Q: How do you best prepare for your film's distribution? A: far, far, far in advance.

Since we need a template just to think about distribution, I built one for you.

I don’t want to burst your bubble; I want you to fly high and touch the sky.

Yeah, today I have another gift to offer. Lucky you, but I also have to warn you. This gift isn’t really finished yet; it is just a work-in-progress. I’ve gotten tired waiting for someone else more qualified to build one and share it — so I did this on your behalf.

I asked some experts for help, but they didn’t want to contribute. Go figure. That’s just the way it is sometimes. But now, all you readers and dreamers, we can build this together.

The goal of this document is to help all filmmakers be better partners with their distribution and marketing team. Like a script, this document should evolve as you get closer and closer to actual distribution of your film. Consider the template as a tool to use in the pre-distribution part of your process; as Peter Broderick who I believe coined the “pre-distribution” term points out — think of it as the distribution equivalent of “pre-production” time in advance of the shoot —, you need to begin this early and maintain it.

And yes, this template is a bit of the byproduct of having embraced a “dynamic distribution” (also a Broderick term) approach on our film INVISIBLE NATION . We are in the second year of release now, and very excited to be heading to Taiwan (the subject of the film) for its premiere there in June. We have a lot more to share about INVISIBLE NATION’s continuing journey, but first there’s more I want to share about the current state of cinema…

We are entering a new era for the cinema industries, and there is no stopping it. Just like music and publishing, cinema is soon to face the disintermediation of all cultural industries. With it will come The DaaS Era — Distribution as a Service. Filmmakers won’t wait to be chosen and their films acquired. They will do the choosing. They will cast their crew like they already do, but now in distribution too.

We need to think early and often on how to make distribution and marketing work for our films. The process should begin before you shoot, but you need to have it done done by the time you are applying to film festivals.

This document below is to help you think about it. It is still in a state of becoming. We can make this template better. Much. Let’s build it together. What are we waiting for?

Please let me know what should be added to this template and revised.

In my opinion, no film festival should accept any film unless they fill such a template out three months prior to the festival. #JustSaying. You may call that gatekeeping but I think it would be helping to instill responsibility. If you don’t have a distribution plan in place prior to your first screening, you must actually believe it isn’t worthy of being seen. Having a plan, is not the same as using the plan; of course you will evolve it as you learn better ways to connect with audiences.

And before diving in, let me offer a few words on the small fixes and why they are so necessary to make part of your professional and personal creative practices. I have written about the power of Operational Improvements. They show you that you can change things, and will change things. If we made launching and executing them part of NonDē releasing, we’d have a much better ecosystem in record time. Embracing #OpImps could change you, your outlook, and the system you are in.

And why do we need a distribution template? Or perhaps better to ponder why have they not been readily offered before? Let’s face it: everyone is completely overwhelmed. Who does that benefit? It is not a flaw, but the actual design. Sure the volume of what we as filmmakers have to deal with is immense, so I can understand most lacking the time to put up a basic To Do checklist (which is what a template really is), but by also encouraging this flood, we are more apt to do nothing. We have our hands full just doing what we do reasonably well — make movies — so how are ever going to take on another immense task like releasing our films? It keeps us in our lane for us to feel overwhelmed.

Like anything else, large tasks are done by breaking it down into multiple manageable tasks, and then building a team to handle them in a unified fashion. The great thing of course is you don’t need to do it all at once, and prior planning will help you address the demands before they are upon you.

I have been around long enough to remember when film budgets were done on a template, and essentially they still are, but now they are truly flexible. But it once was a printed form and you put in the numbers and added it up. The template existed so you didn’t forget the essentials. That was about forty years ago.

Has any one handed you a film distribution template in the last forty years? No one has handed one to me, that much I know. Let me gift you one now and let’s change that, shall we? And let’s get on the task of improving it moving forward, okay?

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Distribution Planning Template v1.0:

YOUR FILM TITLE HERE

Release & Marketing Strategy

This document is intended only for those already working or contemplating working with the_______ filmmaking team. It is a work-in-progress and will always be evolving. Please do not share without expressed permission.

The Film: Title, Country of Origin, directed by XXXX and produced by xxxxx. Running time in minutes. Specific Genre.