Straight to video is not something you access, it's a process. It has to do with distribution of your movie. In the simplest terms, you'll make your movie, and then show it. If you want more people to see it, you might ask a neighborhood video store (not a corporate store) to rent it to people. You might post it on the net, or enter it in a competition. If you were able to sell it to a distributor, they would make more copies and sell those video chains. If your movie were popular enough, Blockbuster might buy it. It's real similar to being a band and trying to get a record made and distributed. Those spots on the shelves at Blockbuster need to generate income. If you can't generate enough income to justify the space you occupy on the shelf, Blockbuster doesn't want to have anything to do with you. Make your movie, enter it in festivals, and hope for a distributor who'll pay you for the rights.

"On a good gate, that's a wrap."

"hope for a distributor who'll pay you for the rights"?

No offense, but I think that is awful advice. But it is a road traveled down far too often by my fellow independent filmmakers.

D

www.pizzathemovie.com Pizza: The Movie

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Originally posted by FocusPuller

Straight to video is not something you access, it's a process. It has to do with distribution of your movie. In the simplest terms, you'll make your movie, and then show it. If you want more people to see it, you might ask a neighborhood video store (not a corporate store) to rent it to people. You might post it on the net, or enter it in a competition. If you were able to sell it to a distributor, they would make more copies and sell those video chains. If your movie were popular enough, Blockbuster might buy it. It's real similar to being a band and trying to get a record made and distributed. Those spots on the shelves at Blockbuster need to generate income. If you can't generate enough income to justify the space you occupy on the shelf, Blockbuster doesn't want to have anything to do with you. Make your movie, enter it in festivals, and hope for a distributor who'll pay you for the rights.

"On a good gate, that's a wrap."

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Thanks for the advice. But I wasn't gonna consider it a option. I just wanted to know how the business of rentals worked. If you have anymore information as to the operation of that business segment, I'll be happy to hear from you.

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I think that is awful advice.

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Well, help us out. I'm as ready to learn as the next guy, or I wouldn't be visiting this forum.

"On a good gate, that's a wrap."

Hoping for a distributor to pay you for the rights has a couple of problems. First, there are tons on unreputable ones who are going to rip you off, and second you are just hoping for something to happen.

I believe you have to make it happen in this business. Now entering it into a festival isn't a bad thing, but if Marimax doesn't start knocking on your door the next day, what are you going to do?

For a low budget movie, you don't have to sell that many copies to make your money back. Never overlook self distribution.

For my first feature, I am not going to enter it into a single festival. I'm self releasing it on DVD.

Now, I don't want to act as if I have all the answers. I don't. I consider myself a newbie at this myself.

www.pizzathemovie.com Pizza: The Movie

Thanks for the advice greg. But are distributors really that dirty? Oh yea i checked out your link, funny movie. Goodluck

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Thanks for the advice greg. But are distributors really that dirty?

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I've never had to deal with them myself, but most people I've met who have done so have said that if you make a low-budget movie then you shouldn't expect to get a penny beyond the advance a distributor pays you. Remember, as far as Hollywood is concerned, even 'Forrest Gump' never made a profit, so they never had to pay out the people who had points of net profits.

I went to a Lloyd Kaufmann talk some time back (he seemed to regard distributors as at least second cousins of Satan) and one thing he was pointing out was that with current technology it's quite possible to make a low-budget movie, sell DVDs on the web and at least get your money back that way. If you shoot it for, say, $20,000 and it's at least half-decent, you don't need to sell many DVDs to get that money back... though this is more difficult in backward countries like the UK which won't let you sell movies without paying for the government to censor them for you first.