Synopsis: Everything you’ve always wanted to know about getting your film screened on the internet and mobile devices… and shouldn’t be afraid to ask. Experts have their say at Power to the Pixel.

Social media or mass media? VOD or IFOD? Download or digital stream? As technology opens up new means of sharing and marketing movies, film-makers are faced with a bewildering range of choices when it comes to distributing their work. So what does the new breed of digital distributors offer that their traditional counterparts do not? What services will they actually provide? And how do you choose between them?

All these questions and more were addressed in the panel discussion Releasing Films Across Platforms at the Power to the Pixel forum (see 'Power to the Pixel: Making Sense of Cross-media'), at this month’s Times BFI London Film Festival. Of the answers, more later. But first, let’s meet the participants.

Of the three companies featured, Scilla Andreen’s IndieFlix has perhaps the most traditional business model. Working mainly with movies that have already been selected for offline film festivals, IndieFlix helps to ensure sales via DVD and Video On Demand. The service is non-exclusive, with profits split 70:30 in favour of the film-maker.

In contrast, The Auteurs founder Efe Cakarel is a cheerful newcomer to the world of film distribution. “Before I founded the site, I’d never been to a film festival,” he says. “I thought Fellini was a city in Italy!” Despite this, his site offers an impressive range of classic arthouse flicks, all available as high-quality pay-to-view online streams. Automatic data exchange with social networks Facebook and Twitter enables friends to see exactly what you’ve been viewing, providing the film-maker with instant word-of-mouth marketing.

Finally, Babelgum is currently exploring the IFOD (Internet Free On Demand) space, screening shorts and indie movies free of charge via the internet and mobile devices. Unlike IndieFlix or The Auteurs, it pays traditional advances for the work it distributes and demands traditional exclusivity – albeit only for a much smaller fraction of the total worldwide rights. It was represented on the panel by its general manager, industry veteran Karel Martesko-Fenster.

But now, on to those questions…

1. What do you offer that traditional distributors can’t?

Here, opinions varied. For Efe Cakarel of The Auteurs, the key thing is simply that you’ll get your film distributed, no matter what the subject matter – or whether you have any box-office stars.

“The most significant insight we had when we started the company was that some wonderful films would never get released,” he said.

With their lower overheads, the new distributors can afford to take on movies whose audiences would be regarded by mainstream distributors as unworkably small. “If you have 10,000 people in Madrid who would like to watch the film, you have a business,” commented Cakarel.

For the remaining two panellists, it came down to money. Scilla Andreen of IndieFlix pointed out that traditional distribution deals demand exclusive rights to all sources of revenue, both present and future – and that with new channels of distribution coming into being all the time, film-makers may be signing away more than they realise.

“The world is changing so fast,” she said. “The most important thing to me, as a film-maker, is that you keep your rights.”

For Karol Martesko-Fenster, the main selling point of Babelgum was even simpler. “We actually pay,” he said. “We pay in advance, and we offer a 50:50 split with the creator.”

2. Are you critics or curators of new films?

On the face of it, this seems a strange question: of course distributors aren’t critics. Yet by determining which films we get to watch, they effectively play the same role. A newspaper critic can only suggest the public avoids a particular film; by not releasing it in the first place, a distributor can render the matter absolute.

Here, the panel was unanimous: the new distributors are far closer to curators of new work than their traditional counterparts. 

Karol Martesko-Fenster was particularly critical of the “gatekeepers”, as he termed establishment critics and distributors. Pointing out that Sally Potter’s latest film, Rage, premiered on Babelgum after a generally negative critical reception at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, he commented: “If you have a bad review from Variety, that’s a real problem. We care about the audience.”

Efe Cakarel of The Auteurs agreed. “When I hear talk about a ‘good film’, that always gets me slightly concerned,” he said. “[The difference with new media is that] the content isn’t being pushed to you; it’s being pulled by you. If that content is good, it gets discovered very quickly.”

3. Do release windows still matter?

For theatrical releases, the opening weekend can make or break a film. But in the new world, the panel agreed, conventional release windows no longer hold sway.

While traditional distributors exercise rigorous control over pre-release publicity material – often, arguably, to the detriment of a film – Babelgum seemed refreshingly willing to disclose details of its movies in advance.

“I’m trying to dispense with windows,” said Karol Martesko-Fenster. “You don’t have to time things post-theatrical release: we can work before.”

Efe Cakarel went further. “If you came to me with Inglourious Basterds and ask me if I wanted to release it theatrically first, of course I’d say yes. But there are probably only 200 to 300 films a year that validate the release window as a profit-maximising model.”

In support of his argument, Cakarel pointed to José Padilha’s Elite Squad. The uncompromising favela drama went on to become Brazil’s most popular film of 2007 on its theatrical release – despite having been previously seen by an estimated 11 million people when an early cut leaked online.

“People who had seen the film online still went to see it,” he said. “They wanted to 'experience' it.”

4. How soon will I see any money?

Traditional wisdom dictates that movies make most of their money in a brief flash immediately after release, then fade into obscurity. New media, in contrast, holds out the hope of a steadier revenue stream.

Displaying genuine figures for recent Babelgum releases, Karel Martesko-Fenster noted that even online, audience figures decline near-exponentially after release, but asserted: “It’s in the long tail of the content for us. I want to see how many people have seen [Rage] on their mobile devices and online by next February or March.”

This time, however, Efe Cakarel disagreed. “There’s so much stuff out there. Immediacy is important.”

5. How on earth do I get my film noticed?

Which brings us to the most pressing question at all. Digital distribution merely ensures that anyone who wants to view your movie can view your movie. There’s no guarantee they actually will. So how do you stand out from the crowd?

Efe Cakarel offered a rather simplistic ‘if it’s good, it’ll succeed’ philosophy. Pointing out that The Auteurs is a platform built around viral discovery, he evangelised the power of social networks to spread news of films by word of mouth.

Karol Martesko-Fenster was more circumspect. Noting that Babelgum actively helps with marketing, he urged film-makers not to rely on the film press or fan community, but to tap into aspects of their movies that appeal to new sectors of the media.

But perhaps it was Scilla Andreen who took the most realistic view of what it takes to succeed in an increasingly crowded global marketplace. Discussing the meticulous pre-release publicity campaign for teen comedy The Graduates, she advised film-makers to create ‘deliverables’ that can be released before shooting even begins.

“You have to be proactive,” she said. “Even the Rolling Stones still have to go on tour to promote their releases. The film-maker has to take responsibility for their work.”

Even in the brave new world of digital distribution, it seems, some things will never change.