Let’s talk about RIGHTS!

So the most important thing to consider when trying to get a film distributed is what rights do you have. I don’t mean are you more privileged than the next person, I mean what did you have to give away to get your picture finished?

In the case of “As Seen Through these Eyes” we had to give away our TV rights for seven years. At the time it was all we could do to get “another Holocaust film” finished. To our credit however, we did broker one of the biggest deals Sundance has made in terms of finishing funds. So cool, that means TV is gone and we have the rest of the world.

Well, spliting rights becomes a pretty tough deal. I can say that at one point we had rights split even further than that. We had someone picking up theatrical, someone picking up video and then TV with Sundance. That seemed like a dream and a complete mess at the same time. Now most of you probably know that without the TV rights you aren’t that bad off as far as the securing a theatrical release goes. (Because we all know that that is the prize.) But having the video in the hands of a third party made the hunt for a theatrical distributor very, very tough.

Well, look at it this way. A theatrical release is a very expensive ordeal. A company will loose money on this if they try to get any recognition. I would say a small indie opening up in a few theaters needs to spend between 20 & 40k. Then they have to make that back. Most companies would use worst case scenerio and say they won’t make that in the theaters, or if they do, they won’t make a ton of profit. So then they will get it back on the dvd. So if they don’t have both, what is the point?

Right? You need your rights. So the goal is to get your film made with all rights in place and sell them together. Your film become much more valuable.

BUT let me tell you, a small indie can find its way. “As Seen” will be officially having its NYC debut on December 12. We are now negotiating what the rest of our rights are worth with our theatrical distributor. Our dvd fell apart, so they are back on the table. Now our distributor may not see that he is just doing us a favor, but may see green in the future.

Please vote on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4th.