they've developed for the independent filmmaking community at AOL BUILD. Check out the Fellows' presentations right here, via our Vimeo Portfolio, and in FILMMAKER MAGAZINE!

The 2014 Fellows rocked their research and we are excited to follow each as they continue to develop their tools for independent filmmakers. 

2014 CRI Fellow Forest Conner presents his research on Film Personality at the Cinema Research Institute's PROJECTIONS, hosted at AOL BUILD in April 2015.

Follow Forest Conner on Twitter @forestmconner to get updates on his film personality research, and follow @vhxtv to see how he uses data to help filmmakers sell their work online.

2014 CRI Fellow Artel Great presents Project Catalyst, the first app dedicated to connecting multicultural filmmakers to multicultural audiences, at the Cinema Research Institute's PROJECTIONS, hosted at AOL BUILD in April 2015.

Follow Artel Great and his work with Project Catalyst on Twitter @pjcatalyst and at Facebook.com/projectcatalyst to get updates and stay connected to all the exciting new developments around the first multicultural entertainment mobile app, Project Catalyst.  

2014 CRI Fellow Michelle Ow presents her research on Dynamic Movie Pricing at the Cinema Research Institute's PROJECTIONS, hosted at AOL BUILD in April 2015.

Email Michelle Ow at michelle.ow@stern.nyu.edu if you'd like to receive updates and her whitepaper about dynamic movie ticket pricing.

2014 CRI Fellow Colin Whitlow presents his Quantified Film Tool at the Cinema Research Institute's PROJECTIONS, hosted at AOL BUILD in April 2015.

Follow Colin Whitlow on Twitter @colinwhitlow to get updates on his thinking and further development of the Quantified Film Tool, an examination of objective features that impact film revenues.

Thanks to our Fellows for their amazing thought leadership, and to our followers for liking, sharing, and thinking along with us! 

Documentary Grassroots Distribution: BROKEN HEART LAND

There tends to be a definition of success surrounding independent film that goes a little like this: make the movie, premiere at a major festival, get picked up by a distributor, move on. 

That narrative leaves a lot out, including potential audience members, potential ROI for the filmmakers, potential awareness of or exposure to the film, etc. And it sometimes forgets why filmmakers make films: to share a story, an experience, a perspective. To change minds and touch hearts. Filmmakers have big, beautiful goals for their films and the traditional, festival-driven and broadcast-based model of independent distribution can sometimes undercut those larger goals. 

This may be especially true of documentary film, especially given that documentary filmmakers are often personally close to the story they tell, and desire to be close with their audiences as well.

Redefining Success and Finding Your Audience

The filmmakers of BROKEN HEART LAND - co-directors Jeremy Stulberg & Randy Stulberg, and producer Eric Juhola (Tisch's own!) - found success, even where it seemed unlikely, by bringing their film - a story about a conservative Oklahoma family dealing with the aftermath of their gay teenage son's suicide, learning that he was HIV positive, and the community's divided reactions - to the communities who wanted and needed to see it via a screening tour. 

Jeremy's recounted their experience for Indiewire, which you should read in full, but here are some of the highlights/steps in the grassroots direction he notes:

1. Decide to Tour. This is a documentary tradition, and one that should be embraced! See also: A TIME FOR BURNING (Bill Jersey, 1967).

2. Get help to access your audience and develop partnerships - an impact strategist is a good person to know. 

3. Do your research: where is the central issue explored by your film most prevalent? Who is most concerned about the topic you address in your film?

4. Partner with aligned organizations who a) serve that concerned population already and b) will promote your film as an excellent communication of their cause/ideals. 

5. Be open-minded. Jeremy writes of his unlikely audience: "...most of the conservative people I met was that they weren't guided by hate, but rather they were misguided by love. It's a very subtle distinction, but one that I think makes all the difference when trying to build bridges between communities."

6. Communicate. You made your film to say something, right? Engage in a dialogue with your audience and make them advocates. 

7.  Be willing to take the film where it needs to go. BROKEN HEART LAND was screened for policy makers and teachers - two majorly influential audiences who have the capacity to amplify the film's message beyond the filmmakers' screening tour or post-screening discussions. 

