How-to Get Your Film Distributed
Author: Marc Hughes

First off, congrats to you on finishing your film. Hopefully
you followed the advice I gave to aspiring filmmakers and now
have a film that looks and sounds great, has a great three act
story and has all the rights cleared for distribution. So what
do you do now? There are a number of options - what you do
depends on you.

Option A: You are independently wealthy, have an incredible
amount of free time and are able to treat the search for a
distribution deal as a full time job. Good for you! Thanks to
the miracle that is the internet, it's become much easier for
Indie producers to find audiences and eventually buyers for
their products.

1. Register your film with IMDB. If you have a poster, pay to
put it up. If not, don't worry, you can use one of those
excellent production stills that you took during the shoot.

2. Complete the Withoutabox paperwork. This will allow you to
easily enter your film into almost any festival you want. Most
will require an entry fee, though once you get accepted to a
few, this will often be waived. Film festivals are wonderful for
several reasons:

A. Nothing beats putting your film in front of an audience.
That's the reason we make films - for others to watch them!

B. They are cost effective ways of generating some press and
getting your film reviewed. The major festivals are covered by
the big boys (Variety, New York Times, Hollywood Reporter); but
even minor fests should get coverage from the local press. This
should help get your film noticed by distribs and give you more
ammo when applying to future fests and/or pitching your film to
potential buyers.

C. They allow distribs to see your finished product on the big
screen without the cost of a theatrical release.

3. Create a website for your film. This doesn't have to be a
state of the art, java-scripted masterpiece. A Myspace page will
suffice just fine. The purpose of the site is to host your
trailer or clips, your press images, eventually your critical
acclaim, and to give people interested in your film an easy way
to contact you.

4. Get a copy of Variety's annual issue listing all U.S.
distribs and start contacting them. Most have a standard
procedure for accepting submissions and they'll be happy to tell
you what to do. After all, without films, the distribs are out
of business!

Option B: You are excited that you finished your film before
your landlord kicked you out for back rent and now are back in
the "real world" replenishing your bank account. Don't worry,
your film doesn't have to collect dust in the basement while you
refill the war chest. Many of the steps described above can be
undertaken on a part time basis. However, in order to get the
most out of your film, you're going to want to hire a sales
agent. Some charge an upfront fee to represent your film, but
many will take it on spec - taking only a percentage of the MG
when your film is sold. For that cost, you should get someone
working hard on getting your film in front of decision makers at
fests and distribution companies.


About The Author: Marc Hughes is the Acquisition Manager for
Lifesize Entertainment and a writer for
http://www.IndieFilmChat.com