Film doesn't get picked up for distro? SHELVE IT.

DeJager

DeJager

I may get a lot of flack for this; however my advice for any serious filmmaker that doesn't get his/her movie picked up for distribution the first time around is to shelve it. Don't release it free on the internet and don't sell it on Amazon or Indieflix. Hide and hold onto to it for awhile. What isn't popular now may be popular in 2 years. Don't sell yourself and your project short. Never give up. Who knows... maybe your next film will be widely successful and a studio may ask you if you have any other projects ready.. and then.. you can be like.. well yeah I do actually.. BOOM!! :)

That is all. :cool:
 
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In general, films are made to be watched. I'm not sure I see the benefit in a film that isn't seen by anyone, unless it was just intended as a learning exercise.

You provide a couple of hypothetical benefits to shelving it, but to me they're no more compelling than the hypothetical benefits of releasing it yourself now. For instance building an audience who may buy your next film, who's very existence may be the key to selling your next film to a distributor, or who may support a crowdfunding effort for your next film's budget, etc. Plus, there's the real possibility that with some self-promotion & marketing effort you can sell copies - you may not make a lot, but I can almost guarantee it'll be more than what your film is making on the shelf. And any effort you expend towards that end will likely pay off towards the whole building a future audience part.

Of course there's also the concrete benefit - your film will be watched, which was presumably why you made it in the first place. If the only reason you made it was to sell it, well, maybe you're in the wrong business - there's a lot of other things that are easier to make a buck selling than an independent film.

You say 'never give up' and 'don't sell yourself short' - distributing it yourself doesn't have to be either of those.
 
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I agree with some of your points! For me (personally), releasing the movie by self-distributing it is not going to reach an adequate amount of viewers anyways, so I would just shelve it for awhile. If I don't think it will ever see its "glory" (realistically, speaking) then I would release it later on down the road. I wouldn't be too eager to release it though and give up on a chance of hitting it big later down the road.

That's what happens to a lot of movies. They are filmed and then sit on a shelf for 2-3 years then released when the time is right. Who knows though, I may feel differently down the road ! Never say never, right? :)

I haven't heard any success stories related to self-distribution.
 
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I would probably just release it and self promote. You can always do a re-release with a slightly different version down the road. Look at Starwars how many times has that been released? Ha....

Also, I am not so convinced that distributors will promote your indie film even if they do take your film. So how is people going to see it if you don't have a major marketing. Anyways, I am thinking film making will follow the trend of indie music and you will need to learn to self distribute/market your film. If I am wrong then more power to you and I hope you or someone else teach us how to do it right.
 
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