8. Stay in touch when you're off the beaten path. Maintain a website and a newsletter that will continue to engage your advocate audience, and your film (and career) will continue to flourish. 

Jeremy's expert grassroots plug from the Indiewire article: 

To read more about our impact campaign and to see how you can get involved or donate, please see our latest newsletter here. Visit our website to learn more and to see if the film is coming to an area near you.

And a final word from the author:

When we started making the film back in 2010, we had no idea that we'd be orchestrating a screening tour as a means of distributing "Broken Heart Land."  We thought we would follow the more traditional path that independent documentary filmmakers travel: from festival to festival with a theatrical and/or broadcast as the final moment for the film. In fact, we've learned that each film is different. For "Broken Heart Land," it was the opposite. The broadcast was the kickoff for a longer, deeply affecting tour, which will hopefully continue to stay relevant for some time to come. 

Through the experience, we've been able to redefine success. We learned that targeted reach can lead to deeper and more meaningful impact. We want to continue to bring this film to more communities in other Bible Belt and heartland states as well. We know that there are so many communities that need to see the film, and we want to continue to use it to spark discussion and make change throughout the country. It's been a unconventional trip, to say the least, but if I learned anything from those car trips with my family back in the day, it's that sometimes going off the beaten path can be incredibly rewarding.

Tim League on What Follows in Distribution After IT FOLLOWS Succeeds

badassdigest.com

Tim League's call for greater flexibility in the film distribution landscape - which is broadening rapidly and without any sign of slowing down - is one that should be echoed by filmmakers who want a shot at both theatrical distribution and the revenue potential of VOD. 

League argues:

What I would love to see in the wake of It Follows' success is increased flexibility by allthe major players involved: VOD platforms, cinemas and iTunes alike. Strong indie films with a chance of breaking out would begin with a 2-4 week theatrical window. If they do extremely well, the VOD and iTunes windows would be pushed back to allow the theatrical revenues to be maximized and for awareness of the film to build. At the same time, expansion market cinemas would be willing to pick up the film, provided it crossed certain revenue thresholds in its first two weeks of release. If the theatrical grosses aren't there, the film would stick to the compressed-window strategy or maybe play in those expansion markets with just a few showtimes. 

To date, the cinema industry is largely unwilling to discuss any flexibility in the way independent films are booked. I am in accord with the industry that new-release blockbusters need to have a long exclusive theatrical window. But for independent films, we need greater flexibility.

Read the rest of League's persuasive piece at badassdigest.com. 

Sharing the Love: A Round of Applause for Shonda Rhimes and Kerry Washington

We love that Shonda Rhimes is changing our language about changing film - advocating for more voices and visions on screens of all sizes is NORMALIZING the industry to the realities of its audiences. 

"You should get to turn on the TV and see your tribe. And your tribe can be any kind of person, any one you identify with, anyone who feels like you, who feels like home, who feels like truth. You should get to turn on the TV and see your tribe, see your people, someone like you out there, existing. So that you know on your darkest day that when you run (metaphorically or physically RUN), there is somewhere, someone, to run TO. Your tribe is waiting for you...

... The images you see on television matter. They tell you about the world. They tell you who you are. What the world is like. They shape you. We all know this. There have been studies."

And we're gaga for Kerry Washington's call for inclusivity as a resistance to "othering." 

"Having your story told as a woman, as a person of color, as a lesbian, or as a trans person, or as any member of any disenfranchised community - is sadly often still a radical idea. There is so much power in storytelling and there is enormous power in inclusive storytelling, in inclusive representations... We need more LGBT representation in the media. We need more LGBT characters and more LGBT storytelling. We need more diverse LGBT representation... And this is big: we need more employment of LGBT people in front of and behind the camera."

Read Shonda Rhimes' Human Rights Campaign Speech here, and watch Kerry Washington deliver her powerful call to cooperative action right here:

Mark Duplass's Tips for Independent Filmmaking

A few days ago, at SXSW, Mark Duplass delivered a keynote speech that brought the house down. His tips for independent filmmakers were rooted in his own experience and cognizant of today's shifting film marketplace, and he inspired the audience to make movies and monetize their careers. 

