Article
How did you first hear about Indie Rights?
I heard Linda [Nelson] on a podcast. What she said seemed really smart and made sense to me. I was working with a sales agent, who got our film to Indie Rights, but you don’t need a sales agent to get to them. Just go to their website.
fiction, drama, no name cast
I reached out to a consultant and they made some recommendations. It was our goal not to waste a lot of time at festivals and get the film out there and start monetizing.
fiction, drama, no name cast
fiction, drama, no name cast
Through a consultant. They told me Indie Rights was worth looking into.
We started just googling, researching companies that handle smaller films like ours. It was some website where they target smaller films. Maybe something like “the best distributors for smaller films.” We knew that we would have limits on who we would be able to push our film toward and who would be interested. Knowing we are a smaller film, with no name celebrities—that’s how we came to Indie Rights.
fiction, comedy, no name cast
fiction, international, no name cast
Linda approached us at a film festival and gave us her card. We didn’t take it seriously at the time, and we were expecting more offers.
I heard Linda on Alex (Ferrari)’s podcast.
fiction, comedy, no name cast
What motivated you to work with them?
A friend of mine was with Indie Rights and recommended them. When they accepted my film, I thought, “Perfect, I’m done. I don’t have to keep doing research.” I had been working too long on the project already.
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It was a 3-year contract and filmmakers were paid out right away. There’s no recouping of costs. That’s important because I’ve had a number of bad distribution deals or talks. Given the landscape of distribution today, it is the most streamlined, cut and dry, simple option. That was the most helpful. That was what appealed to me the most.
fiction, comedy, no name cast
fiction, drama, no name cast
I think just out of…necessity, I guess. I didn’t like any of the other deals distributors were giving me. None of the distributors gave me any sort of marketing plan for my film, so I felt like I just needed to find someone who had the best deal and a history of being honest. Then, I could work the marketing myself. Indie Rights is probably one of the few companies that had that—after doing a lot of research on them and hearing what they were about. What was key was that they only took 20%, there were no other up-front costs, everyone I talked to said they were very transparent and up front in terms of payments. They didn’t make any false promises about marketing. I really appreciated their honesty and transparency, and I knew what I was getting.
fiction, drama, no name cast
Honestly, I was too burned out to keep looking for options.
To be honest, it was their model for accepting films without a fee that was a big deal for us. I wasn’t really interested in having to pay a fee and then have a percentage kind of model. The other companies that we were looking at were that model and it didn’t feel like a good fit. We were tired of the industry—having to pay for things that we shouldn’t have to.
fiction, comedy, no name cast
What went well?
Linda is nice, easy to get a hold of and talk to you. Very hard to get people on the phone at other places. Other places you are a box set to pitch. Felt like Indie Rights gives each title at least some attention, as far as I can tell. I think that’s important.
fiction, comedy, no name cast
fiction, drama, no name cast
They pretty much delivered what they said they were going to do. They’ve done this for a while and they have good experience with real small films that didn’t go to Sundance or the big festivals. They had these relationships with these digital platforms, and they knew exactly what to do and they got my film on those platforms. Since they had these strong relationships with these platforms, they could directly reach out to them with questions. Everything went really smoothly. I think they also have done a good job of doing their own research of what they think will be the future of film in terms of digital distribution. They saw right away—long before these AVOD companies came out—that this was the next thing that was going to happen since Netflix [is licensing fewer films] and Amazon Prime [started rejecting “unsolicited” films]. They developed a relationship with Tubi and Roku very early on, which is paying off now since the platforms are becoming more and more curated.
