How do I work with a distributor? | One Stop Business

welcome everyone today's session of one-stop business workshop is on how to work with the distributor featuring Gwen Jones McAuley the director of global distribution at CBC Raja Canada and Hussein mr she president of mongrel media I'm Lisa Clarkson I lead the business and rights team at CBC and I'll be your moderator today these one-stop sessions are taking place on indigenous nations lands land acknowledgments are specific to each region so we ask each of you to visit the native land digital website to identify the First Nations territories on which you're located Gwen has 20 years experience working in distribution for CBC Reggio Canada blue an international and BBC studios in Canada who's saying has been involved with feature film for over 30 years he founded mongrel media which is Canada's leading arthouse feature film distribution company and has produced many feature films including Deepa Mehta's most recent film funny boy and internationally acclaimed Mahdi so we'll start with a short presentation from Gwen Gwen what does a distributor do and why might I want to work with one thanks so much Lisa and I'm gonna give you a very top level overview on what it is a distributor does we're gonna go into four different categories one being what is the distributor number two is what should I look for in a distributor number three being how our distribution deals structured and then lastly should I use a distributor so to start things off what is a distributor and this is at a very basic level a distributor is a company that assists producers an IP owner securing licence opportunities in Canada and for television this typically occurs after a commissioning broadcaster is secured so do tribute er can get involved in many stages throughout the production cycle during development to help secure additional funding during production to help find pre-sales with broadcasters globally and of course after the production is completed in order to sell the finish tape around the world a distributor can be independent or part of a larger company for example CBC and blue ants have broadcaster affiliated distribution divisions whereas v1 and Thunderbird are most known for production arms but also have vertically integrated distribution arms as well and distributors may be specialists or they may have a broader focus some focus on selling to certain territories or they may focus on specific genres like kids or film my team in Toronto for example focuses on distributing unscripted distribution in all territories around the world but as you'll find everybody has a slightly different focus next slide what should I look for in a distributor so first and foremost you want sales experience and expertise who are the sales representatives at the companies what are their background does the company have a track record of success and it's easy enough to research press releases Google searches and talk to the people you know and network can go a long way in getting information on working with their certain people and distribution you'll want to look for someone with administrative capabilities these can be a major benefit to you things such as legal business affairs technical expertise marketing resources and financial teams that you might not have access to also attendance in international markets is something that could be really beneficial for you if you're not able to budget in the trip which can be quite costly also if they're cataloged a good fit for your project does the distributor have other productions of a similar size and nature similar genres whether it be unscripted scripted film kids etc if the CM is it's a CMS equity participant you have to ensure your worship working with an eligible Canadian distributor so we've got a link to the CMS recruitment guidelines on the last slide which will make available to you at the end of this okay next slide so how our distribution deals structured now keep in mind this is very high-level there are obviously a lot of intricacies but at the very basic level the key elements are any upfront funding sometimes distributors can pay a distribution advance you can't assume that they will pay that but in some cases they can which can help in your funding initially distribution fees are then negotiated distributors take a commission for brokering the sales and these amounts Dewberry expenses can be deducted and there are two types of expenses there are capped expenses which include things like publicity marketing materials stubs and then there are uncapped expenses which includes things such as taxes insurance Gildan Union royalties and any distributor can walk you through all of these things if you are unfamiliar what rights and restrictions are taken so for example distributors will either seek certain territories they'll want to term lengths ml want a certain set of rights in order to properly sell your content globally if you want any carve out for example if you've done a pre-sale already or you have really good contacts in a certain part of the world you need to make sure that those restrictions are clear upfront so you exclude those from the distribution deal lastly international materials have to be provided this would include text elements split audio enhanced script a title search all of the things that make it possible to sell your content particularly if it's English into a non english-speaking market and when in doubt review those cmf for treatment sidelines and again the link is on the last slide it outlines what distributors are allowed to ask for and commissions in distribution fee news and all the expenses are outlined there so it can be a really great resource to you next slide and should I use a distributor this is all based on you but some of the things you might want to keep in mind when you're working with a distributor distributors do take a percentage of revenues and they do deduct some expenses your content will be tied up for a certain period of time and there may be upfront cost in associated with formatting your materials and conduction conducting title searches and so on but remember what you do gain is working with people who have experience they have established relationships there is the potential for that upfront financing they have reached they're attending markets they have large libraries that they can package your content with which gives it a better chance so much logo landscape and your your film can be associated with a larger brand golden such as mongrel and CDC meat when we're taking that out to the market and administration like I talked about