Oakley Anderson-Moore of No Film School's did an excellent job of capturing Duplass's point-by-point advice in this article. Two points that are especially valuable are about monetizing a sustainable career :

• VOD is a viable and accessible income stream for indie filmmakers
• Filmmakers should work to license - not sell - the work they produce.

This is how you build an independent career in today's film landscape. 

The added benefits here are creative control and a higher return on investment (since you can make work on your own terms and aren't paying for theatrical distribution). 

How does this happen? Revisit Artel's and Forest's blogs! Artel is building Project Catalyst - a distribution platform to help multicultural filmmakers reach their audiences, and Forest is thinking through how to help filmmakers license their work to aligned brands. The tools they're building will help filmmakers follow Mark Duplass's advice, and join the ranks of full-time, not-starving, creatively-inspired independent filmmakers of today and tomorrow.

#TBT - Grassroots Distribution: HOLIDAY EDITION!

originally published in TIME

Happy Holidays from the CRI! We hope you have all enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, this holiday season!

As promised, this week we'll pick up Nicco Mele's digital campaign theory and structure with Josh and Michael's adaptations for independent filmmakers. 

Last week we referenced Mele's 3 Pillars of a Digital Campaign: build a substantial email list, foster and online community, and complement online effort with offline action. Now, we drill deeper to think about 5 elements that a campaign needs to succeed, adapted for film. 

1. Raise money. FILM EQUIVALENT: A film’s distribution will necessitate some sort of fiscal support, even if it is the bare minimum, though it will never compare to the way that money is the lifeblood of a political campaign. Distribution costs should certainly be accounted for, but whether or not fundraising should be an “ask” in the film’s distribution campaign depends on if the film’s campaign is for the film itself or tied to another cause. If it’s an external action or a social issue film, given Kickstarter statistics, it seems realistic to attempt to fundraise for film (production, post-production, and) distribution costs. Raising money for a film in general (not just limited to distribution) is an altogether different topic, but inextricably linked to ours; we will revisit that in a moment.
2. Have a message. FILM EQUIVALENT: The message is essentially the film itself. If you have a film that no one is excited about, it is the equivalent of having a politician that doesn’t have a clear message: it will be very hard to connect to an audience.
3. Communicate the message through media. FILM EQUIVALENT: This would refer to how the advocates of the film—the grassroots operators, be it on the phone, in person, or over the internet—talk about the film. The mandate for them from an Obama organizing background would be to make it personal: to communicate what about this film and its story resonates with them personally. That honesty will appeal to whoever is being engaged. 
4. Deal with press. FILM EQUIVALENT: Probably the most literal parallel –with a film in distribution, one has to be strategic about what press is reached out to and engaged. A grassroots perspective would also tell you that the best press is not necessarily the biggest outlet. Sometimes a well-placed news item in front of the right niche audience could mean the difference for that community taking your film seriously. 
5. Field or turnout operation. FILM EQUIVALENT: At the end of the day, who do you have working or volunteering for you that will make sure that people turn out to go see the film on opening day? What does the operation on that day—the equivalent of Election Day—look like? Who is your grassroots army, and how have you delegated them? By geography? By theater? Or just via social network?

We hope these adaptations help you produce and distribute your next film! Let us know how it goes, and we'll see you in 2015!

#TBT - Grassroots Distribution: Offline Organizing Leads to Online Metrics

Last #TBT, we looked at growing campaigns, and identified three models, based on social action campaigns, that filmmakers might follow to boost their audience awareness and get their film out into the world in the most effective way possible. This Thursday, we dig into the digital elements of a campaign as outlined by Harvard professor Nicco Mele and, next week, we'll revisit Josh and Michael's suggestions for adapting Professor Mele's digital political campaign model to film. 

Why? Because Josh and Michael learned that offline organizing leads to online metrics. Offline organizing is already accessible to filmmakers who are taking their films on the road as they screen at festivals and alternative exhibition venues. Online metrics can help filmmakers know where to go next, where to return with the next project, which audience (or audiences) to engage as advocates and supporters, and - not least - online metrics can help filmmakers make the case for their next film to financiers, sales agents, and distributors (see our video with Stewart Thorndike and Alex Scharfman on Distribution as Marketing).

