SELF DISTRIBUTION: Getting shelf space - by Mark Bosko
For most independent filmmakers and producers, self-distribution will find you promoting and soliciting your product to various markets mainly in the home entertainment industry. This includes DVD (and still some video), cable and television. Other buyers of self-distributed product can be found in institutional and foreign markets, as well as some ancillary event, festival and market settings. Theatrical release, a dream for most independent producers, is a tough market to crack without a traditional “connected” distributor. It can be done, but the emphasis is on software sale opportunities, as these markets provide filmmakers greater ease of entry and better profits. And the home video/DVD market presents the best prospects for this kind of action.
Home entertainment market
The home entertainment market is divided into two segments:
Rentailers - firms like Blockbuster, Hollywood Video & local video shops offering product in their store mainly for rent
Retailers – firms like Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Suncoast Motion Picture Company that mainly sell videos and DVD titles
Firms in these two segments get their product from a variety of sources and sell to a variety of customers. The independent producer’s role in the process can occur at many stages.
Independent producers.
While not a common practice, independent producers sometimes function as direct product suppliers to the home entertainment market. Personally selling DVDs to video rental and retail outlets, however, is a great way to learn the business, affords you the ability of making numerous contacts, gets your movie in the hands of an audience and can be a profitable way to sell your project. It’s not all “wine and roses” though, and there are many reasons why the process is not only uncommon, but unpopular:
Stores don’t like to deal with independent producers – You know this argument. Would you want to buy vegetables from one store, meats from a second and bread and dairy products from a third? Same theory applies to video buying. The good news – just like you might be willing to venture to a small, out-of-the-way store to purchase a specialty item (like good coffee or exotic fruits), so too are video buyers willing to make purchases from small vendors offering something special (known as “niche” products).
It’s a lot of work – Researching, surveying, contacting, mailing and selling to qualified video retail and rental outlets is a time-consuming process. It’s not like you can set up a stand and offer your film to everyone passing by. You have to find your buyers, hunt them down, seek them out. They are not coming to you. You need someone committed to the selling process on a at least a part-time basis to make this effort a success.
It can be expensive – When functioning as a true self-distributor, you are responsible for the cost of everything. From replication and printing DVD cases to postage, long-distance phone calls and the value of your time, there is no “parent” company to turn for financial help. Every step of the process must be self-, or family/friend-funded.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that you can successfully self-distribute your film in a financially efficient manner and still have a personal life by controlling your level of involvement and amount of expense. This method also gives you a chance to “get comfortable” in your new position as film promoter and salesperson by slowly gaining experience with each task ahead of you.
Work the locals. One of the first places you’ll want to look for local sales opportunities– the local yellow pages. Specifically, the sections titled, “Video Tapes and Discs, Dealers,” and “Video Tapes and Discs, Renting & Leasing.” Depending on the size of your town, anywhere from two-200 or more shops will be listed here. Each offers great potential for buying your film. Why is the local market such a good starting point? As you hunt for buyers, you will, at the same time, be working the media (discussed in a following chapter). Those in your community, including any local retailers, will be aware of your project through stories in the newspaper and on local television. The press attention is nice, but the whole point is to use any awareness it generates to your advantage. That is why selling and promoting will be carried out concurrently. If you call a video store buyer offering your film the same day he reads about it in the newspaper, chances are very good you’ll make a sale.
Selling to the local market also builds confidence. Response to your solicitation will definitely be more positive than when you begin doing business with larger entities. Obviously, the project’s hooks, packaging, quality and pricing play a big hand in the equation. But local businesses like to support other local “businesses” like your own. You’ll want to play on that fact.
Unfortunately, you can’t just start calling the video stores and asking whoever answers the phone if they’d like to buy your movie or video. It doesn’t work that way. At the least, it’ll be a two-call process. First, call the store and ask for the name (and correct selling) of the person responsible for buying product (usually called the video buyer, but in small mom-and-pop shops, they’re not so formal). They’ll ask why, and be honest. Tell them you are a local producer that has finished a project and you’d like to send them some information. I’ve had some bad experiences at this point, and I could never understand why. Those answering would tell me they couldn’t give out that information, or simply say they don’t deal with local filmmakers and hang-up before I could utter another word. If you get a rude person on the phone – chalk it up to their loss. Be polite and thank all callers that allow you. Start a data-base of any store names, phone numbers, video buyers and addresses you collect. Also make a not as to whether they rent or sell DVDs or both. You will be using this often during the call-back process. Send your solicitation to the correct individual, and then, after a week-to-10 days, make a follow-up call asking for the buy. Be sure whatever you send clearly describes the product, price, payment and delivery options. Video shop owners are sophisticated, so be sure your sales piece is professionally designed.
Move into the regional and national arenas. After exhausting all possible retail and rental shop opportunities in your local business area, it’s time to start “distributing” to the regional and national chains. And to do this, you’ll need to work through several “middlemen.”
Wholesale distributors.
