How to Make an Indie Film Sell

Video Transcript

"KEVIN LINDENMUTH: This is Kevin Lindenmuth for Expert Village talking about distribution for your independent film or documentary. Another thing with distribution is will this program sell? I mean, will people rent it, will people buy it? That's another thing to consider. I mean, you could see what's out there now. Let's say you're making a horror movie. Let's say, zombie films seems to be the in thing now. Every other horror movie is a zombie movie. So, you go, "Hey, I'll do a zombie movie," so that may help. Of course, it may help doing something totally different. There's this one company, for example, that's selling their stuff in the Blockbuster and what they do is like every time a Hollywood blockbuster is coming out, they'll make kind of a very little budget copy of it like "Going Invasion" came on "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers", the new version, they did like the "Pod People". And then when "I Am Legend" came out, they did something about the "Omega Guy" or something. So, they do these kind of cheap rip-offs kind of thing but they sell because people want to see a similar movie if they like the big blockbuster. So, that's another avenue to go. It feels kinda cheating and I'm always opting for more. People do personal projects, something that's more original, but that's another way to go. So, you got to make sure that it'll sell, if it's a documentary, do it on a subject that's never been done before. I mean, PBS just did a mini series on subject, I mean, you don't want to do the same thing because you're not going to get distributed. Why would they take your little program that costs far less in something that's more expensive on the same subject? So, again, do a little research. Make sure the ad is a saleable thing and, of course, the saleability goes, the quality and all that. So, they all kind of intertwine with each other. But just make sure that something that you think, if you intend to sell it, that there's definitely a market for it."