Plus, it's notoriously hard to get data once you give your film to someone else to market or distribute. Treasure the data you can produce for yourself. 

Now: Mele's Three Pillars of a Digital Campaign 

1. Build a substantially-sized email list. "People live overwhelmingly in their inbox."
2. Foster online community. "The care and feeding of evangelists is necessary for online success."
3. Complement online with offline. "Politics is really a face-to-face business and you really have to be able to use the internet to drive people to meet face to face."

Here's an example of these Pillars in practice, from the white paper: 

"Tom Quinn [...] made a film that is set during the Mummers' Day Parade in Philadelphia. Quinn recalls that to distribute his film he 'went around to a good chunk of the Mummers clubs, and talked one-on-one with them about we were going to donate a part of the proceeds back to the parade, and the Mummers organization got behind the film doing press as well, which was huge. I think our Facebook fans went from 200 people to 2300 people in one week."

Offline organizing can lead to a rise in online metrics. 

Online metrics can help you sell your film, or fundraise for your next one. 

Engage the communities that exist around your film, and make them your advocate audience!

#TBT - Grassroots Distribution: Growing (Cam)Pains

Last week we talked about trusting your communities - from production crews, to PR staff, to local supporters, and beyond - to help bring your film to the world. It's a Snowflake Model of film marketing and distribution. 

In order to make that strategy effective, you need to know your film's message, boundaries, and opportunities. You need to define a campaign. 

Josh and Michael identified 3 kinds of campaigns that filmmakers can apply to their film's marketing and distribution plans:

1. Film that is its own campaign 
2. Film for social action  
3. Film as social action  

FILM THAT IS ITS OWN CAMPAIGN. 

The surmountable challenge to organize around is the film’s presence and life in the public consciousness and the larger marketplace. This is what volunteers and organizers would advocate for, and the agenda they would be pushing at every step. This seems the purest form of campaign and best use of organizing tactics; if one is to use grassroots organizing in film, it stands to reason it should be to solve the problem of birthing and supporting a film’s life in the world of an audience, with no other goal.

What we did with Beasts of the Southern Wild, to complement Fox’s mega marketing machine, would fall in this category. We mobilized members of our crew to go to Q & A’s in regional theaters, as a draw to get audiences to come out, and deepen the connection they had with the film, which could then be transferred into their own advocacy (snowflake model!). The thing we were up against, we would say, was the marketplace itself and the very tiny room that Hollywood’s relationship with exhibitors allows for a small independent film like Beasts. We managed the message of our online presence in complementary ways.

FILM FOR SOCIAL ACTION 

In this paradigm, the film—though its own work in and of itself—is being used as a political 
tool to accomplish other action. It is, in other words, part of an organizer’s arsenal—a 
way of bringing people into something larger. One film we studied was Speaking in 
Tongues, which deals with issues of secondary languages in schools. Their campaign 
attempted to raise awareness of the importance of bilingualism through community 
screenings, educational distribution, and community action. In other words, they 
explicitly imagined and positioned their film as a tool for social change 

There are upsides and downsides to the film’s potential life as a film that being subsumed 
to a larger cause comes with. The assumed downside is that grassroots energy is going 
somewhere other than to the film’s success itself. In perhaps too ideal a world, a film 
would be worth supporting just as a film – or perhaps that is too cynical a world, in which 
films can’t stand up on their own artistic merits. Narrative films, especially, can endow 
audiences with real affection because they can come at a fictional world with more of 
their own projected meaning and significance. But especially in the documentary space, 
films have been a successful organizing tool for a very long time. Also, social issue films 
(of which there are more documentaries than fiction films) inherently have a sense of 
urgency and refer to topical things that lend themselves to a campaign-like structure: this is a problem and we need to mount an effort to solve it.

This campaign-like structure also lends itself to a real difference in fiscal support. Of the film projects successfully supported on Kickstarter, 80% are social issue documentaries; filmmakers benefit from the sense on the funder’s part that they are contributing to both a cause and a film.

