I’ve been working on getting international distribution for my feature film, Bounty, and have run into many obstacles that have revealed some very important things to apply to my next film. I have been turned down by distributors such as Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, New Wave, Indican for international distribution for a few reasons but one specific one: the lack of names attached. Not only is it important to attach named talent to your film but it is essential to have a marketable film.
There are a few exceptions to the rule: Ink, Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, some may even say District 9 (don’t forget the name Peter Jackson attached to it, that too is a name). These bring me to my next point, next to name you need to have a high concept or genre specific film. I have found that westerns are a hard sale internationally, but what is an easier sale is Action, War, Horror, Action…did I say Action. Could be martial arts, raw gritty action, war is action (but is sell-able in itself). All these are easier to market with a name attached. Know the importance of a name when developing your movie.
The first question I would expect is, “how can a low budget indie film afford a name?” Good question, but you have to be creative to make it work. Distributors want a name so that they can plaster their face on the cover and put them throughout the trailer. It is a marketing trick to make the movie have broader market. Because I’ve been talking with a lot of indie distributors I have been hearing the tricks they are looking for. Hire a name for a day of shooting, shoot the hell out of their stuff and scatter it about the movie. I have been told that you want to have their character in about 12-15 mins. of the film, so get creative on how to make it happen. You would be smart to get as big a name as you can afford. A trick I am choosing to employ is to cast the name in a main character with little dialog, then use a body double to fill in for the rest of the shoot when they don’t speak. This doesn’t work for every character in every film, but for the times it does work, the 12-15 mins. of screen time they get then expands to nearly the entire movie.
Numbers I have been told to budget for names is between $5,000 and $10,000. Obviously the higher the number the bigger the name you can get. Another possibility is cast smaller names, up and coming TV Stars, in multiple small roles to strength the cast as a whole. Here are some ideas for getting that extra cash, check out IndieGoGo.com or KickStarter.com
Unfortunately for the art purists that want to be as apart from “Hollywood” as possible, good luck. You can be a purist and attempt to keep the business as far away from the art as possible, but if it is not a viable investment for a studio or individual it will be hard to get funding to create your art while the filmmakers who have figured out a blend of business and art are actually getting funding and making movies. The blend is tuff but is also an art in itself. And remember, the importance of a name.