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booked to play 600 theatres but had
unforeseen circumstances.Unpredictable Events will Happen
In an attempt to leverage his follow-
ing, Kaskade tweeted the night before
that there was a block party the night
of the premiere. So 15,000 people
showed up and flooded into the
streets of DTLA, stopping the traffic.
For that reason, the LAPD riot squad
came out shooting rubber bullets
and sandbags at people. “We held the
screening still, but LAPD contacted the
other theatre chains warning them
about the riot, causing us to lose 90
percent of those theatre showings.”
While some people may even
think an event like that could have
been capitalized on in today’s society,
that wasn’t the case. In the end, the
EDC film couldn’t be shown for four
months due to an exclusive rights deal
with NCM/Fathom, the theatrical dis-
tribution company. Maybe if a closer
online release date had been set, Ker-
slake and team could have capitalized
on the moment in that way.
Certainly, Kerslake says “When set-
ting the windows, make it as close as
possible. The theatrical run does notmake money; it’s a marketing run.
You capitalize on that second run, the
transactional release. If the film is out
of people’s conscience, then it does
not work — important to sequence it
that way.”
Our doc films, “The Proving
Grounds” and “El Pantera,” both
had transactional video on demand
releases and center around stories
based on mixed martial arts fighters.
Above all, we always make a concen-
trated effort to schedule the online
release around one of the primary
characters’ upcoming UFC fights. This
optimizes click-through rates for our
potential audience.
We found that viewers are more
likely to buy or rent the film when
they are excited to learn more about
their favorite fighter leading up to
their fight. Getting these sequencing
and release windows right can play a
crucial part in an indie doc’s success.
Optimizing viral opportunities
around release dates can lead to
larger revenue returns. This is why, in
order for a film to have a successful
release, the filmmaker and the distri-
bution company have to communi-
cate effectively.Subscription-based Licensing Deals
A licensing deal from Netflix, Hulu,
HBO, Showtime or Amazon often
comes from a strong film festival
showing. Alternatively, they are
conceived early on with an original
production deal where the company is
financing the film from the start.
The big subscription platforms like
Netflix are also constantly evolving. In
the past, they would only consider an
indie doc film if it had a strong theatri-
cal run, but now Netflix is focusing
on more original content produced
in-house. They also rely on aggreators,
or large scale distributors, to find new
content suitable for the platform.
Licensing deals for films picked
up by companies like Hulu can start
around $40-60k and vary dramatically
from there. If you are lucky enough
to get a licensing offer from Netflix,
a lower-end deal could start around
$100k and an exclusive licensing deal
offer could rise as high as $5 million,
which was the acquisition price for the
award-winning doc film “Icarus.”
“Icarus” was a buzzworthy film that
premiered at Sundance in 2017 and
focused on the ongoing Russian dop-
ing scandal. Keep in mind, however,a meeting with the Fox LatAm SVP
of acquisitions at the American Film
Market to discuss licensing options.
We did not finalize our deal with Fox
LatAm until seven months after the
initial first message on Instagram, but
it did prove that, even if you don’t
receive the exposure from a major
festival, you can still score a licensing
deal with a major broadcast company
like the Fox Network.
Timing and scope of the project are
important as well. Fox was launching
their online package, Fox Premium,
and used our film as a lead into UFC
and other combat sports based con-
tent in Latin America.The Right Place and Time
Another important factor to consider
for doc distribution rollout is timing
and sequencing windows. This refers
to when the film releases online after
it’s theatrical run or film festival pre-
miere. Timing is crucial.
You want the film to be available
for your audience when there is the
most buzz around it — if at all pos-
sible: “One thing that crippled us for
the EDC film — there ended up being
a riot at the LA premiere. We wereIT PROVED THAT, EVEN
IF YOU DON’T RECEIVE
EXPOSURE FROM A
MAJOR FESTIVAL, YOU
CAN STILL SCORE A
DEAL WITH A MAJOR
BROADCAST COM-
PANY LIKE THE FOX
NETWORK.
How do you distribute an independent documentary?
VETERAN FILMMAKERS SHARE THEIR SECRETSEl Pantera (2018)382 F06 Distribute Documentary.indd 36 1/21/19 10:07 AMVIDEOMAKER >>> MARCH 2019 37
Subscription-based Licensing Deals
A licensing deal from Netflix, Hulu,
HBO, Showtime or Amazon often
comes from a strong film festival
showing. Alternatively, they are
conceived early on with an original
production deal where the company is
financing the film from the start.
The big subscription platforms like
Netflix are also constantly evolving. In
the past, they would only consider an
indie doc film if it had a strong theatri-
cal run, but now Netflix is focusing
on more original content produced
in-house. They also rely on aggreators,
or large scale distributors, to find new
content suitable for the platform.
Licensing deals for films picked
up by companies like Hulu can start
around $40-60k and vary dramatically
from there. If you are lucky enough
to get a licensing offer from Netflix,
a lower-end deal could start around
$100k and an exclusive licensing deal
offer could rise as high as $5 million,
which was the acquisition price for the
award-winning doc film “Icarus.”
“Icarus” was a buzzworthy film that
premiered at Sundance in 2017 and
focused on the ongoing Russian dop-
ing scandal. Keep in mind, however,that this is one of the largest ever
deals for a documentary.
More common distribution paths
for indie docs include SVOD (stream-
ing video on demand) and TVOD
(transactional video on demand)
methods via an aggregator. An aggre-
gator can be any type of distribution
company that can get a film on digital
storefronts and online retailers like
e iTunes, Vimeo, Google Play, Vudu,
Playstation, Xbox and Amazon.
The Orchard and Filmbuff are two
aggregators that can get a film onto
an online platform like iTunes, but
there are also many others. Connect-OPTIMIZING VIRAL
OPPORTUNITIES CAN
LEAD TO LARGER
REVENUE RETURNS.
THIS IS WHY THE
FILMMAKER AND
THE DISTRIBUTION
COMPANY HAVE
TO COMMUNICATE
EFFECTIVELY.
Though many festivals passed on “El Pantera,”
we eventually found a sucessful distribution
path starting at the New York Latino Film
Festival.382 F06 Distribute Documentary.indd 37 1/21/19 10:08 AM