I was happy with their deliverables. That was really great, and they also provide a marketing packet that helps you get your social media. It helps you get everything kind of streamlined. I thought that it was very thorough and helpful to make sure everything looks the way it is supposed to. It gives it a polish as well, especially if you are doing it by yourself, which we were. We had our attorney review the contract and make sure there wasn’t anything that stood out and was unsavory. I think they were a little surprised by that—but it was something that was important to me and our team. They received it well. They accepted some of the changes, pushed back on others. I think, for the most part, that went well.
fiction, comedy, no name cast
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Well, at the moment, I’m on four platforms including Amazon Prime. So, that’s good. I trust them. And, although they know publicity themselves, they give a very detailed booklet of how to best use social media to publicize your own film. It was actually educational.
They followed through on their promise of getting us on major platforms. It was a promise kept.
fiction, drama, no name cast
What went poorly?
I don’t think anything went poorly. It’s up to me to go back to her and ask what channels we’re on. It’s been a while since I’ve been updated. But that’s on me—we get paid every quarter. That, to me, is like a big step forward. To not have to track down money and to have responsible accounting, where you can see every quarter. I’m not really sure anything has gone poorly. We knew what we were getting into.
fiction, comedy, no name cast
fiction, international
Nothing ever went poorly with them. Above the board. I’m sure there are people who are not happy with them, but for what they are, what they do—I think they are really honest. They take their take and just try to get your films to as many places as possible.
I wouldn’t say it was totally negative, but they have a booth at Cannes and at AFM for sales, but nothing came up for our title internationally. That could just be a statement for the independent film industry (especially for smaller films). Don’t know if that has to do with them or if that’s the way the market is for a small film like ours. Also, sometimes it was unclear when release dates were happening. If I asked them, they would tell me. But I was never given a clear release schedule. If I were to do it again, I would have been more diligent about asking them about specific release schedules for non-Amazon platforms. They are very transparent, but unless you ask them what the plan is exactly, they don’t lay it out completely.
fiction, drama, no name cast
fiction, drama, no name cast
I think it was the expectation of marketing. You are required to do your own marketing with Indie Rights. They don’t promise to market your film, they do not push your film out unless you tag them. Initially they will put your film on their website with their new releases, which is great, but I’m not necessarily sure what else to do other than the initial playbook that they send you. It’s a lot of work to do on your own.
I think that—for me—I would have liked a little more dialogue between us and them. Because they have such polished packets and materials, I feel like they really lean on those a lot and any time you have a question, they refer you back to those items rather than jumping on a call or writing a longer email. The correspondence is very abrupt to the point where they don’t always answer all of your questions. They always answer, though. I’ve never sent an email that has gone unanswered. Linda always follows up. But I’d like a little more sometimes.
fiction, comedy, no name cast
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Communication with them was very challenging. I was given a specific note for my deliverables, without clear direction from Indie Rights regarding REDACTEDREDACTED. Because of this, we spent six months of needless work. Also, they don’t tell you when your film has actually been accepted somewhere and when to look for it, so we would know when to publicize it. I’ve never talked to anyone on the phone, it’s all been through email.
Linda writes a lot of one-sentence emails that don’t really express a lot of concern or care. Communication is kind of sloppy and we would get these emails that looked like she’s copy/pasting a template, which were full of broken links. There’s one folder that she shares with all the filmmakers, but everyone has edit access. Files get moved. They don’t notify you when the film is live; I found out through other people.
fiction, drama, no name cast
fiction, drama, no name cast
When we received our first quarter report, we received it in a giant spreadsheet with every other client they have, so I could see how every other film was doing. I didn’t love it. First of all, I had to recreate our numbers for my team because that was all they were interested in. But it was just not a personalized document.
Did they breach the contract?
Across the board, everyone answered “no” to this question.
Filmmaker Friendliness?
Once they saw how well the film was doing, we had a lot more conversations about strategy. It was more friendly in the sense that she feels that she knows me and feels more comfortable talking to me. She’s very business-like when you first meet her, but she’ll reply to anyone who has an inquiry. She’s open to whomever might be interested in working with them.
fiction, drama, no name cast
fiction, drama, no name cast
They are easy to talk to, they know their business. Obviously, they have a lot of films that they are dealing with. They do get back to you, even if it takes a day or two. Linda is extremely personable, and I wouldn’t say that I’ve had any negative feedback or conversations with them. If I had a question, it was answered. As brief as it was, it was answered. And they’ve paid on time. They’ve always connected with their filmmakers on a timely basis. I can’t say anything negative about their communication.
