CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE: IMPACT EDITION

Summer is the season when many filmmakers rush to finish their films. Some have their eye on the fall festival circuit, others, of course, are thinking about Sundance. But many, especially first time and newer filmmakers arrive at their final cut with little to no certainty about what to do next.

Film is a collaborative craft. We need each other, and our combined talents, for a film to emerge and reach the public. Even the smallest documentary production is rarely successful without a well coordinated group of people committed to telling a story and bringing it to communities across the world. Writing, directing, producing, editing, animating… and then packaging, creating assets, submitting to festivals, garnering press, securing sales, and designing an impact strategy,  It’s all part of a continuum: a beautifully, complicated synergistic relationship for all of us who have made our career in film.

The state of distribution is rapidly changing. Docuseries and true crime are flooding the market and corporate streamers are less and less friendly to independent filmmakers. On the other hand, there has never been a better time to be creative and successful with your film. Distribution can be an amazing adventure, as exhilarating as the production phase. 

There are almost infinite choices to make and different paths to walk when your film is ready for distribution. If you want your film to have impact, the options grow even wider. Impact distribution tips and tricks are shared across online forums and webinars, at film festivals, industry markets, Club House rooms and even podcasts.

But let’s be real: each film and every path to impact and distribution is going to look different, no matter how many times it has been done. Your film is like no other film, and even though there are certain mechanical steps, once you scratch the surface every campaign is absolutely unique and requires time, talent, commitment and a lot of work. 

Care to play a game?

You are an independent filmmaker who just finished a documentary and would like to start the distribution process and make an impact.. You can choose different paths and each path will result in a different outcome for your film, and by extension your career. You have to play by the rules, but otherwise, you can choose your own adventure. Here are three key rules to follow in this quest:

(1) Impact cannot happen in a vacuum. Without considering and coordinating with the film’s sales and distribution you will build roadblocks for your film at every turn.

(2) You need to recoup at least some of the investment. People often associate impact with “free for all” access to the film at all times, which is a mistake, especially considering that funding for impact is almost nonexistent. 

(3) Keep in mind the big picture: most likely you’d like to start thinking about your next film. Balancing this with the launch and release of your current film is important.

To start from the beginning:

FILM FESTIVAL CIRCUIT

Let’s say you didn’t think about distribution while making your film, but now that it is finished you are submitting the project to film festivals. You choose 25+ of them and invest about $1.5K+, but get selected to three or four of them.  They are not very prestigious nor do they have a market or additional activities to attract industry and press. You spent all of your budget and know you have to move on, but what to do?

Or, you submitted to 25+ film festivals and invested $1.5K+. Your film was selected at an A-list and numerous others. You now have a collection of laurels, maybe even press mentions, and you have been approached by a few distributors. How to choose the right partner? What questions to ask? Should you run an awards campaign? What is best for the film and your interest? Ultimately a distributor adds your film to their catalog and you sign a 5+ years deal of sorts, but what does that mean?

NEXT MOVE

You decided not to sign a deal right away. You are convinced your film can make a difference and influence people’s thinking around certain social issues. Everyone says you need an impact campaign, but what is that? And how much is it going to cost? 

Funding for impact is very limited and hard to access, so you decide to do it yourself. With help from online resources and support from other filmmakers you devote the next year, or longer, engaging in impact activities, while still searching for a distribution partner. This works for some filmmakers, while others find it’s simply unsustainable.

Or, you partner with an impact producer or impact agency and make an investment to launch a campaign that ideally will bring your film to the audiences who really need to experience it and others. But you are still broke, and a long term plan for your film is still not clear.

YET ANOTHER MOVE

Your friends and family keep asking where they can watch the film, so you start looking for an aggregator, or a distributor that takes your streaming rights. This is a path of no return in our adventure. You need to choose your timing carefully to avoid putting the entire project at risk.

CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION

You want your film to reach people, and make an impact, but also to recoup its cost, generate revenue and ideally garner recognition. Is creative distribution for you?

This hybrid between impact producing and traditional sales approaches the entire distribution life of the film as one long road that branches out to accomplish different goals while preserving the ability to move to the next step and raising money along the way. Your partner in a creative distribution campaign must understand the industry, your story and your goals.  They need to know what it takes to work with you and your subjects on an independent theatrical or semi-theatrical tour, to engage meaningful partners, to cultivate relationships, to leverage each screening, to raise revenue, to tap the right players along the way and to know when to approach each phase so that the film can have a long, healthy life in front of audiences. 

In this scenario, you’ll find meaningful partnerships, engage audiences in intimate settings and larger events, each conversation connecting the film to relevant communities and building a network around the story. You will invest, but likely you’ll also see a return. It’s a group effort that approaches the distribution of the film much in the same way you approached production: with an intentional plan, funding and a group of people who have specific expertise to take your documentary to the next level.

THE END

We don’t pretend to have answers to every question. In fact we are barely scratching the surface on this blogpost. But perhaps this game helped you reflect on the multiple approaches that exist for your film and to realize that while there may be no right or wrong path, each path yields different outcomes and consequences. If you understand the landscape, make a commitment to the process and open yourself to collaboration, you’ll be better set up to reach your goals.

After years of leading successful campaigns, we can only say that it’s all worth it.

Photo: Yusuf Evli