Distribution Update: How I Get Stuff Out There

Another filmmaker recently asked me where he should post his short films. What’s the best way to get them to an audience, perhaps make some money?

Vimeo Pro used to be an okay option, but Vimeo has pivoted to being B2B OTT company. (Marketing to businesses, encouraging them to start their own over-the-top streaming services for instructional videos, for example.) Under the Vimeo Pro price tier (currently $240 a year), you’re permitted to sell content. Several years ago it was at $300 annually, so it’s nice to see it has come down. Still, it only makes sense to pay for if you’re raking in sales or if you like enough of the other Vimeo services to make it worthwhile for your video business. I use Vimeo Plus for sharing works with my clients, and have never done Pro to manage sales.

I got in with VHX before Vimeo bought them, so I have a short listed there, The Other Gods. The listing is free for me (I got grandfathered in) and I can charge for rentals and downloads. The site has a nice backend and I get to make a pretty page for your film. I wish VHX was a more popular platform, but I make almost no sales there. Since Vimeo took over, VHX has been rebranded as Vimeo OTT. This is Vimeo’s service for creating streaming channels for businesses.

I also put The Other Gods on Amazon years ago. First under “free with Prime” where it made pennies per view, about $15 a year. Then Amazon cracked down on indie content. They closed the option for individual filmmakers to list on “free with Prime”, forcing the films to be purchase or rent only. This actually worked in my favor. Now I might get less views, but make much more annually on the same film.

The Amazon backend is a little clunky. Sometimes you submit something and find out weeks later there was a problem with QC and you need to resubmit with changes. For a time, they weren’t accepting documentaries, but I think they’ve opened that up again. Also, they require captioning for all submissions, which I think is a good thing. First, it acts as a barrier to keep out junk. Secondly, I think if you believe in your product, you should WANT it accessible for more audiences.

One tricky thing about Amazon is I wanted to list a “bare bones” version of the film, then a special edition with extras as a separate listing. They reviewed each and saw them as “duplicate content.” So now I only have the special edition. This tends to annoy some viewers who are surprised to find that The Other Gods is a 6 minute film with extras, not a 32 minute film in total. But I try to explain as best I can in the description. It’s frustrating that this is a restriction, especially since there’s tons of duplicate listings for well-known films on Prime, with many of them “unavailable” — dead links because of lapsed distribution deals. Here I’m trying to offer two variations on a film, and it’s not allowed.

Small time filmmakers can’t get into the major streamers (iTunes, google/YouTube, Xbox/MSN, Vudu, Plex, Tubi, PlayStation) without an aggregator or distributor. I’ve worked with Gravitas (Hero of the Underworld) and Indie Rights (Clowns in the Woods, Greetings from Tromaville) for features, but I’m not sure if either would be interested in shorts.

Filmhub is an interesting option. This service has the potential to get your films out to dozens of streaming services, mostly ones you’ve never heard of. Filmhub is sort of an automatic aggregator, acting as a middleman between you and the streamers. I submitted the The Other Gods late last year but have yet to get any payments. I can see that several services picked up the film, but no payments have come through yet. The writer/director of 3.14, a film I edited, is trying the service as well. We’ll see how that goes.

I’ll wrap up by saying that if you have a film on a hard drive collecting dust, why not try to get it out there? Don’t have unreasonable expectations, and don’t spend more money than you think will return. That said, the act of pushing your film through the system will force you to think about deliverables and marketing in a way you haven’t before. This can help you be more prepared on future film projects.