Sunday, July 9, 2023

Masterclass on Selling a Movie and Maximizing Profits: Insights from Glen Reynolds, Founder of Circus Road Films

Introduction:

In the world of filmmaking, successfully selling a movie and maximizing its financial returns can be a complex and challenging endeavor. This article presents a masterclass on the art of selling a movie, featuring insights from Glen Reynolds, the founder of Circus Road Films. With his extensive experience as a producer's representative, Reynolds sheds light on the role of a producer's rep and shares valuable knowledge on navigating the distribution landscape in the United States.

Film Courage: What is the producer's rep? Circus Road Films’ Founder Glen  Reynolds: It's like a sales agent,   it's another name for a sales agent so it usually connotes being a domestic sales agent as opposed to an international sales agent it's a little different in that as a producer rep you are selling films to U.S distributors   and in doing so there's you don't really have  to take over the film from the filmmaker you   can make the deal you can negotiate on  their behalf and then they can deliver   the film to the distributor and the distributor can  pay them directly it's a fairly easy transaction   whereas on the international front International  sales agents really have to take over that process   so International sales agents are more like  distributors in that you deliver them the film   and then they go to markets around the world  sell these Distributors and then in turn deliver the film to those Distributors collect  that money and then account to a a producer   so in my case I don't do that I specialize in  U.S Distributors and as most producer apps do   and I'm just like a consultant  sales agent for that purpose   between a producer's rep and so a producer  rep is really trying to get the film maker the   best deal possible in the United States  with a with a traditional distributor   Distributors are are taking on the film played  in theaters put it on video and demand making  
Blu-rays selling the rights to Netflix or HBO  and putting on an advertising video on demand   later like Tubi or Pluto so they're usually most  Distributors are handling all rights that way   as a producer rep I'm mean the filmmaker usually  about the time they finish the film or about to   get into film festival or just got into a film  festival and I'm going to help them get into   the world of distribution and show the film  to the Distributors to see who would be the   best possible partner for taking the film out  why would a filmmaker hire a producer rep well especially if you're a first time filmmaker  most schools don't teach film distribution   and so there's just a huge learning Gap in  terms of like what distribution is and what   they do and usually I consider my part of my job  as education in terms of teaching my clients what   Distributors do and which Distributors do it  better than who and part of my job is to know   who's doing it legitimately and who's not doing  it legitimately and who takes an appropriate   distribution fee for putting the film out into  the world who's kind of trying to rip them off  and so it's to protect them as well so  there's there's really just the knowledge of   distribution that's one reason another is just  protection and in addition some salesmanship   I'm trying to get the best possible deal  out there and some filmmakers a filmmaker, in theory, could wear all those hats if they got  to learn the distribution landscape and learn   who all the Distributors are and learned how  to negotiate these contracts and had a sales   hat in addition to a creative that there are  those types right that could do it all I'm here for the ones that don't and producer reps  in general are there for the people who can't that   need some help in that in that area have you ever  experienced that where someone says I went to AFM   I go on IMDb Pro and I see what similar films  are who they're with and I just can't navigate   this can you help me yeah all the time because  there's there are a lot of different kinds of   people at AFM like they're sales agents versus  Distributors sometimes they do both there's been increasing trend of some International sales  agents getting into U.S distribution their   contracts look a little bit different than what  U.S Distributors agreements look like and so yeah   I get it all the time that from filmmakers hey  they can't get the Distributors to call them back   there are some Distributors that are pretty good  have an open door policy of looking at lots of   material and there's some Distributors that just  want to really use the system of agents and Reps   that are out there to to kind of be a kind of a  buffer against all the content that's out there they don't need to see 10 000 movies this year  they want to look at the top three or four hundred   which to choose the 20 they might distribute  that year so it just yeah most most filmmakers   when they go to FM AFM is a great learning  process but it's not a great really a great   tool for independent filmmaker to go to  and actually sell their own film it usually   they experience it once they'll they'll find  it's really hard to get in those doors to meet   with Distributors and most Distributors and sales  agents want to keep Keep the Wolves at Bay so to speak of course so if a filmmaker says well I'm  very Hands-On and DIY I'll I'll be the one to   break through it's kind of like they're breaking  protocol a little bit that's not how it's yeah   it's well it's not that it's not okay it's just  that there are some companies that it's   just hard to get a return phone call they're  just busy dealing with the Reps and agents for   film and they're getting some of these  companies are getting five six submissions a day and some of them just completely  ignore they just look at it and think   I don't know what that is there's  just there's just too much in coming.

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