This morning I got this email from Rob Millis from Dynamo Player with the news they are shutting down. I wrote about the shock waves Dynamo sent through the distribution world a few years ago, after which Distrify and Vimeo also joined the game by offering pay-to-view services. It’s a sad day as Dynamo were [...]

HMV and Blockbuster both had it coming, we should not be sad about their passing, we should study their failings and learn from their arrogant and blundering mistakes. I have be reading lots of messages with people reminiscing about the past, and how the internet had killed both companies – some blamed changes in customer [...]

I am sure you have seen the headline “Worst performance at US box office in 10 years” (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19541737) and maybe you saw this as further proof of disaster for our industry. I asked Stephen Follows to do an analysis of this article as some of it felt a little headline grabbing to me. Stephen is [...]

I asked my pal Amir who has worked as a film maker AND in UK distribution, to offer  some notes for film makers entering the market. I didn’t realise he would pen an epic and essential guide to film distribution… Blimey! Over to Amir… Film distribution is pretty much the final frontier that the independent [...]

For me, that was the stand out idea from this weekends Think Outside The Box Office seminar with Jon Reiss. Some people take to the internet, to social media, online connectivity and community, like it’s their first language, like they are literally hard wired into it. They are digital natives. To them, using this technology [...]

Iron Sky is the most famous crowdsourced / crowdfunded / crowdinvested feature film to date. One key member of the Iron Sky team recently shared his top seven tips to Crowdsourcing with distro guru Jon Reiss, which Jon just shared with us in his London TOTBO workshop. And here they are… 1. Communicate with the [...]

When I heard my friend Danny Lacey was figuring out how to make a DCP at home, I asked him to share what he learned! WOW! The DCP is the last technical hurdle to overcome when you want to get your movie into a professional commercial cinema – over to Danny…! Up until now the [...]

I asked Jon Reiss, who is running the Distribution Masterclass this weekend to give me some pointers about distribution in 2012 as many filmmakers had been asking me – the most salient point I think is his first, that Self Distribution is NOT about putting DVD’s in bags, it’s about collaboration with industry, be it [...]

Yesterday I started a thread on Facebook about some filmmakers and their often lack of enthusiasm for getting involved in distribution. Boy did I light the blue touch paper! Here was my main point… Why are some film makers resistant to getting involved in distribution? Why do so many avoid even thinking about this until [...]

The strategies for how you can monetize and exploit your film should be developed at the same time as writing a screenplay, not after. Listen, I get it, filmmaking is a long haul and most filmmakers think that distribution is the final hurdle to success… let’s make a great movie first! If you look at [...]

Film marketeer Sheri Candler presented a great session on Sunday at the Practical Producer Masterclass, on new-media and the way we can now connect with audiences. She showed this video as an example of how a filmmakers work caught the imagination of the web, but also how much prep went into it too. For filmmakers, [...]

Everyone can now make a film. We have the talent, the tools and the knowledge. Now the hard part is getting your film seen. Obscurity is the biggest problem facing filmmakers in 2012. Watch four free training seminars with American distribution guru Jon Reiss here… http://www.distributionmasterclass.com/watch/ He covers… Identifying your audience Creating your distribution and [...]