Finally, another upside of films with external action campaigns is that they do achieve something inherently measurable. You can measure what impact a film had – for example, the BritDoc Impact Reports for the nominees of their PUMA BritDoc Awards. The producers of The Visitor know that their efforts trained 2500 immigration lawyers, who helped 10,000 detainees (read more here).

In a world where the perception of a film’s success is muddled by distributors who want nothing less than to tell you how a film really performed, these metrics mean something. They say: this film did something.

An article we studied compared two different films, one from each of these different 
categories, to illustrate this point: We Were Here, a documentary about HIV awareness, 
and a romantic comedy titled Henry’s Crime. Although both films apply similar 
grassroots methods by reaching out to core constituency groups to help promote the 
film, We Were Here had a much more successful distribution run. The issue of HIV 
awareness generated a sense of urgency that motivated supporters and advocacy groups 
to spread the message of the film. In contrast, even though Henry’s Crime tried similar 
grassroots tactics like reaching out to the fans of stars in the movie to help promote, there was less urgency surrounding the romantic comedy, and the film flopped (more here).

FILM AS SOCIAL ACTION

The sweet spot—the place where the aims of politics and film meet perfectly for a 
grassroots film campaign – is a film that achieves its external political action goals by
showing the film. The recent example is The Act of Killing, where the political act of the 
film was to show it in as many places as possible in Indonesia. Here the success of the 
film as a tool and as a film are one and the same. (Then there are some who dress up a 
film that just wants to succeed in the prestige circles or the marketplace as if it has higher ambitions. See: Harvey Weinstein framing Silver Lining Playbook as a catalyst for 
discussion about mental illness. See also: our eyes rolling).

What's key here is information sharing: if you know what your film means to your audience, you can use existing campaign models to do some of the strategy work for you. There are case studies out there - lots on Josh and Michael's blog here on the CRI site - that can help you get your film to the right audiences better, faster, stronger. 

Talk back! Share your film campaign story and we'll highlight it in an upcoming post here or on Facebook!

#TBT - Grassroots Distribution: Defining Grassroots

Last week, we revisited Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald's white paper on Grassroots Distribution to look at the challenges posed by "grassroots distribution." This week, we take one more step back to define what "grassroots" means, especially in the context of independent filmmaking. 

We got close to a definition by remembering Josh and Michael's claim that, "in order for that film to stay alive, it needs to be supported by constant work, strategy, effort, enthusiasm on the part of the filmmaker and the filmmaker's team," but that is just the beginning. 

For most people, and for Josh and Michael initially, grassroots has well, roots, in community organizing as well as social and political movements. In order to make more sense of an elusive term, Josh and Michael interviewed Jeremy Bird, 2012 Obama For America Field Director and student of Marshall Ganz. According to Jeremy, grassroots operations provide:

1. Access to data and information. A surprising first descriptor, but in the context of political campaigns, it makes sense. Before the Obama campaign of 2008, campaign workers did not have access to the information they do today, which makes the 2008 phenomenon as much about the technology that was suddenly available as it was about a sea change in enthusiasm about a candidate.
2. Real responsibility and goals at the local level. In other words, a palpable sense of accountability. Trusting that the larger goal would be met not by a few leaders at the very top of a hierarchy, but by each ground-level operation spread across the map doing its part to meet its own goal. And by endowing people present at that ground level with responsibility.
3. The ability to scale and make your campaign accessible. Going off of the last descriptor, this means that you can take the campaign anywhere. It is not tied to some antiquated or traditional geographic centers of power. It is nimble and can move, engaging people wherever it is. 
4. A fundamental belief that volunteers can change the outcome. All of this grassroots, community organizing bluster is just a phony brand that is not worth applying unless you actually do subscribe to the belief that a volunteer force—someone there not motivated by wages—can move the needle towards your goal. With self-distribution of films, volunteers may be all you have available, so it’s a definite they would make a difference.