earlier that would normally come out of your pocket does not legal finance marketing technical etc etc if you don't have to worry about those additional expenses and lastly but name your way least is market intelligence any distributor will give you a really good look of where your shows been pitched who is screening it and also they'll give you feedback about what's going on in the market so you can then incorporate some of those things into a next project which can then just enhance your commercial potential so that's a there's a very high-level back to you Lisa thanks Glen I'm going to bring into the conversation glands experience is largely focused on television distribution whereas hussein's is focused on feature films Hussien can you speak to whether or not there are any what the similarities and differences are for feature films from what one went through sure I think that a significant difference is the number of television productions visa vie film and film is much more limited and particular the kind of films that we do and also I assume that most people who are listening to this we are primarily focus on independent films arthouse films and the number of films that get made in Canada or around the world is significantly less than the amount of television it gets produced so the film world is somewhat different than the television world in that a distribution in in in film is domestic distribution when we're talking about distribution it's it's coming like mongrel which would buy rights to films and then put them into cinemas alright for all all media so we would put some them and and cinemas then sell them to VOD then to television or as for services like Netflix or Amazon or whatever so that's one difference then and then what we have is another another another agency in between called international sales agents who who generally buy rights to films for the world and then sell them to different territories to different distributors in each territory so that would be one significant difference I think in terms of do you need a distributor in Canada I mean for people who are making their first films generally you don't need a distributor at the stage when you're making the film because as long as it is under a certain budget threshold and I right now I for any and if you're seeking telefilm Canada's investment which is a significant piece of any financing of any film under two and a half million dollar budget you don't need a distributor to trigger your telephone application if you're over two and a half million dollars then you do require a distributor attachment with a commitment to a minimum guarantee which is an advance and a marketing plan and all that stuff to go into a telephone for their equity financing that just gives rise to another question I think he's saying so let's say I'm an emerging creative producer at what stage should I involve or approach a feature film distributor and then I'm going to ask one to answer the same question for a television distributor okay so an emerging filmmaker if you are a director writer I would say the first thing you need to do is get a producer attached to your project ideally a producer with some lot of experience now if you're a first-time producer I would assume that you have done short films commercials or or television episodes or something like that because to start with making you know a feature film as your first project is a bit of a long shot there are people who have done it but it's not something that generally goes very well because you do a feature film is a bigger commitment and there's a lot of financing involved and you do want to have some crack record before anybody will take you seriously so that's number one now when do you approach your distributor so is that the question right when you just approach the distributor I would say again if it's a low-budget film I would not approach the distributor I would go and make the film and one way to get into the world is we do have like you know there is a there's a whole layer of film festivals that that would be the first stop I would make and I would try to get into Toronto Festival or if you are you know if you film turns out to be exceptional then you go for canceled festival or Sundance or whatever it is in all the major festivals that they have a whole application process you apply you can apply with your film if you get selected in any of these festivals then you know your chances of getting a distribution tremendously so a film that premiered at Sundance or can or or Toronto will I mean a sort of the list as soon as the announcement comes out you will get a ton of calls from sales agents from distributors trying to see if they could see the film before and at that point you do need to have a strategy you do need to get a self agent or somebody to guide you through the festivals because that's where a lot of films get sold to distributors both in Canada and around the world so that would be this that would be my strategy and I'd say on the television side really as early as possible after you get a broadcast or a some sort of greenlight and I think seeing that getting a distributor on board right as soon as you've got that green light is can be valuable and save you a lot of money down the road distributors can provide you know they can provide some valuable insight while you're still in production that can help you make that show more globally appealing without taking away the Canadian mist of sometimes there are subtle things that you can change that actually make your program more accessible to a global audience and also creating that international version while you're still in production I can't stress how important that is we've worked with so many creators after the fact where it is the costs are sometimes double to go back and open all that up and create those split tracks except wrap or make it longer because international version an hour globally is about 52 minutes whereas domestically it hovers around 44 to 46 so it's that's a dramatic difference so if you can do that all at the very early stages I mean that's one benefit to having a distributor onboard earlier I should remind the audience that you can send me any questions that you have for one who's saying my email address is on the evite receives the next question that I have is about what's your advice on rights on the TV side for GLAAD on the future film side for Hussein in terms of territory do you typically expect that the Canadian rights are sold separately from the world rights or are they generally sold together so maybe I'll start with who's saying you sort