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How did you first hear about Giant Pictures?
I don’t know, actually. I want to say maybe through our EP? I honestly can’t remember.
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I heard about them from The Film Collaborative.
I met Nick at an industry event.
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Through our sales rep.
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Through an industry connection.
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An industry event.
Through a friend of mine.
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What motivated you to work with them?
Compared to other distributors, they’re quite transparent in what they’re doing. They gave us a good deal of control in how the release was handled. That being said, from my understanding of things, Giant isn’t a traditional distributor. They don’t put money into PR or advertising themselves, so if you work with them, expect to have to handle a lot of that aspect of distribution lifting yourself.
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Because of the flexibility. We wanted an aggregator. We almost went with BitMax but Nick sold us on this aggregation plus model where they would help us aggregate but try to find opportunities for us, which seemed like a good route—a hybrid route—as we had lost faith in our sales agents to do any of that work. That made sense.
We originally wanted to go with a more traditional theatrical distributor, but when that didn’t pan out we were looking at two aggregator options, one being Giant Pictures. We felt Giant was more “boutique” and selective with the films they took on and they also offered a better revenue split.
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I liked their ethics and from my conversations with Nick I felt that it was an ethical company.
I wanted an honest distributor who was able to be flexible with me with regard to what they took on and what I did.
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They had the best terms and seemed to get our film the best.
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As an indie producer, I felt like they were more nimble than dealing with a distributor. I could have complete control over the placement of my film in the marketplace and how it front-faced, i.e. the marketing, the posters, etc. Controlling the message of my movie was important to me. Also making my money back was important to me, and I know that these days it’s rare after an MG, if you get one of those at all, to see a cent. Giant is pretty transparent and even though they are more expensive than other aggregators, I felt they were more curated.
What went well?
Giant did a great job getting the film up and available on various PVOD and SVOD services. They’re very good at figuring that out and they understand the markets well. They also understand international streaming markets very well and can advise on those with a pretty high degree of accuracy. They have a great filmmaker portal that provides updates on how the film is doing across platforms.
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The one advantage they have over others—and a key reason I chose them—is that the release can be tailored and tweaked at short notice, something that has allowed flexibility with another sales agent we have here in the UK, which is doing a more traditional release, selling territory by territory. I like the idea that I can just leave Giant whenever I want, and I can add or drop platforms (assuming said platform wants the film) at will.
They delivered on what we expected from them and placed the film on a variety of platforms such as Amazon, iTunes, Tubi, etc. They also secured a few license deals which came with some decent payments for us.
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Their dashboard is great and they were incredibly flexible with what rights we wanted to retain, and even advised us on strategy for the rights that they did not take on.
What they’re good at is reporting sales and paying out on time.
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We did well financially.
They’re very transparent. Their reporting dashboard is really helpful. That’s all cool.
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Once I gave them all the elements, I never heard back from them, which I thought was great because they took the film and handled it all. I really appreciated their honesty and the royalties that come in—I also really appreciate that they’re very transparent.
What went poorly?
They’re not very clear on their strategies, on when they’re having conversations with people. It would be good to know where the film stands at any given point.
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[For DVDs,] I’d say to be sure you’re clear and assertive in how you want those to look, and work, and be sure to see all elements before they go to press on them.
We felt like Giant put the film up on a lot of platforms that ultimately were not worth it. Each time the film goes up on a new platform it costs money, yet the revenue coming from those platforms often does not recoup what it costs to be there. It’s a bit of a good faith gamble, but we wish they’d been more discerning and also checked in with us more about where the film was going.
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When it came to the run-up of our release, they lost interest quickly, didn’t provide us with the basic information we needed, and [very specific delivery problems mentioned]. The fees don’t seem like a good value. Giant’s USP is that they have “great relationships” with the VOD platforms, and apart from output deals that guarantee placement on platforms, they can help increase visibility. I can understand them wanting to cover costs, but what it seems is that their model relies on getting all this up-front cash from loads of films, irrespective of whether they make money. This means they have no skin in the game, which is apparent from how perfunctory their commitment is.
They don’t push your film. They don’t really promote your film. They’re just providing a place for my film to be, but I had to do all the work of a distributor. I think that was where I wasn’t knowledgeable to know the difference.
