Interview: Page (1) of 3 - 03/20/06

email article

print page

The Making of Family, Part 3 Securing distribution for independent films By Frank Moldstad

JM Logan

In the end, it all comes down to distribution, unless the goal is to make the best movie in the world that no one will ever see. In this final chapter of our three-part interview with independent filmmaker JM Logan, he talks about how he secured distribution for Family, the first film from his Titan Motion Picture Group production company. And even though he's worked in the movie industry for nearly 20 years, Logan was unprepared for the process of securing distribution, which he calls the industry's red-headed stepchild -- because no one likes to talk about it.

What?s ahead for Family now?

Well, we may have made a deal on Friday for a distributor for worldwide distribution. I don?t want to mention the name yet because we haven?t signed the contract. But it looks like it?s going to be represented by a very noteworthy company that has a great reputation.

Update: On March 30, 2006, Josh Logan announced that he had signed a worldwide distribution deal with Curb Entertainment. Family will be premiering/screening at the Cannes Film Market in May of this year.

This is the third of a three-part series. To start at the beginning, go here.

Congratulations! How difficult is the process of getting distribution for an independent film? What was your experience?

Well, it was something I really discovered I was completely and totally unprepared for. It?s a whole 'nother world, and having worked in the industry for as long as I have, and having done as many jobs as I have, I kind of thought it was something that would come relatively naturally. I was dead wrong. This side of the industry is the redheaded stepchild of the movie business The thing that no one likes to talk about is how independent filmmakers in particular get so incredibly taken advantage of by savvy businessmen.

I really started my distribution education at AFM last year in November. And me and business partner, Renee Humphrey [who also starrred in the film], just cruised around AFM and probably talked to every single seller that was there. I was shopping Family around, but mostly I was trying to make some noise and trying to find out how distribution works. You don?t just make a movie and then show up trying to sell it like a product ? it?s an entire process. It?s not like you make a film and then hand it over and someone gives you a bunch of money for it. It?s really a very unscrupulous, unmoral, and in many ways disheartening process.

Actors Durek Varrett (left) and Joseph Russo III play the villainous Robbie and Luke in Family.

You must have had some really horrible deals proposed to you.

Oh, boy! Really bad deals. And then you start to realize what the norm for your film is, because it doesn?t matter if you spent 14 months of your life on it and you worked on it every single day and every single hour and your life?s blood is in it. At the end of the day, it?s product, and it will be sold like a chopping block. On a chopping block.

You?re on the chopping block.

Yeah, and I?m on the hook for investors for a considerable amount of money -- not as much as a lot of people are, but it really has taught me to be much smarter about this process next time, and to start talking to distributors early. At the end of the day, it?s art, but it?s also a product. You?ve got to be able to sell the movie to someone who will also need to be able to sell the movie. And if there are certain things that aren?t in place, a lot of distributors aren?t going to feel comfortable taking on the film, because it?s a big investment. If they aren?t confident that they can at least make their money back, or preferably, confident that they?ll make your money back, which is by far the rarer of the two, then your movie?s just going to sit on a shelf, because no one?s going to want to take a chance to distribute it. The way the buyers work, at least according to all the sellers I?ve talked to, is very much by the numbers.

You have to have certain things in place, or your movie does not sell, or doesn?t sell as well as you think it should. And it?s all because you made bad decisions as a filmmaker by not talking to the market that the film is eventually going to be sold into. You?ve got to find a way to get that movie into people?s living rooms, and the only way people are going to allow it into their  living rooms is because they want to watch the movie. And the only reason they?re going to want to watch the movie is if there are certain key factors that set it apart from the gazillions of other products on the shelves.  

Page: 1 2 3 Next Page

Related Sites: Digital Producer ,   Hollywood Industry ,   Digital Video Editing ,   Audio Video Producer ,   BN - Broadcast Newsroom ,   Digital Post Production ,   Film Imaging ,   Oceania ,   After Effects ,   Final Cut Pro ,   Digital Intermediates ,   BN - NAB ,   BN - Acquistion ,   BN - Panasonic ,   BN - Hardware ,   Digital Facility
Related Newsletter: DMN Newsletter ,   Timeline Newsletter ,   Digital Media Net ,   DMNForums

---