Most readers here already know about FHTA, but for anyone who doesn’t, here is my ‘rehearsed’ 30-second elevator pitch…From Here to Awesome (FHTA) is a film discovery and distribution experiment masterminded by Lance Weiler, Arin Crumley and M dot Strange. Their mission was to create a series of participatory events related to DIY filmmaking and to connect a handful of innovative films with appreciative fans, while using the digital launch of these films as a testing ground for developing new and effective long-term distribution models. FHTA is anything but a ‘traditional’ film festival and, one year after its initial launch, the ‘experiment’ is ongoing…even as I type.
ABEL RAISES CAIN (my film, which I produced and co-directed with Jeff Hockett) was one of the final FHTA showcase films. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect, because we were looking for ways to broaden the reach of our movie, having exhausted our independent PR and outreach efforts. We’ve been actively self-distributing this documentary for a few years now. In 2006, with our first foreign TV deal, we began splitting up the rights and forming non-exclusive partnerships and I’ve continued to oversee or directly manage every aspect of the film since then.
As I’ve come to learn, it’s pretty impossible to adhere to a rigid plan when you’re self-distributing. Our strategy continually morphs as new opportunities present themselves. I like taking risks when it comes to our movie, but I also tend to be a little old school (see the ‘geriatric’ reference in my previous post). FHTA reinforced the idea of casting a wide net across multiple digital platforms simultaneously in order to reach a mass audience, and I do think this makes sense. Through FHTA, our movie was released on major outlets Indieflix, Caachi, Joost, Amazon Unbox, b-side, Netflix and Hulu.
But for any indie film to succeed these days, I feel strongly that it’s necessary to straddle both worlds, embracing the digital age while ALSO taking advantage of traditional means (before these means go entirely extinct) to get the film out and about. For example, while our documentary streams for free on Hulu, we are still screening at smaller film festivals, pursuing TV deals abroad and working on finding an educational distributor in the US.
I learned during this experiment that having a film on multiple platforms means nothing if you don’t actively promote the film. Unfortunately, I relied too heavily on each of the site’s ‘built-in’ audiences, assuming that people would just stumble upon our movie. That method doesn’t always work very well. With Caachi, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when we found out that only one person had ordered our film. I’m hopeful that cumulative exposure over the long term may lead to more fruitful results.
One of the challenges we faced was never knowing when our film was slated to go live. It was either available or it wasn’t - wholly predetermined by the individual outlets. This precluded any ability on our part to help build a buzz around a particular platform release. I think that a revenue strategy (i.e. Download-to-Own, followed by Pay Streaming, which is then piggy-backed by Free Streaming) would have created more concrete parameters in terms of defining release windows. One issue left to be resolved is whether or not the scattershot method - casting a wide net across a variety of platforms - IS, in fact, the most efficient way to reach an audience. Maybe there is more strength in a targeted approach through one outlet in particular, especially if that outlet spotlights or showcases the film.
Netflix was an FHTA platform offered only to filmmakers who already had replicated discs. Luckily, Jeff and I were able to take advantage of this opportunity since we spent the better part of 2007 producing the DVD for our film. I think of Netflix as a 5000 pound beast (a close relative to Amazon) that you have to learn to play nice with if you want to maintain the illusion that you’re part of ‘the mainstream’ even though, as indies, you’re always going to be somewhat obscure. We had been selling the DVD exclusively through our website beginning in the Fall of 2007 and by mid-2008, our DVD was available on Amazon Marketplace. I chose to maintain total exclusivity over our film sales in the US. We stayed away from retail and rentals, because the goal was to recoup our budget by selling as many DVDs as we could.
Fast forward to the end of 2008. We had virtually exhausted our independent sales efforts. FHTA hooked us up with Indieflix and Indieflix distributed our title to Netflix. Netflix bought 180 DVDs from us through Indieflix at $10.00 a pop. Indieflix collected 30% as our intermediary agent. It was a buyout, so that means we earned $1260.00 and we won’t see any subsequent royalties. Although a fair deal on the outset, it’s slightly painful to think about the ‘what-if’ scenario…Even if just a thousand people had bought our movie instead of adding it to their Netflix queues, we could have recouped 1/6 of our budget.
It would have been cool if we negotiated a deal where we earned a royalty for each ‘turn’ (or rental) as opposed to a buyout, but hopefully at some point when our movie is offered via streaming through Netflix, we can formulate some sort of revenue split through Indieflix, that would potentially be more lucrative for us over the long term.
I don’t mean to belabor the monetary aspect, but we’re trying to figure out, like everyone else, how to sustain ourselves in the free age. Why WOULD somebody buy a DVD when they could just order it on Netflix? Or why would anyone pay to stream our movie when they can go straight to HULU or Joost and stream it for free? I, myself, wouldn’t choose to pay for something if I knew I could get it for free! But I’m a hypocrite turned realist, because I used to chase after people who posted torrents of our movie, and now I’ve given up. Maybe this is why I’ve been so protective of our DVD rights. It’s like the last remaining ‘valuable’ piece of property that we have left. It would be great if we could somehow position our film in such a way that there’s a continual stream of revenue, one that I don’t have to think about maintaining…even if it’s a small trickle, like my fantasy of selling just one DVD per day!
Now that some time has elapsed and I’ve had a chance to reflect on FHTA as a whole, it’s pretty clear that our movie was catapulted to a level that we could not have reached on our own. Hulu and Netflix have been the most successful so far, and we’re indebted to FHTA and Indieflix for getting us onto these platforms. I’m blown away by the stats…more people saw our movie on Hulu in ONE week than all of the film festival audiences combined over the course of 4-1/2 years. Now that’s just crazy! So it’s cool that new audiences keep discovering our film. FHTA turned out to be a combination of culmination and rebirth.
There is just one problem. In the grand scheme of things, we’re still an obscure movie. We’re getting a bit closer to something, although, as one friend gently reminded me, “Not every race has a finish line.” In the meantime, we have to isolate which platforms we’re going to focus on, be more proactive in pointing people to the movie, and continue reassessing as we plot which direction to head in next.
JENNY ABEL initially began a career in music, having studied the viola since the age of 8 and receiving a scholarship to attend music school. But she decided to take a completely different path in life and transferred to Emerson College in Boston, graduating with a degree in video and television production. Jenny moved to Los Angeles shortly thereafter and began coordinating overseas productions for Nu Image and Millennium Films. Over the course of four years, she helped the company produce twenty-six pictures. In 2003, she left her job so that she could focus on finishing her own project, “Abel Raises Cain,” her first feature documentary.
