GreenCine is interested. Now what?
After reading the fine print in several distribution offers, and after talking with some other independent filmmakers who have watched their work die on the vine after a distributor signed it, I have decided to retain all my rights and distribute the stuff myself. But now, I find myself in a very strange land that makes little sense to me. I have a lot to learn, clearly.
Has anyone on this forum had any dealings with GreenCine [www.greencine.com]? They're sort of an alternative to Netflix and seem to specialize in independent film. They also have a prototype video-on-demand service up that looks pretty interesting. Anyway, I e-mailed them a while back about possibly carrying some of my titles, and they e-mailed back and said "Sure, send us some DVDs." All well and good, but they went on to ask if they could order my disks from "Baker & Taylor, VPD or Ingram".... implying that this is the normal course for any "real" video distributor. Not wanting to display my ignorance, I googled these names, and as near as I can tell, they seem to be some kind of video wholesalers that supply video rental stores. I've always operated on a D.I.Y, low-volume, zero-inventory, burn-'em-as-I-get-orders kind of business model to date. This big studio, lots of middlemen, approach is all new to me. So here are my questions: 1. Am I going to mark myself as some kind of idiot rube if I tell GreenCine, "No, that's O.K., just order them directly from me?" 2. Is there any real advantage for an independent like myself in working with a wholesaler (aside from the joy of giving someone else a seemingly unnecessary cut of my already paltry sales!)? 3. If they remain interested, is someone like GreenCine likely to order (and pay for) the 100s or 1000s of units that would justify the additional hassle and overhead of working with a wholesaler? Thanks in advance for any help from those of you who have negotiated this wild and woolly world before. |
Get an ISBN number and sell it on Amazon. There is a little more to it than that, of course. But, Amazon is unbelieveably huge...that should be a priority if you have a completed DVD ready for sale.
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I already have the ISBN number.... but after going over Amazon's guidelines it seems they want UPC symbols, not ISBN, for videos. Did I misread this? Have you sold on Amazon with just an ISBN?
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No, I haven't yet. But, getting a book on there only requires an ISBN number. At least that's the last I heard..
I'd keep looking into it because it's worth the effort and cost if you can get your film on there. It's the largest store in the world and you're only a search away on there.. |
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{edit} I just read on their site: "We're not currently accepting films outside of our normal purchasing channels for DVD rental." So it sounds like they're thinking along the VOD path. Quote:
Jay |
Brian,
Great article in the "independent" magazine on distribution. Check out "GoKart films" an indy distributor with a good filmmaker friendly deal. |
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