The wholesaler is the biggest sales force in the video retailing industry. Selling mostly studio and large independent suppliers’ products, wholesalers also work with independents, and offer the self-distributor a first point of contact for reaching the national home market.
Due to the volatility of the home video business, only five companies constitute the wholesale distribution business:
- Baker and Taylor
- Flash Distributors
- Ingram Entertainment
- VPD
- WaxWorks/VideoWorks
Each has it’s own set of policies concerning how they do business with an independent supplier. For example, those soliciting Ingram Entertainment will need to include in their submission package:
- A finished copy or copies of the film you wish to submit, which should also include completed packaging and artwork (note that this material will not be returned by Ingram)
- Retail and wholesale prices for that material
- Full terms of business, including dating, freight policies, good and defective return allowances and origin point of shipping for your goods.
- Any pertinent media coverage and/or public relations information on your program.
- Any available sales and marketing information on your program.
After forwarding this information, Ingram tells potential independent vendors to allow two to four weeks for a response. This is pretty much standard operating procedure with all of the wholesalers. You’ll want to contact each separately and inquire as to their policies.
Obviously, wholesalers need a variety of materials that you haven’t yet developed, like packaging, freight policies, pricing, press coverage and marketing materials. Taking care of these details yourself is why the process is called self-distribution. Don’t worry. All of the items mentioned above are within the grasp of any independent filmmaker. Creating them is the easy part. Finding out where and to whom to send them is what will contribute to a successful self-distribution effort, and should be the focus of your energies at this point.
Wholesale distributors offer product to buyers via catalogs and personal selling. If a wholesaler accepts your film, it will be listed, along with terms, in one of these catalogs. As a vendor, you also have the option of purchasing an ad (which is expensive) to increase sales of your product. Since so many video rental and retail shops buy from wholesalers, many independents selling through such an arrangement place their own print ads in trade magazines and use mailers to announce the product is available through these traditional wholesaling sources.
Once the catalog orders are collected and tabulated, the wholesaler sends a purchase order to the producer, requesting a quantity of product be shipped to one or more specific distribution centers. When working on Killer Nerd, 650 copies were sold from the film’s first wholesale catalog listing. Instead of buying a catalog ad, we used sell-sheet inserts for the initial promotion, basically an 8-1/2” x 11” ad that was placed inside of an envelope along with the catalog. It was cheaper than buying a print ad in their publication, and definitely paid for itself. Once we had the purchase order, we were responsible for duplicating, packaging, shrink-wrapping and shipping the 650 copies of the movie on VHS to two separate distribution centers within 30 days. Payment for the tapes would then be paid to us approximately 90-120 days later. That was after the costs for returns and defective merchandise were deducted.
Though the process of wholesale selling is somewhat confusing, and can be intimidating to the independent producer, a great number of DVD copies of your program can be sold in this manner. The best advice I can offer in working with a wholesaler – follow their submission instructions very precisely. Wholesale distributors are used to dealing with billion-dollar supplier companies, and it won’t bother them in any way if they have to reject your solicitation because you were unable to follow directions. Don’t ruin this opportunity because of laziness or inattention to detail.
When contacting wholesale distributors, check their web sites first. Most have very precise information regarding submission policies and will appreciate your use of this resource instead of a phone call. If no info can be located, call the firm’s headquarters and ask to speak with someone about becoming a vendor. They’ll know what you mean. Wholesalers don’t really specialize in genre, so you don’t want to survey these folks in detail, just get answers to the following:
- Does the wholesaler work with independent suppliers?
- What are its submission policies with regard to program format and length?
- What materials need submitted?
- Where and to whom should a package be mailed?
- What is the time period for review?
As before, be quick, professional and courteous with anyone handling the call and be sure to get their name for future reference.
Aggregator distributors.
Sub-distributors (also known as aggregators), those hard-to-define (and find) product sellers also feed the home entertainment market. These companies (such as Global Entertainment - contact Evelyn in New Product Acquisitions at 818-713-2700, x 25) are most often the interface between independent filmmakers and wholesale distributors. Their function is to act as an aggregator, or clearinghouse of independent titles that are then solicited via the wholesaler. Working between product suppliers, traditional distributors, wholesalers, video retailers and rental shops, these businesses can move hundreds of DVDs in a single sale, often dealing in C.O.D. terms.
The advantage to such a set-up is quick cash for the independent producer, as the bill for the tapes purchased is paid when the DVDs have shipped. The disadvantage to the situation is that you must have an adequate number of DVDs on hand to do business in this manner. When selling Killer Nerd, Southwest Tapes, a Dallas, TX-based sub-distributor (no longer in business), started selling the film to small stores across the southwest. The company’s first order was for 25 tapes. That was easy enough to get duplicated, packaged, shrink-wrapped and shipped in 48 hours’ time. Over the course of our dealings, the company sometimes ordered upwards of 150 tapes at a time, which was not easy to front-end finance when you consider the cost of duplication, packaging and shipping. It was a good deal and the firm moved a number of tapes, but we always had to have at least 200 tapes on hand, product that could just as easily not sold.
Finally we talk about the Business of Self-Distribution
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