Filmmakers are naturally creative people with an unending well of stories to pull from. To keep producing these new stories however each filmmaker needs to be able to profit from their films.
Historically, distribution of films has been blocked by gatekeepers arbitrarily deciding what makes a good or bad film. This forced filmmakers to either self distribute their film by either trying the festival circuit, producing their own VHS/DVD/Digital media or since 2005 uploading for free with the hope that the film may be “discovered” or generate ad revenue.
The distribution landscape has changed drastically in the last 15 years.
The gatekeepers still dominate decision making regarding content pushed to larger outlets such as theatrical, television, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc BUT there are so many streaming channels throughout the world now hungry for content it opens the door to democratizing more content.
“Indies, independent production houses and independent filmmakers have always struggled to get distribution. So when they find us, they come on board very quickly.” said Ian McKee Founder and CEO of Vuulr.
Vuulr is a platform based in Singapore that allows filmmakers and distributors to upload their content securely so buyers can negotiate with and license content for their outlets.
One the most expensive elements of distribution is traveling all over the world to meet with the people. Traveling to Santa Monica for the American Film Market (AFM), Rotterdam, Netherlands for CineMark, Berlin, Germany for the European Film Market, Hong Kong for FILMART, or MIPCOM in Cannes, France can eat up your bandwidth. When you hire a distributor, those costs are rolled over to the filmmaker either upfront or out of their sales. Vuulr works a bit differently.
“Our job is simply a matching process to allow anybody and everybody who has great content to get their content in front of the buyers who are looking for it.” said McKee.
Vuulr attends dozens of film markets, meets with filmmakers/buyers and connects those partnerships year round through face-to-face meetings and pushing people to their platform. The platform is free for Buyers and Content Providers to search for and list their films. Vuulr only gets paid after a deal is made.
“It’s really just about getting connected with the industry. We were at MIPCOM. We will be in NATPE in Miami, Natasha will be at Sundance, Ben will going down to Realscreen in New Orleans and I’ll be over in Hollywood.” Said McKee
While touring the Vuulr platform I was impressed by the slick interface and how easy it is to discover new content. It is also simple for buyers to make an offer to filmmakers/distributors to license their content all while eliminating the gatekeeper providing a smooth transaction that can take place in hours rather than weeks.
Because of the marketing and relationship building put out by Vuulr the option for international distribution has become more of a reality to the beginning and seasoned filmmaker.
You can find out more about Vuulr at https://www.vuulr.com/
