Hello My Wonderful Filmmakers,
I’m putting on my gloves and up for a fight. I want you, indie filmmakers, to hold onto your rights. I want you to be the ones to profit from your films. Everything I hear and read advises the contrary. Give up your rights, you’ll make the system happy and if they really like you they may let you give up your rights next time, too! It’s like filmmakers are a bunch of neglected children vying for the attention of abusive, uninterested parents who will never show up for them. Stop it. Stop it now! Grow up. Take responsibility for your work and make money. You deserve it. Your film deserves it. Audiences deserve it!
It is essential you understand that the ‘your film has no monetary value’ mentality is a load of crap built to work on behalf of ‘the system’, not you. You need to stop buying into the rhetoric even if it is all you ever hear. It is simply not true. Nor does it need to be your story. If you give your no-to-low budget film to a middleman then that company thinks your work is good enough to potentially make some serious cash because they have learned from past experience that indie films can have some of the highest profit margin of any type of film or because they are building a film library and want all the films they can grab... often at the expense of the independent filmmaker.
Not all middlemen are equal. Paramount or Warner Bros fall into a different category then an online distributor who wants your rights - even if the rights are ‘non-exclusive’. It is important to know whether or not the entity you are working with is acquiring your rights or if you are maintaining full control and ownership over them. If the entity is acquiring the rights, for how logn and to what degree? Many filmmakers have mistakenly given up lifetime non-exclusive rights of their films to online entities. This is a fool’s error. Please don’t cut off our nose despite your face. If you give away partial rights forever, this can potentially hurt you forever. Most often, in an online environment no money is given to the filmmaker for this exchange.
If your film is potentially profitable then you can make money off it. So do it! No one without exception has discovered the path to making money for filmmakers through online distribution, not even the studios. Therefore, the potential for financial long term gain is very real and very much there and you should be the one to profit... and can be. So don’t be led astray by other people’s greed or self-interested business savvy.
Types of Filmmakers - What Kind Are You?
There are different types of filmmakers. Below are a few basic and distinctly different types. Each is and should be treated differently but with equal respect.
1. Big Budget Studio
2. The Mogul
3. Director for Hire
4. The Indie Filmmaker
This article is for the Indie Filmmaker in regards to their work. It is essential that all categories are acknowledged and that a filmmaker has a genuine understanding of which category they fit into. Do you work for a studio? Are you a mogul? Are you a gun for hire? Or, are you an independent filmmaker?
Oftentimes independent filmmaker want to fall into one of the top three categories thereby dismissing the reality of where they are and belong and how their position can benefit them. Often indie filmmakers believe that by way of surrendering their indie film they will somehow magically fall into one of the other categories, when the reality is that they will have simply given their film to another so that distributing entity, instead of the independent filmmaker, can profit from the film.
Brown-nosing makes you a sucker and puts you at the mercy of another. It’s never an advantageous or desirable position from which to work. How is it that so many independent filmmakers wimp out at the end after working so hard, fearlessly and diligently to create the work in the first place. Most distribution deals for independent filmmakers offer financial rewards that are slim-to-nill. Is that really what you want? Because if that is all you agree to then that is all you will get! Be responsible to yourself and to your film. Change the conversation into one that benefits both you and your work.
The self-dismissal of the importance of an independent film or the independent filmmaker is easy to understand. Everyone says that ‘there is no money in indie filmmaking’ and that what you really want is to make studio films or to get paid upfront for your work. That being said, Paranormal Activity (2007) is the most profitable film ever made. Paramount bought it. Paramount made the profits. In today’s world, production costs can be very low and profits can be very high. Online distribution isn’t settled. Keep your rights. Allow yourself to gain the financial benefits in this new territory. It’s your right because it’s your work!
Just the other day at the ‘No Fear for the Future of Indie Film’ conference one of the organizers told me that independent filmmakers want to make studio films and that is why they are willing to give their films away for free because that is how it has always been and that independent filmmakers ‘want to be part of the system’. I assured her that there is no ‘how its always been’ since we’re in new territory and no one has found a way to profit from online distribution for indie films, yet. Besides, who wants to be part of a system that isn’t profitable for you or doesn’t support you? Get real!