What does this mean for independent filmmakers? It could be as re-simply stated as:

1. Access to data and information. Build a web presence: website, social media, available press. Apply Google analytics. Find out where your audience is and make sure you stay in touch with them. Find out how much it costs to do that, and be sure to use your resources efficiently. Knowing where your audiences are and where your money goes enables you, the filmmaker, to make advantageous partnerships with people who can and want to help you get your movie out there. 
   • Caveat: Data is hard to come by. Check out Colin Whitlow's writings about his Film Finance Index and quest for data transparency, and keep an eye out for a larger industry demand for better reporting to independent filmmakers. 
2. Real responsibility and goals at the local level. Assemble a team of people to support your film in myriad ways - on set, in the community, online, in the press. Trust those people to "spoke out" from your film's story to find access points and alignments across media channels and audience influencers. 
3. The ability to scale and make your (film) accessible. Bring your film to the people to help your career grow! Stewart Thorndike did this with LYLE - she released a feature for free to raise money and awareness for her next feature and it worked! Check out her interview with producer Alex Scharfman here and here. 2014 CRI Fellow Artel Great is also following this principle by bringing multicultural films to multicultural audiences via the Project Catalyst mobile app!
4. A fundamental belief that volunteers can change the outcome. Make your audience your advocates! Stewart did this by converting her free-to-watch LYLE audience to PUTNEY backers. The BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD team made the immediate community the first audience and the strongest advocates. FORT TILDEN's small, committed crew converted their pride in the film into broad buzz across personal networks, creating a loosely-connected but consistently passionate conversation around the film. As Josh and Michael write, "The extent to which a grassroots entity is successful as such depends not on the fulfillment of these basic characteristics but rather on how each entity or person involved is respected, empowered, included, and, in turn, takes ownership of their part in expanding the movement."

Remember: "The structure of a grassroots entity takes the form of the Snowflake Model, with each module of organized activities both an extension from another and its own center of many others." Don't be afraid of branching out beyond your film and its narrative. A film can be many things to many people. 

ChemStuff

Cargo Collective

alk back! Have you applied these principles to your own work? What do you do to motivate the communities (paid/unpaid, professional/bystander, etc.) around your film?

#TBT - Grassroots Distribution: The Challenge of Indie Film Distribution

Over the next two months, we'll be re-releasing Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald's white paper on Grassroots Distribution in targeted installments. This #tbt, we revisit some fundamental thoughts and challenges posed by independent film distribution and explored by Josh & Michael. 

Some thoughts to start with:

• "If film lives online and online content is shared, then these days anyone who sends such content via email, a social network, or a blog is, in a way, a film distributor. But how do you mediate that process to build enthusiasm about a film in a smart, strategic, grassroots way?"
• "...distribution is not the finish line of an independent film's process, but rather just the third act... or even the beginning of a film's life."
• "And, in order for that film to stay alive, it needs to be supported by constant work, strategy, effort, enthusiasm on the part of the filmmaker and the filmmaker's team."

CRI Mentor James Belfer noted, in a conversation with the CRI, the paramount importance of finding and cultivating an audience in the current independent film distribution climate, which requires that filmmakers know their audiences not only to get a film seen to but to get subsequent films financed. It's not unlike a market-research requirement that a venture capitalist fund might deliver to an entrepreneur, a comparison James drew on his blog last year:

A true EP should be viewed just as the startup world views VCs. We need to be an integral part of the indie film venture. We need to be the ones looking out for the financial success of the film. We need to be the ones capable of assessing the overall value of the film and strategizing its monetization.

Knowing your audience helps you to determine your best strategy and the best use of your (presumably) limited resources.

Similarly, MBA/MFA and 2012 CRI alumnus Ryan Heller and BAD TURN WORSE director Zeke Hawkins detailed, in a Grad Film Chair's Workshop co-hosted by the CRI, the necessity of a film's advocacy network and support system. Ryan noted how important it is for filmmakers to think of their relationships with distributors as partnerships, wherein filmmakers leverage the access and capabilities of the distributor while constantly advocating for the project, and actively working towards its positioning in the marketplace. Zeke shared his epiphany that a film's marketing comes in non-traditional forms, such as in the enthusiastic support of casting directors who present a film to the talent industry in a way that can elevate its credibility and contribute to its top-of-mind positioning. Informed and passionate casting directors, talent, local crew, invested vendors, etc. can all help independent filmmakers in their distribution efforts. 

