ABSTRACT
The perception that distribution companies, sales agents and a whole host of industry support companies make too much money and charge too many expenses back to filmmakers has sparked a Do-It-Yourself distribution movement. This means, we become a distributor and we monetize the film ourselves – we promote it, get people to see it, find a buyer and collect the revenues directly. Managed-DIY, sometimes called semi-DIY, or just a la carte distribution-as-a-service companies are popping up. In the old model, distribution companies withheld a large, possibly even a variable, amount of our film’s first revenues. Now distribution companies are capping the expenses they recoup from our film’s revenues. Other distributors offer publicity, promotion, even theatrical options to the filmmakers but it’s an a la carte menu and the filmmaker must fund each option themselves.