They’re a very well-oiled machine. I think that their model works for what they provide. I think it is filmmaker friendly, especially for first-timers, with not many resources at their disposal.
fiction, comedy, no name cast
What would you have done differently?
Truthfully, the way things have gone, I wouldn’t change anything. I’d go back in time to raise money for advertising.
fiction, comedy, no name cast
fiction, comedy, no name cast
If everything was exactly the same, I wouldn’t change anything. I think that we accomplished our goal—we got our film out there. We know who we are as a film, and I think that we can count it as a success. If we had gotten into different festivals, it may have been a different outcome.
I would have made the same decision to go with Indie Rights. For this project, and what I was doing, it was perfect. I did not find any other company that did what they did with the track record they have, with the relationships they had with digital platforms. I don’t know if it’s for everyone. I can’t say that the success that I had will happen for everyone, but I would say that, definitely, if you’re looking for a distributor who is honest and will tell you exactly what they do, then they’re the people to go to and they’re reliable.
fiction, drama, no name cast
fiction, drama, no name cast
I probably would have gone with somebody else. Based on the money we have made, we’d probably do better by ourselves or with Seed&Spark. I was so fucking tired by the time I was done with the film that I didn’t have the stamina. And it wasn’t worth it for them to take 20% to put film on platforms, and for very basic communication.
This was a good decision based on how big the film was, what our expectations were. This was bigger than what we anticipated it to be. I wouldn’t have done anything differently on this particular film. The next film? I don’t know. Depends on what talent is involved, what model we can work with, the scope of the film, who is involved. I wouldn’t rule them out.
fiction, drama, no name cast
fiction, drama, no name cast
Even though it was a lot of work on my part, it was like going to school on promoting your film. I learned so much about the distribution process that I can have this conversation comfortably and say that I went to school through Indie Rights.
My original thought process was to get the film into as many film festivals as possible and look for a distributor that way. That just didn’t happen. It was close, but my film didn’t make it into a lot of film festivals. I never had the interest, buzz behind it. I didn’t hire someone that would help me get to the right people. Eventually I just thought, “I need to get this out there somehow.” IndieRights is the only one that doesn’t charge you up front. I didn’t trust any of the places that came to me, or were lower-cost aggregators. The fact that Indie Rights charged a percentage made me trust them because they were financially motivated.
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Takeaways
- Indie Rights often connects with filmmakers who are frustrated with establishment partners. Whether their film didn’t hit it big at film festivals, or the filmmaker is a veteran who has been taken advantage of before, Indie Rights posits itself as an alternative option. They seem to be interested in challenging the established predatory distributor landscape with clear contracts and accountability.
- Upon signing, Indie Rights gives filmmakers a marketing playbook to support their efforts (the filmmaker’s) on amplifying the film’s reach. This is an asset that is not allowed to be shared outside of the client base.
- A very small company, Linda Nelson is the face of it. Everyone reported quick responses to emails and her availability to them and their project. There were also some reports of shallow responses, which seems to be the tradeoff for speed.
- Indie Rights’ model used to be based on the Amazon Prime access they touted (studio rates, little cost for onboarding to the platform) and they have now transitioned to a focus on AVOD. Linda and her team are tracking industry trends, and strategize with their titles en masse, meaning that whatever strategy they think will make the filmmakers money, they exercise for all films across the board.
- Indie Rights is the only company (of which we are aware) that shares data of all titles with its filmmakers—the importance of which cannot be overstated.
- Noteworthy is that Indie Rights doesn’t do any serious business-to-consumer marketing outside of some organic social media postings.
