It’s All About Who Sees It
Filmmaking is just an expensive exercise if it is never distributed. Distribution is the key to financial success and the satisfaction that comes from actually having your film watched by someone. The web has lots of lists of distributors.
Indiana University has a list of Documentary Distributors with web and email addresses. International Distributors can be found on Film Forum’s site. For the commercial, digital or interlaced crowd, there’s the Video and Film Distributor list. There’s a short list of Short Film Distributors. There’s even a list for Educational Distributors
Be smart about sending people your film for distribution. Check out their catalog, their credentials, and their contracts. I have heard horror stories of filmmakers who have sent their films out to international distributors, thought they were rejected and then discovered their films were distributed internationally anyway. (I’ve also read about screenwriters suffering a similar fate. Scripts sent to potential producers or contests were used in international productions.) So, be prudent.
Also, remember that it’s a business arrangement. It’s up to you to negotiate for the best price. A distributor wants to get a film for as little as possible. It’s just good business.
If you’ve completed a film, you can list it on the Mandy Database. This list is for distributors looking for films. Finally, there’s always the Hollywood Creative Directory’s book of Distributors.