What independent filmmakers have always wanted is to profit from their films. They have never wanted to be broke with a second job. They’ve wanted to be rich beyond their wildest dreams from their own creations. Ask Tarantino.
Online distribution potentially allows independent filmmakers to profit from their films like never before. They no longer need to be a slave to the system. They can now begin to make real money. That is... if they don’t give their rights away. If they keep their rights and make the money then they can continue to make the films they want to make without surrendering their dreams, livelihood and profits to a studio or other distribution avenue. If they give away the rights to their film the entity that picked up the rights will be the one to profit.
Someone will profit from distributing independent films online. Let it be the filmmakers. Let it you! This is ultimately a choice that each and every filmmaker who owns the rights to their film will make for themselves. Filmmakers do not need to give up the rights to their work. They can use it as leverage for future profits which can then directly support their immediate livelihood as well as future projects.
Independent filmmakers are in new territory. They are being told to sell their films (often for absolutely nothing). As Douchbag’s director put it ‘I was hoping to sell it to IFC for 20 bucks’. Although he said it with a laugh, he was able to laugh because he sold it to a studio, not IFC. Those who have sold their work to IFC haven’t made much off their sweat, dreams and achievements. On the other hand, IFC is thriving. Do you want to thrive or do you want the corporate heads at IFC to thrive. Truly it is your choice. If it is your work then it is your choice!
It is clear that those who own the work are profiting off the films or at least have the potential to profit from the work in the future. It is also clear that the person without the rights or ownership does not have the right to profit from the film. So the nagging question is ‘Why would an independent filmmaker sell their film if there is nothing in it for them and someone else is flourishing off their work or will potentially gain from it later?” Much of this answer rests in one simple word ‘Fear’. Filmmakers are people. People often let fear rule the day. Filmmakers are told [by (1) the industry and (2) well-meaning types who might be guided by fear or not have a clear understanding of the business end of film] that an independent filmmaker’s only hope is to sell their work, hope it makes a studio money, try to make another film that gets picked up and repeat.
Filmmakers, you are not morons so I expect you to stop acting like brainless twits ... IMMEDIATELY.
At the ‘No Fear’ conference held at the Tribeca Film Festival on this past April 22, Harvey Weinstein said that it was his intention from the beginning to build a large library and to sell it for a profit. He said he got a lot of ridicule from people (like Peter Bart of Variety - who now is kinder toward the man) who could not see or understand Weinstein’s vision.
If Weinstein can do it, so can you. Jim Jarmusch does it. For the most part he has kept the rights to his films and profited from them which has not only allowed him to make more films but has also allowed him to support himself. Did you hear that? SUPPORT HIMSELF! Do you support yourself? If not, maybe you should take heed from someone who does. Harvey Weinstein supports himself from the profits of the films he has produced and owns. He sold his library for $660 million dollars. Are you listening to him or someone who hasn’t made any money from their work because they keep giving their films away for free or for pennies on the dollar? Over in TV world, Oprah has done just fine for herself... but she hasn’t given her golden goose away. How about you? What have you done with your golden goose? Your film lays the golden eggs. If you no longer have the film then the golden eggs belong to someone else and that person will profit from the goose, not you. Perhaps you will make more in the long run if you keep the goose and allow it to lay the golden eggs for you!
Filmmaking is a Profession, Not a Hobby
Filmmaking is a profession. A career. A very important job. If you say otherwise, slap yourself into correct thinking. If other filmmakers you know berate the role of a filmmaker, set them straight or move away from them. Filmmaking brings in billions of dollars every year. This is your industry. Keep it. Own it. Be proud of it! Profit from it! Do not belittle it. Embrace it. Know that profits exist. Know you have a right to those profits. Don’t be bullied out of your money by ignorance, rhetoric, intimidation, misinformation or greed - by those that aren’t foolish and knows the true value and worth of your work!
A couple years ago, filmmaker, Ted Hope, wrote an article which encouraged filmmakers to put their films online for free. The article was sent around and Hope’s words were touted as wise and supported throughout the system and all too often heeded by admiring filmmakers newer to the business.
At the time, Ted suggested that exposure was what was really important and not to worry because the money would work itself out. This suggestion seemed rather fool-hearted. You can’t just base your future on a whim and a prayer hoping that someone else will set things right for you. There are no knights in white armor protecting your golden goose. If you don’t get on that horse and fight for your own financial survival then someone else who preys on your ignorance will be happy to profit from your foolery.
