Short Film Distribution Article

[kjones]

...interesting read at the "Short of the Week" website, especially in regards to iTunes:

http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2013/03/04/the-changing-game-of-distribution/

 

[Blade_Jones]

after Apple takes its 30% percent cut, Shorts International takes a 20% programming fee followed by a 50% commission. After Jones’s sales agents take an additional 30%, Jones is left with the remainder. In cold, hard numbers, for one entire year of sales, out of £1,480, Jones receives £290.26 (that’s a meager $440).

This is why I am so anti-sales agent, anti-distributor, anti any other middleman. iTunes and an ONLINE distributor (like FilmBaby) should be the only ones taking cuts.

 

[AudioPostExpert]

This is why I am so anti-sales agent, anti-distributor, anti any other middleman. iTunes and an ONLINE distributor (like FilmBaby) should be the only ones taking cuts.

I don't agree with this statement and I don't agree with the article either. It's obvious that "Short of the Week" has an axe to grind about free to access shorts.

For example

"After the half-year period expired, Vicky did what any filmmaker would do—she released her film online, free to view on Vimeo."

That's most certainly not what any contractually obligated filmmaker with half a brain would do! In all of the higher education establishments I know in the UK students sign a contract on enrolment stating that the copyright of anything they create at that establishment is the property of the establishment. Regardless of Shorts International or iTunes, it was never Vicky's right to post the video on Vimeo without the copyright holder's permission.

Using the example of Chris Jones, he can say his work has been taken on by an international distributor with limited theatrical distribution and effectively all it's cost him is about £700. You couldn't even get a single screening at a cinema for £700, so that sounds like a great deal to me! Of course, if you don't want to be able to advertise that you've had your work distributed then there is no one forcing you to sign a deal with a sales agent or distributor and if the copyright is yours you can cut out the middle men, post it online if you think that will be more advantageous or indeed do whatever you like with it.

Contrary to what "Short of the Week" states, vimeo or youtube do NOT provide a wider audience, they just provide a potentially wider audience. There are countless thousands of short films on youtube with audiences of less than 100 and AFAIK, agents and film executives do not spend their time trawling youtube in the hope of finding the next Kubrik.

G