Film Distribution

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You make a feature film and run up a lot of debt. So now you have to sell it!

Option 1 - Find a Distributor - For low budget films under $250K most Distributors will offer you a 7 year contract but will not offer an advance payment known as a Minimum Guarantee (MG). Additionally the contract will ensure the Distributor gets their expenses paid before the Filmmaker gets paid. While higher film budgets may receive an MG and ongoing royalties, for the majority of Filmmakers the MG is the only payment they will ever receive.

Option 2 - Self Distribute - To get your film onto platforms like Netflix & Hulu you will be forced to use an intermediary called an Aggregator. The Aggregator will own your film distribution rights, collect your revenue from Netflix and then pay you. Some of these Aggregators have already filled for bankruptcy and it can take years before you get paid or get your film rights back.

Option 3 - Sell on Amazon Prime - Amazon enabled filmmakers to upload their films directly onto Amazon Prime without going through an Aggregator, which was great. However, Prime has dropped its payments to $0.01 an hour so if your film was budgeted at $500,000 you would need an audience of 50,000,000 to repay your investors. Just to put that in perspective, that’s approximately 50% of all Amazon Prime members across the world.

The online film distribution model is financially broken.

Films on Phone

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Option 4 - Distribute via Apps - Now there is a new distribution model for Films and it's a FREE, open source, cell phone solution! Customers download an App which contains the film along with any other digital assets the filmmaker wants to sell. Filmmakers get 70% of each sale, which is paid immediately and they also get access to an audience of 5 Billion people.

FilmsOnPhone Flow Diagram

New Advantages

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This new distribution model enables Filmmakers to do the following;

• Reach an audience of more than 5 Billion mobile phone customers across the world
• Sell films with In-App-Purchase
• Get 70% of the proceeds paid directly into their bank account
• Have their films streamed from a secure Content Delivery Network (CDN)
• Get access to Apple and Google free mobile analytics
• Interact with their audience using App reviews and comments
• Send instant messages to their audience with mobile notifications
• Have their films watched on TVs, PCs & Game consoles via Chromecast, Miracast & AirPlay

Comparison of distribution methods to recoup a $50K and a $500K film

Method	Distibutor	Aggregator	Amazon	Mobile
Example Co	Any	Any	Prime	Apple Google
Maximum Audience	Small	200M	150M	5B
Revenue per customer	No MG $0	$0.008	$0.01	$0.70
Audience $50K film*	NA	6.25M	5M	714K**
Break-even $50K film*	No MG $0	6.25M x0.008 =$50K	5M x0.01 =$50K	714K/10 x0.70 =$50K
Break-even $500K film*	MG $100K	62M x0.008 =$500K	50M x0.01 =$500K	7.14M/10 x0.70 =$500K

* The number of audience required to ensure the film breaks even
** Assumes only 1 in 10 who watch the free film then purchase the alternative ending. Cost is $1:00 and the Filmmaker gets $0:70

Social Media

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Social Media is entwined within our Apps so you can use it to build up an audience

• Share App messages on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Messenger, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube or any other social media App installed on the audiences phone.
• Keep your audience engaged with new updates
• Tell your audience to watch the film when it's on theatrical release or when it's broadcast on TV
• Create live chats between your audience and the actors and use in-app-notifications to promote events.

A Working Example

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FilmOnPhone is an open source project sponsored by Shooting Film and UI UX Design. Shooting Film contributed the feature film Glia and UI UX Design have contributed the Open Source iOS and Android Apps. Here is how the feature film Glia used this new mobile distribution model;

• Shooting Film shot a 90 min feature film called Glia
• Shooting Film shot an Alternative Ending for Glia
• Shooting Film asked it's parent company UI UX Design Ltd to write an IOS and Android App
• UI UX Design Ltd negotiated with Apple and Google to permit this new type of App
• UI UX Design Ltd made the Glia App an open source project on Github
• Customers can watch the feature film Glia within the App free of charge (see link below)
• A Film Quiz was created in the App
• If a customer wins the Quiz, they can watch the Alternative Ending free
• If a customer fails the Quiz, they can purchase the Alternative Ending for $1.00 with an in-app-purchase
• The Glia App is now available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store

This is how Glia used mobile film distribution, there may be other models you wish to try.