Today, I read an article by Ted which, in effect, stated that as a filmmaker you need a second job, that filmmaking won’t support you, and that he hated reading scripts because he didn’t want to fall in love with anything since he knew he’d never make a buck. Basically, the man seems broken and completely discouraged. He claims to have made over 65 films. That’s one heck of a library. What happened? Where’s the profit? He is respected within our community. It’s like he lost the ball with no hope of ever finding it again. Might I suggest you stop following him. I wish him well. I do not wish him the ability to help you dig the same hole for yourselves that he has dug for himself, both professionally and personally, from the money he has chosen not to make from his craft.
Ted wrote the articles for IndieWire. IndieWire is owned by SnagFilms. SnagFilms puts your documentaries online for free (and those of Ted Hope, I would assume, based on his support for the failed system). FOR FREE! At the TFF ‘No Fear’ conference Rick Allen, CEO of SnagFilms, said that filmmakers received 50% of all gross profits from all revenues including ad revenues, etc. That means 50 cents on each dollar off the top, not after SnagFilms’ expenses and overhead have been paid. If that’s the case why is Ted so damned broke?!?
Ted’s articles appear on SnagFilms’ IndieWire. Do you see a correlation? SnagFilm bought IndieWire to promote the business of SnagFilm according to Rick Allen. This makes IndieWire a site of propaganda with a specific agenda rather than an unbiased news source. Basically, it makes IndieWire the equivalent of a savvy product placement.
By the way, I’ve never heard of any filmmakers that have made any money from SnagFilms. Have you? The site has been up for at least a couple years. If you have made money from the site or know of someone who has, please speak up in the comments box below. We want a true and honest assessment of how putting your film up for free has financially benefited you, the filmmaker. From Ted’s article, it sounds like the death of a filmmaker, their vision, their dream and their vitality. His article was meant to help realistically guide filmmakers, one would assume, but ‘getting a second job to support your career as a filmmaker because money will never come your way’ isn’t very encouraging... and simply is not an acceptable business model for independent filmmakers. Period!
I’m putting on my gloves and up for a fight. I want you, indie filmmakers, to hold onto your rights. I want you to be the ones to profit from your films. Everything I hear and read advises the contrary. Give up your rights, you’ll make the system happy and if they really like you they may let you give up your rights next time, too! It’s like filmmakers are a bunch of neglected children vying for the attention of abusive, uninterested parents who will never show up for them. Stop it. Stop it now! Grow up. Take responsibility for your work and make money. You deserve it. Your film deserves it. Audiences deserve it!
It is essential you understand that the ‘your film has no monetary value’ mentality is a load of crap built to work on behalf of ‘the system’, not you. You need to stop buying into the rhetoric even if it is all you ever hear. It is simply not true. Nor does it need to be your story. If you give your no-to-low budget film to a middleman then that company thinks your work is good enough to potentially make some serious cash because they have learned from past experience that indie films can have some of the highest profit margin of any type of film or because they are building a film library and want all the films they can grab... often at the expense of the independent filmmaker.
Not all middlemen are equal. Paramount or Warner Bros fall into a different category then an online distributor who wants your rights - even if the rights are ‘non-exclusive’. It is important to know whether or not the entity you are working with is acquiring your rights or if you are maintaining full control and ownership over them. If the entity is acquiring the rights, for how logn and to what degree? Many filmmakers have mistakenly given up lifetime non-exclusive rights of their films to online entities. This is a fool’s error. Please don’t cut off our nose despite your face. If you give away partial rights forever, this can potentially hurt you forever. Most often, in an online environment no money is given to the filmmaker for this exchange.
If your film is potentially profitable then you can make money off it. So do it! No one without exception has discovered the path to making money for filmmakers through online distribution, not even the studios. Therefore, the potential for financial long term gain is very real and very much there and you should be the one to profit... and can be. So don’t be led astray by other people’s greed or self-interested business savvy.
Types of Filmmakers - What Kind Are You?
There are different types of filmmakers. Below are a few basic and distinctly different types. Each is and should be treated differently but with equal respect.