Finding, engaging, and maintaining an audience is a central problem of independent film distribution and hard work, but Josh and Michael see an opportunity in the vastness of the independent film audience "market:"

Film... is inherently a thing that many people can endow with many different meanings, that a huge cross-section of people can appreciate from a multitude of angles and for a plethora of various reasons.

Just like then-candidate Barack Obama, they note, audiences connect with films in myriad, sometimes even conflicting ways. Find out what your film means to people, and bring it to the people who care. How? Check in next week for more insights and tips on Grassroots Distribution, or read ahead in the

Talk back! Tell us what you wish you knew in your first meeting with a distributor. 

CRI Mentors: Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte

We're thrilled to announce that Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte, Academy Award® and Emmy Award® nominated, Golden Globe® winning Producer, has joined the Cinema Research Institute as a mentor to its Fellows. Welcome, Jeffrey! 

Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte is an Academy Award® and Emmy Award® nominated, Golden Globe® winning Producer working under the banner of Antidote Films, the company he founded in 2000. He has also directed two documentaries.

Kusama-Hinte's latest production was John Turturro's FADING GIGOLO, starring Mr. Turturro and Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara, Live Schrieber, and Vanessa Paradis. Prior to this, he most recently produced Lisa Cholodenko's THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, and Mark Ruffalo. The film received four Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture, and four Golden Globe® nominations, winning two Golden Globes® for Best Actress (Annette Bening) and Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy).

Kusama-Hinte directed and produced the documentaries CHARLOTTE: A WOODEN BOAT STORY and SOUL POWER which screened at the Toronto and Berlin International Film Festivals, and won the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival Audience Award.

Kusama-Hinte also produced the documentary THE DUNGEON MASTERS, directed by Keven McAlester, which premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, and Marina Zenovich’s ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED, which received five Primetime Emmy® Awards nominations, winning two Emmys® for Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming. Kusama-Hinte’s other productions include the critically acclaimed eco-horror thriller THE LAST WINTER directed by Larry Fessenden, the Jon Reiss-directed graffiti documentary BOMB IT, Julian Goldberger’s THE HAWK IS DYING, Gregg Araki’s MYSTERIOUS SKIN, Catherine Hardwicke’s THIRTEEN, Lisa Cholodenko’s LAUREL CANYON and HIGH ART, and Larry Fessenden’s WENDIGO.

Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte resides in Brooklyn New York, with his spouse and two children.  When he is not making films he can usually be found making furniture in his woodworking shop (aka Brooklyn Verkstad); he also serves on the Boards of the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) and The Nation Institute. 

#TBT CRI-Style: Josh Penn & Michael Gottwald on Grassroots Distribution

Welcome to Throwback Thursday at the Cinema Research Institute!

Over the next few months, we will be posting throwbacks to some of the highlights from the CRI Blog and Research, in addition to the fresh content being published by our current Fellows. Our #TBT series begins with a look at 2013 CRI Fellows Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald's white paper on Grassroots Distribution. 

The paper, available in full in the Projects section, is a thoughtful and thorough consideration of the ways in which independent filmmakers can apply grassroots organizing principles to their film distribution campaigns to establish strategy, build enthusiastic audiences, and maintain momentum for their film's success. The recommendations noted in Josh and Michael's white paper are informed by their experiences as Obama for America campaign staffers, producers of the Academy-Award nominated film BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, and as CRI researchers who had the opportunity and access to interview filmmakers who have applied grassroots organizing principles to their own film campaigns. The paper is a must-read for filmmakers who are building an audience for their next project, thinking about marketing and distribution strategies, and who would like a basic roadmap for getting their film to the public beyond a festival run. 

For those of you on-the-go, we'll summarize the key points in blog posts published every Thursday for the next two months. Stay tuned, talk back, and share with friends and fellow filmmakers!

To kick things off this week, we thought we'd introduce (or re-introduce) you to Josh and Michael via this conversation hosted by the CRI and illy Cafe. Enjoy!