Cinema Canada (Feb 1977)

biting into e big apple If your film is in the can and you’ve begun to worry about distribution, this article is not for you. The only way to insure good distribution — if indeed, one can ever insure such a thing — is before the shoot: by asking the right questions, and doing some careful planning. Construct your film with the audtence in mind. Or so says Phil Jackson after a stint of research and reflection. Phil Jackson lending support to Dave Lorriman by Philip Jackson At this time a year ago, New York City hosted a 16 mm film distribution conference aimed at the independent filmmaker. Being a partner in an embryonic fn production firm (Jackson-Lorriman Films) I attended that conference at a time when establishing a solid distribution base for our own future security was the primary problem on my mind. The topics included finding a distributor, understanding a contract, starting self-distribution, and promoting yourself and your films. Since then, I have had both successful and unpleasant experiences in seeking gainful non-theatrical distribution for our ‘‘educational”’ films as well as peddling our wares to Canadian television. In addition, we carried out a “‘trends” survey of 109 Canadian and American non-theatrical distributors, hoping to understand what “kind” of film (content and form) would elicit substantial commercial distribution. The following conclusions seem to hold true in all three instances. Defining a market The non-theatrical film market, primarily an educationalinstructional market, is relatively new and changing, which means that it is not fully developed and therefore difficult to predict. It demands that the producer and distributor create markets as well as simply tapping existing ones. Whatever the situation, responding to or creating a market entails making a film that fills a need, and is of a format useful to the potential buyer. Simply accommodating those two considerations in your film is as creatively demanding and important as any other aspect of filmmaking. It should be obvious that the marketing of a film should be considered before and not after the film is made, but we’re always doing it the other way around. Right? In identifying potential markets, consider the following points: Be aware of trends, but never take them too seriously. The important thing is to talk to people. Talk to those who will use your film(s): the educational buyers, librarians, A.V. personnel, government institutions, etc. Find out what films are booked often, or ignored. Where is there an unfilled demand? Screen existing films on the subject you want to deal with. Where do they fall flat? What are the users’ complaints? Understand the customers’ concerns. They don’t care about your costs, only the value of your film to them. Talk to distributors about their needs — not just one distributor, but several. Many educational distributors are involved in ‘‘seminar sessions”, in which the educators are educated on the use of films and visual aids here a distributor concentrates on adapting films to one or more curricula. If you show interest in discussing these things, a distributor will be more than prepared to give you advice on making a marketable film. Educational and entertainment films are no longer considered mutually exclusive. You may be surprised at the range of situations in which a specific film can be made useful. Generally distributors will want a film that has more than one marketable application. Non-theatrical shorts tend to depend almost exclusively on sales as opposed to rentals for income. (This may change somewhat as both Canada and the U.S. are adapting to cutbacks in educational spending.) When an educational film goes into distribution, it normally takes about two and a half years to peak in sales over a five to seven-year period. To sell 75 prints of a film in Canada and 500 in the U.S. over five years is considered fairly good. This also indicates the overbearing importance of the U.S. market. February 1977 / 27