of addressed a little bit about how long will works in the international landscape but if you could just talk about what your advice is Canadians versus international okay so it depends on what kind of what kind of trajectory you expect for your film if you are if the film is something that you believe is required you know is appropriate for a theatrical release then you do want to retain as many rights as possible so that you can sell them individually to different countries in each country and and you have clear rights and then that will require all rights now many a times a certain higher budget level when you have stars and and and and well-known director you know they when you when you're financing the film you do have to pre-sell yourself so you end up giving up certain rights and one of one of the first rights that journey go away our airline rights for instance I mean there are airline companies or their companies that sell to Airlines they would come in with in advance and get worldwide airline right so there are ways in which you know when you're financing at a better larger budget level you do need to start sort of selling you know certain specific rights but if it's a low-budget film you don't want you want to retain as many rights as possible because if your film turns out to be the Cinderella of that year and becomes the because celeb then then you you know having all the rights will allow you to to negotiate the rights and distribution deals in different territories now in the end in the current situation with with services like Netflix or Amazon or Hulu I mean Netflix if you go to Netflix they will want to buy worldwide rights when they're by worldwide rights that means that they will be the first window you will you will then give up on any theatrical or VOD potential off that so it justbe they'll buy the film they'll give you your budget and plus or whatever percentage that they give you and then they'll be the first window so so it depends on what what your expectations are of the kind of film that you've made and that will determine what kind of how you want to manage your rights yeah I don't know I was going to add that about Netflix as well so same in the in the TV world if Netflix comes in and becomes that first broadcaster they will take global rights and there's not a lot of opportunity there so perhaps working with the distributor isn't even necessary at that point however if you are you know through CBC I have a unique perspective working through CBC most of my content does come from the shows that are airing one CBC so those Canadian rights are already predetermined before it comes down the chain to me so then we work with the producers directly to discuss the rest of world sometimes physical production and for example if it's a CBC's NDF co-production some of those rights will already be taken globally we can work around that it's not ideal but we can work around these things but you know we really like to have as much access as we can and also I highly recommend only working with one distributor globally it gets very confusing if you start breaking up too many territories and start working with too many people in different territories you may think it's very cut and dry and very very simple because its territory driven but it does get very messy it's it's a very small war hold ultimately so I think it's best if you can just to stick with one distribution partner thanks for that we've had a question coming in about digital content specifically web series do distributors work with creators of web series can you can either of you speak to that yep I can because we do we we represent quite a few of our digital first properties they you know if it's a unique market and it's one that is growing every year and we have been fairly successful in finding partners for that content it wasn't almost so easy because broadcasters were saying it was too short and and digital global digital partners were didn't want to pay upfront fees so there was this real struggle but we're now really finding a place where we found certain outlets which have a really high appetite for short-form content and they pay money so so how you know does an emerging producer go about finding a distributor when you gave some tips in your presentation but what would my first gem be if both of you could take a crack at that I would ah the most important thing to do in this business as a whole is to network network network I it's right it's difficult right now during kovat but I think under normal circumstances join the associations you know go to the networking events if you can a lot of these events have special prices or pricing for emerging filmmakers get or bursaries get involved in those associations because the more you get out and build your network it really is a small world so you will find that you will very quickly amass quite a large network and that really is you know the most important thing to do in order to have trusted colleagues you know recommend it's it's no different than anything else but having somebody that you know and trust recommend something to you is always going to go a long way of course you can do online research as well you can you know you can Google Canadian distributors you can you can do a lot of that research yourself but I think talking to people who worked with these people it's the best recipe for sure right I would agree that in terms of networking and in the case of films I would say that you know our film festivals are a perfect place to to do that every festival electron tow or international festivals have all kinds of opportunities for emerging filmmakers to connect with each other and with other mentors and and and other industry professionals so there is that I think different a whole bunch of programs in a non kovat world and I assume that they will go back to it when the time comes Canadian some Center is a great place to pay attention to in terms of what kind of programming they offer but across the country there are all kinds of programs that are geared towards emerging filmmakers to connect with industry professionals I think that's important I would also say that I mean you know not everybody is great at social media and not everybody has a presence I have zero presence on social media but I'm not I'm not trying to be an emerging filmmaker at this point in my life but if you are I mean as we know a lot of people have built a massive following by by putting their their creative material out into the world or through social media and I mean if you have that if you have that skill set and you have the talent and