1. Big Budget Studio
2. The Mogul
3. Director for Hire
4. The Indie Filmmaker
This article is for the Indie Filmmaker in regards to their work. It is essential that all categories are acknowledged and that a filmmaker has a genuine understanding of which category they fit into. Do you work for a studio? Are you a mogul? Are you a gun for hire? Or, are you an independent filmmaker?
Oftentimes independent filmmaker want to fall into one of the top three categories thereby dismissing the reality of where they are and belong and how their position can benefit them. Often indie filmmakers believe that by way of surrendering their indie film they will somehow magically fall into one of the other categories, when the reality is that they will have simply given their film to another so that distributing entity, instead of the independent filmmaker, can profit from the film.
Brown-nosing makes you a sucker and puts you at the mercy of another. It’s never an advantageous or desirable position from which to work. How is it that so many independent filmmakers wimp out at the end after working so hard, fearlessly and diligently to create the work in the first place. Most distribution deals for independent filmmakers offer financial rewards that are slim-to-nill. Is that really what you want? Because if that is all you agree to then that is all you will get! Be responsible to yourself and to your film. Change the conversation into one that benefits both you and your work.
The self-dismissal of the importance of an independent film or the independent filmmaker is easy to understand. Everyone says that ‘there is no money in indie filmmaking’ and that what you really want is to make studio films or to get paid upfront for your work. That being said, Paranormal Activity (2007) is the most profitable film ever made. Paramount bought it. Paramount made the profits. In today’s world, production costs can be very low and profits can be very high. Online distribution isn’t settled. Keep your rights. Allow yourself to gain the financial benefits in this new territory. It’s your right because it’s your work!
Just the other day at the ‘No Fear for the Future of Indie Film’ conference one of the organizers told me that independent filmmakers want to make studio films and that is why they are willing to give their films away for free because that is how it has always been and that independent filmmakers ‘want to be part of the system’. I assured her that there is no ‘how its always been’ since we’re in new territory and no one has found a way to profit from online distribution for indie films, yet. Besides, who wants to be part of a system that isn’t profitable for you or doesn’t support you? Get real!
What independent filmmakers have always wanted is to profit from their films. They have never wanted to be broke with a second job. They’ve wanted to be rich beyond their wildest dreams from their own creations. Ask Tarantino.
Online distribution potentially allows independent filmmakers to profit from their films like never before. They no longer need to be a slave to the system. They can now begin to make real money. That is... if they don’t give their rights away. If they keep their rights and make the money then they can continue to make the films they want to make without surrendering their dreams, livelihood and profits to a studio or other distribution avenue. If they give away the rights to their film the entity that picked up the rights will be the one to profit.
Someone will profit from distributing independent films online. Let it be the filmmakers. Let it you! This is ultimately a choice that each and every filmmaker who owns the rights to their film will make for themselves. Filmmakers do not need to give up the rights to their work. They can use it as leverage for future profits which can then directly support their immediate livelihood as well as future projects.
Independent filmmakers are in new territory. They are being told to sell their films (often for absolutely nothing). As Douchbag’s director put it ‘I was hoping to sell it to IFC for 20 bucks’. Although he said it with a laugh, he was able to laugh because he sold it to a studio, not IFC. Those who have sold their work to IFC haven’t made much off their sweat, dreams and achievements. On the other hand, IFC is thriving. Do you want to thrive or do you want the corporate heads at IFC to thrive. Truly it is your choice. If it is your work then it is your choice!
It is clear that those who own the work are profiting off the films or at least have the potential to profit from the work in the future. It is also clear that the person without the rights or ownership does not have the right to profit from the film. So the nagging question is ‘Why would an independent filmmaker sell their film if there is nothing in it for them and someone else is flourishing off their work or will potentially gain from it later?” Much of this answer rests in one simple word ‘Fear’. Filmmakers are people. People often let fear rule the day. Filmmakers are told [by (1) the industry and (2) well-meaning types who might be guided by fear or not have a clear understanding of the business end of film] that an independent filmmaker’s only hope is to sell their work, hope it makes a studio money, try to make another film that gets picked up and repeat.
Filmmakers, you are not morons so I expect you to stop acting like brainless twits ... IMMEDIATELY.