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For the most part we felt taken care of, until it came time to pitch our film and we felt left out of the loop (or worse, forgotten).
The communication is terrible with Nick Savva in that it feels rushed and disrespectful. Sorry but that’s my honest opinion. I’m a pretty sensible business person and don’t need a lot of handholding, but the initial conversations should at least be civil. I guess what I’m saying is there is no velvet glove. Knowing that going in might smooth all transactions.
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I guess it really boils down to there being too many handoffs between newcomers, and that feeling like we were starting from scratch a few times over. That, and a handful of resulting miscommunications in terms of when we were being pitched and to whom. If we’d been more involved, perhaps we would have been able to work back channels more.
Did they breach the contract?
[At least one film remarked upon being put on platforms without their consent.]
[At least one film remarked upon not being fully delivered to a platform that they paid for.]
Filmmaker Friendliness?
They’re very business-focused, but I would say they do love working with filmmakers, love movies, and like the work that they do.
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Super responsive… Once I started getting educated, Nick was always there. They always answer—which is really a pleasure because not everyone did that.
I find them very ethical, or at least they’ve been ethical with me. The split is a super filmmaker friendly split.
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For the type of distributor they are, I’d say they are pretty friendly and have found good opportunities for us years after the release. They have a specific model and you need to understand that model when you partner with them.
They answered every email within a few hours and even took time to break down their strategy to me whenever I asked.
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One thing I just can’t stand is all the bullshit corporate jargon they use. Things like “reporting cadence” just make communication complicated and unclear. All their emails are packed with this nonsense, likely as a way of avoiding communicating anything of substance.
Everyone has been good. I don’t feel talked down to at all.
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In the courtship it was great, but after a few handoffs our original champions were gone, and it felt disconnected. Email responses were much worse.
Everything feels like you’re talking to a spreadsheet, not a person. It’s treated like a product (which it is). But it should be treated a bit more like a fine wine and less like a G.I. Joe doll. I think a little sensitivity training on their end would be helpful.
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What would you have done differently?
I probably would have been more prepared to get directly involved in marketing and PR efforts.
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We should have limited the amount of TVOD/AVOD platforms the film was made available on as most of the time it wasn’t worth the cost to get on the platform.
I would have delivered different artwork to Giant.
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Had a $100K budget in marketing funds and self-distributed.
So, I think I’d only use them again as a way of getting a film onto platforms, and expect nothing more. I went with Giant over the next-best option, Indie Rights, because I felt Giant had slightly broader reach. Though with their fees, for our small film, I’m not sure if it was worth it; I’m pretty sure we’d have done better with Indie Rights. Hard to know for sure.
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I probably would still do it if they maintained the same splits or I’d go with Bitmax and our sales agent. I don’t know how unique Giant’s capabilities are in packaging this AVOD deal. Maybe it’s something I couldn’t do myself. It remains to be seen. I haven’t been able to see them do something that validated the fees.
In general, they’ve been good. I’d work with them again but not at the same split.
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Any Final Thoughts?
I refer them to a lot of filmmakers, so I would still go with them today. Here’s the thing: I don’t know another company that’s that filmmaker friendly. If they have a competitor, maybe I’d consider it but, I’m not aware of it.
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Takeaways
- Giant changed their fees after Amazon changed its policy to no longer automatically accept doc submissions for SVOD via its Prime Video Direct program, so we see some filmmakers in our report complaining of high splits. Those celebrating lower splits are most likely experiencing the effects of Giant’s outdated policy.
- No distributor is perfect, of course, and there were several reports noting specific staff turnarounds that impacted their films’ releases. Others felt that at times the communication was not great and reported impersonal responses from the Giant team, although whether this is related to staffing is unknown. Still others lamented that there wasn’t any real marketing or publicity (though Giant does not promise any).
- On the other hand, many filmmakers reported solid, nurturing communication from Giant. Overall filmmakers appreciate Giant for its transparency, filmmaker-friendly approach, and offering a tad more service than just aggregation in that they curate, can get the film onto key platforms, advise on international streaming, and can help secure licensing deals.