you have the stories to tell I would I would use that I mean you know like the youtubes and instagrams and all those possible opportunities are way to get yourself you know noticed and and and but to get to get notice you will have to be you know extremely original and I think that or or or original either in terms of how you get your word out or the stories are you telling but that could help in terms of getting you you know over the noise because the reality is that there's so many people who are who want to tell their stories on a filmed media and so for people to stand out you will need to exhibit something that is special and one tiny add-on [Music] feedback from this we have created a Facebook group for a little light networking it will be in the follow up materials but it's called one-stop business workshop networking group so Hussein and Gwen aren't target audience here is emerging underrepresented creators you have any advice specifically for them my advice would be you know come up with stories that are close to you that are authentic and that are original now in a world where there's millions and millions of hours of material going out on YouTube and all kinds of other channels every day can you find originality and that is the challenge but every time you know just as there are seven billion people in the world yes everybody has their own story that is unique to themselves and I think that what you do want is come up with a story that is both very personal and and by being authentic there's a good chance that may become Universal because at the end of the day the human experience is at some level very Universal so I think that as long as you are able to come up with something that is authentic that is original that is personally located but has the possibility of being Universal then you have something to say otherwise there's a lot of I mean as you all know there's so much stuff out there in the world and and it is not easy to stand out so that's it's a challenge but but you know if you have the talent and you have the determination the world is a definitely an open place and they are looking we are always looking for original stories yeah I would agree and also to what I said earlier create an network really start to create your network it will be invaluable and there are people that I have in my network that I've had since the day I started in this business and we continue to you know consult with each other meet with each other and share ideas and share shared stories about about the business so that's been really important is creating that Network even if it's not a comma doesn't come as natural it's not not something you have to do the life of a rikako party but you know just reaching out having conversations having coffee with people when you can you know just really starting to create that Network it will go a long way here's an interesting question so coded nineteen's removes approximately six months of filming in Canada North America and has pushed delivery dates does this make distributors more open to projects or the same um from a film point of view what this has meant is at the sixth month well there'll be six months of no film going into cinemas so when the cinema is open there'll be a whole bunch of films that I've been waiting to go into the cinemas we don't know at this point what the cinema capacities will be where they'll be operating at 30% 50% or what what how much I know how much capacity they will have that's number one number two is well the audience's come back and you know there is a speculation of course that all their audiences will who tend to go to see art ourselves will likely stay away from cinema still there is a vaccine so that could be another six months or a year so my sense is there'll be a lot of a lot of films waiting to go out into the world so I don't know whether that necessarily improves the chances of more film getting made but as I said I mean you know if you have something that is original that is going to be that's sensational that's you know truck going to rock the world that they'll always be room for those films and I think conversely with television there really is a high demand for many many broadcasters globally right now if you have a show that you're sitting on that is already done by all means talk to distributor because I know there is a great need well there's this gap in production all of our ready-made content is moving out the door really really quickly there's a big big global appetite for it right now so if you're sitting on something already done I highly encourage you to reach out to tribute here and try to get that out there now this may be the last question but what's one question that you think that content creators should ask you what they rarely do I don't get asked enough for a full sales and marketing plan you know we provide that however it's not something that people ask and I really think they should distributors should tell you what they have planned when your film so that you know that there is a special path for your film otherwise a distributor can can take it and put it in the catalogue and that's it and you know you may get forgotten so I think it's really important to make sure you know what the plan is for your film before you before you sign up with somebody I would say that the question that people should ask themselves is who is the audience for their film now or their story I mean many times we get people say oh yeah you know all the twenty to thirty year olds or whatever it is that's not that's not a viable I think that one needs to know who you making themselves for and ideally you need to have that audience in your mind so that the distributor can whether the students role is basically connecting your film to the audience with intended audience Nintendo audience is not seven billion people out there so you have to know what the audience is and then determine whether that distributor can deliver the audience and and that would be your main question fantastic well I think that is our time for the audience we will try and answer the remainder of the questions on the follow-up talk which is in the link that you'll get circulated afterwards I want to thank Glenn and Hussein so much for sharing their expertise with us and with you next week is our last week of one-stop business workshop Monday session will address the question how can you clear content in this kovat addled virtual world so thank you for joining yes and we'll see you hopefully again next week Thank You Lee cool thank you

2021-02-26 12:27

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