At the ‘No Fear’ conference held at the Tribeca Film Festival on this past April 22, Harvey Weinstein said that it was his intention from the beginning to build a large library and to sell it for a profit. He said he got a lot of ridicule from people (like Peter Bart of Variety - who now is kinder toward the man) who could not see or understand Weinstein’s vision.
If Weinstein can do it, so can you. Jim Jarmusch does it. For the most part he has kept the rights to his films and profited from them which has not only allowed him to make more films but has also allowed him to support himself. Did you hear that? SUPPORT HIMSELF! Do you support yourself? If not, maybe you should take heed from someone who does. Harvey Weinstein supports himself from the profits of the films he has produced and owns. He sold his library for $660 million dollars. Are you listening to him or someone who hasn’t made any money from their work because they keep giving their films away for free or for pennies on the dollar? Over in TV world, Oprah has done just fine for herself... but she hasn’t given her golden goose away. How about you? What have you done with your golden goose? Your film lays the golden eggs. If you no longer have the film then the golden eggs belong to someone else and that person will profit from the goose, not you. Perhaps you will make more in the long run if you keep the goose and allow it to lay the golden eggs for you!
Filmmaking is a Profession, Not a Hobby
Filmmaking is a profession. A career. A very important job. If you say otherwise, slap yourself into correct thinking. If other filmmakers you know berate the role of a filmmaker, set them straight or move away from them. Filmmaking brings in billions of dollars every year. This is your industry. Keep it. Own it. Be proud of it! Profit from it! Do not belittle it. Embrace it. Know that profits exist. Know you have a right to those profits. Don’t be bullied out of your money by ignorance, rhetoric, intimidation, misinformation or greed - by those that aren’t foolish and knows the true value and worth of your work!
A couple years ago, filmmaker, Ted Hope, wrote an article which encouraged filmmakers to put their films online for free. The article was sent around and Hope’s words were touted as wise and supported throughout the system and all too often heeded by admiring filmmakers newer to the business.
At the time, Ted suggested that exposure was what was really important and not to worry because the money would work itself out. This suggestion seemed rather fool-hearted. You can’t just base your future on a whim and a prayer hoping that someone else will set things right for you. There are no knights in white armor protecting your golden goose. If you don’t get on that horse and fight for your own financial survival then someone else who preys on your ignorance will be happy to profit from your foolery.
Today, I read an article by Ted which, in effect, stated that as a filmmaker you need a second job, that filmmaking won’t support you, and that he hated reading scripts because he didn’t want to fall in love with anything since he knew he’d never make a buck. Basically, the man seems broken and completely discouraged. He claims to have made over 65 films. That’s one heck of a library. What happened? Where’s the profit? He is respected within our community. It’s like he lost the ball with no hope of ever finding it again. Might I suggest you stop following him. I wish him well. I do not wish him the ability to help you dig the same hole for yourselves that he has dug for himself, both professionally and personally, from the money he has chosen not to make from his craft.
Ted wrote the articles for IndieWire. IndieWire is owned by SnagFilms. SnagFilms puts your documentaries online for free (and those of Ted Hope, I would assume, based on his support for the failed system). FOR FREE! At the TFF ‘No Fear’ conference Rick Allen, CEO of SnagFilms, said that filmmakers received 50% of all gross profits from all revenues including ad revenues, etc. That means 50 cents on each dollar off the top, not after SnagFilms’ expenses and overhead have been paid. If that’s the case why is Ted so damned broke?!?
Ted’s articles appear on SnagFilms’ IndieWire. Do you see a correlation? SnagFilm bought IndieWire to promote the business of SnagFilm according to Rick Allen. This makes IndieWire a site of propaganda with a specific agenda rather than an unbiased news source. Basically, it makes IndieWire the equivalent of a savvy product placement.
By the way, I’ve never heard of any filmmakers that have made any money from SnagFilms. Have you? The site has been up for at least a couple years. If you have made money from the site or know of someone who has, please speak up in the comments box below. We want a true and honest assessment of how putting your film up for free has financially benefited you, the filmmaker. From Ted’s article, it sounds like the death of a filmmaker, their vision, their dream and their vitality. His article was meant to help realistically guide filmmakers, one would assume, but ‘getting a second job to support your career as a filmmaker because money will never come your way’ isn’t very encouraging... and simply is not an acceptable business model for independent filmmakers. Period!
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