Distributing Your Film |
Interview with Jason Brubaker

He is the founder of Filmmaking Stuff, a professional resource for independent filmmakers, and his articles on independent movie marketing, distribution and film production have been featured in The Independent and Movie Maker Magazine. He was a guest panelist at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

We asked Jason to share a few tips and advice to documentary filmmakers.

Q&A with Jason Brubaker:

What is your #1 advice to documentary filmmakers who are in the beginning stages of their first documentary project? (If they get nothing else, they should remember this)

Jason Brubaker:

My world view has changed a lot over the last few years. In the past, I might have recommended that you produce whatever story you're most passionate about. But affordable production technology coupled with non-discriminatory distribution has flooded the market with movies. So in order to make your movie profitable (assuming you would like to make money, making movies), my primary advice to documentary filmmakers is to know which target audience is going to buy your movie.

Question:

What do you see as the top mistake new filmmakers make regarding distribution?

Jason Brubaker:

Most filmmakers make their movie without ever considering who will actually buy it. They start out with the assumption that their movie is going to appeal to everybody on the planet. They enter the festivals and keep looking around for one of the big studios or TV networks to sweep in and buy the movie. While I understand the enthusiasm, there seems to be fewer and fewer traditional deals each year. As a result, many filmmakers find themselves ill-equipped to conduct their own marketing, sales and distribution.

This could have been prevented. From day one, filmmakers should know their target audience, have an idea how large their target audience is and they should have a plan for reaching their target audience. Remember, everybody is nobody and it is niches that will make you riches!

Question:

I've read on your site where you recommend Distribber as an "all-in-one" Video-On-Demand (VOD) distribution service. Why do you recommend them?

Jason Brubaker:

I recommend distribber because I believe in what they are doing. And to be totally transparent, over the past year our dealings have evolved into a business relationship with them. But this was by choice. Here is how it started: A few years back, I was looking for a way to get movies onto iTunes when I stumbled upon distribber. Unlike traditional distributors and all the crappy, creative accounting that goes with it, I saw that distribber only charges a one-time upfront fee to access all the popular VOD marketplaces, including iTunes. And the deals are non-exclusive, which is caught my attention.

So I cold-called the CEO Adam Chapnick on the phone and sort of blasted him with an overflowing amount of manic enthusiasm for his company. At first, I'm pretty sure he thought I was crazy. Actually, I am pretty sure he still thinks I am crazy. But we worked out a deal. And if you sign up for distribber's service, you will sometimes actually get a phone call from me, which throws people off. Ha!

As a side note, Adam Chapnick has a background in documentary distribution. So he is very documentary friendly. Tell him Jason Brubaker sent you.

Question:

Do you recommend distribber for ALL movies and documentaries or are there other VOD options that might be better for the smaller niche films?

Jason Brubaker:

Many traditional DVD distributors are trying to acquire content for VOD, touting the fact that they have been in the business for a gazillion years (as if that means anything in a changing distribution paradigm) and they can get your movie into iTunes. The trouble is, unless that distributor already has access to a robust, receptive and sourced target audience, there is not a lot of value in the offering. Most filmmakers do not care. They just want the validation of saying "so-and-so acquired my movie." While that might feel good, it is really bad business.

I recommend distribber for any filmmaker who wants access to the popular VOD marketplaces, especially iTunes and Hulu. Outside of this, utilizing Amazon's CreateSpace you can easily get your movie into the Amazon marketplace.

I want to be very clear. Services like Distribber and CreateSpace get your movie into the popular marketplaces. Past that, filmmakers will have to drive traffic to their specific points of sale. This means that filmmakers will need to optimize their websites to get seen by search engines. And the movie website should be modified to promote sales of your titles.

And in the event that you have a lot of web traffic, the dynamo player or the service offered by Distrify might be worth researching. Both allow you to embed players and stream content to any site. And at the time of this interview, Distrify also allows for affiliate promotion. So if someone likes your movie, they could promote it and get a piece of the action.

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Can filmmakers make any money posting their films on YouTube or is VOD better?

Jason Brubaker:

I am sure there are some filmmakers who have gotten into the YouTube VOD service, but I don't hear much about it. I usually emphasize Amazon and iTunes because both keep the customers credit card info on file. So with the ease of buying a book on kindle, both Amazon and iTunes make it very easy to buy a movie.

As a side note, I would take piracy over a Netflix distribution deal. Why? The deals for independent filmmakers are so horrible, I really have a hard time seeing the value. Plus, once your title is available in Netflix, many movie watchers have no desire to ever pay for your title somewhere else.

Obviously, if you don't care about money, Netflix is a great place to be. But otherwise, I would recommend allowing piracy to help you distribute your movie.

Question:

What do you mean by piracy?

Jason Brubaker:

I can't speak with any hard data on this. But I can tell you that our first feature got pirated. When I found out, I sent out threatening letters to the sites responsible for streaming. To my surprise, many complied and took down the footage. But something else changed too. Our physical DVD sales went down dramatically.

Once piracy resumed, our web traffic and sales went back up.

Question:

What do you see as the most exciting trend in filmmaking right now?

Jason Brubaker:

Crowdfunding! There are quite a few sites that cater to indie filmmakers. For example, IndieGoGo allows you to pitch your movie ideas to crowds of people online, who are enthusiastic about sponsoring movie projects. And before you jump over to IndieGoGo and sign up, here is my tip: Many filmmakers try to raise their entire budget via crowdfunding and fail. I do not recommend this.

Instead, consider limiting your crowdfunding campaign to a few thousand dollars. Why? Because outside of the money, the most important reason to utilize crowdfunding is to test your movie concept and source your initial target audience. If your crowdfunding campaign is successful, you have proven that your movie idea might have merit.

Question:

Thanks Jason. That's excellent advice. I'd like to promote your book because it has tons more about this topic and it's really a must read for filmmakers not wanting to look stupid about distribution. I can't tell you how much I wish I 'd had this information when I was working on my first documentary. Thanks again Jason!

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The Independent Producer's Guide to Digital Self-Distribution
By Jason Brubaker

• Where to find money for your documentary
• Your Documentary Is Finished. Now What?
• Documentary Ideas
• The Best Places To Watch Documentaries Online (and Off)
• Top Mistakes of a First Time Documentary Filmmaker
• Independent Film Funding For Documentaries
• How To Find Documentary Film Grants
• How To Make A Documentary

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