I’m sure you’ve heard of the success stories about self distribution, right? Me too! But before you decide you want to self distribute your film – do your homework and explore all your options. Your decision to self distribute your film may sound exciting at first, but it could very well lead to your own self destrution and the end of your film’s life.

A bit more than two years ago, I quit my job working for a small educational distributor and started my own distribution company, Outcast Films. I wanted to start a new distribution company that accomplished things that I didn’t see happening with other distributors – primarily educational distributors.

First: I wanted to work more closely with filmmakers. Lets be honest, no one knows their film better than filmmakers themselves so why not tap in to the filmmakers as a resource?

Secondly, most educational distributers will acquire any where from 30-50 or more films a year. They put them in a catalog, send out the catalog and go on picking up next year’s lot of 30-50 films for the next catalog. How much attention can distributors give each of these films? Outcast Films would pick up fewer films and go broader and deeper in to all markets and forms of distribution.

Thirdly, I wanted Outcast Films to take advantage of the global market and the wide reaching arm of the internet. So if Outcast Films can do it, why can’t you? Well, while this all sounds good in theory, distribution is a tough business for anyone – including distributors. Those success stories you hear about are far and few between.

Trust me, there are far more failures – and I’m an optimist! Tune in to my blog and I’ll give you the head’s up on what to do, what not to do, and where to go for help.

Coming up:
- Truth or myth: The stories you’ve heard and the moment of truth.
- What you need to know about self distribution that no one will tell you.