How Do I Sell Stock Film Footage?

Tight film budgets rely on stock footage rather than risk missing key shots.

Film stock footage is a clip or library of clips of generic scenes that film and video creators (professional or amatuer) can integrate into projects. The lure of using stock footage is that filmmakers can save money on production costs of capturing a beach sunset and pay royalty rights for the use of the video. Payments depend on where the clip will be seen and how broad of an audience will be exposed to it. You can sell stock footage through an existing library or create your own library and market it.

Instructions

1. Capture film footage using 35mm film or high definition cameras. Create cinematically sharp content that can fit into a number of content needs. Shooting higher end products allow buyers to bring the quality down to match project needs--you can't increase production value after the fact.

2. Break the clips down into easily used five, ten and 15 second clips. Creating smaller clips allows buyers to choose exactly what they need while giving you more of a library to sell.

3. Explore listing your stock footage with one of the many major stock footage companies out there. Most of these firms will allow you to upload clips into existing libraries and pay you a royalty when items are bought--these may pay up to a 30 percent commission on sales. Some film studios may buy clips outright.

4. Create enough content to build your own library where you can market different topic clip libraries such as sunsets, accidents, traffic, beach scenes, birds or underwater to name a few concepts. Market these through a website and to film production companies and independent filmmakers.

References

• ShutterStock: Shutterstock footage
• Footage Info: Footage Info Listing Service