Institutions: Production, Distribution, Exhibition

Jone and Lili

Production

Who we have chosen to produce our film and why

Grassroots Films – Grassroots Films is a production company that is based in New York and desires to produce content that

inspires and enlightens. They have a good record in producing viral campaigns, short films and feature length documentaries and continue to try and push the limits of what an independent film company can do. We believe that they would be a good production company for our film as our documentary suits their desires of content that they want to produce. This is because our documentary will unravel and showcase the struggles of achieving happiness and explore the whole idea of happiness which will inspire and enlighten our audience. We also believe that they would be a good production company for our documentary as they strive in the field of feature length documentaries production so therefore they would have a lot of experience and be able to successfully produce our documentary. The fact that they are exploring the possibilities of collaborating with different companies and film makers around the globe means that they would be willing to work with us even if we are from the UK and that they may be able to secure co-producers for our documentary which is common in independent film. However, the only thing with this production company is that they are based in the US so it would have to be done internationally which may cost a lot of money which we may not even have being an independent and short documentary with limited funds. In terms of content, our production may feature opinions from people in America as well as montage shots of different places there which would still be able to make are film look like a grassroot production.

Spring Films– Spring Films is a London-based production company that focuses on producing high-end

documentaries for television, cinema, IMAX and multi-media platforms who focus on internal co-productions. We believe that they would be a good production company for our documentary as the fact that they specialize in producing documentaries means that they have a lot of experience with it and will help us produce a successful documentary. The fact that they produce films for the cinemas fits with our documentary as it will be a cinematic documentary for independent cinemas in the future. Since, they do focus on internal co-production is another factor that draws us to this production company as co production is something that will be needed for our documentary as it is common in independent film and will ensure its success. Spring Films has also won quite a bit of top-knotch awards like the oscars and emmys for their films proves that they have a lot of experience in this field and will be able to produce high quality and cinematic films which our documentary will fit. Lastly, the fact that they work with ICM partners in the US proves that they would have connections for our documentary to look attractive and be sold to universal distributors for it to be seen world wide and eventually have a mass market audience.

Mosaic Films– Mosaic Films is a well established documentary production company in London that has produced a wide

range of award winning creative documentaries. We believe that this production company would be the best one to produce our film. This is because they specialize in producing documentaries and it is what they are best at which would therefore mean that they would have the most experience and are a well known production company that distributors would know. This would benefit our documentary as the well known production company would lead to distributors already having an interest in our film and it would be easier to find buyers for our documentary in the future. The fact that our documentary is of innovative subject matter and is creative means that it would suit the type of documentaries that this company produces and be linked to this production company. Mosaic Films also works internationally and produced content for international broad casters shows that they have global connections and work globally which would suit our documentary as it would show people and places from the United States appealing to a more universal audience and representing the global aspect of this production company. This would also allow our documentary to be distributed globally through connections that mosaic films may have. The fact that one of the team members of this production company was a clinical psychologist would also show a connection between our documentary and the production company as we will feature psychology in our documentary. Lastly, the fact that they have a particular expertise in producing films on issues relating to mental health shows that they would also be the right producer for our documentary as happiness is part of mental health and would show the connection between our documentary and mosaic films.

Mosaic Films

Is our chosen Production Company

Distribution Process For a Short Film

Based on Article

Sales Agent or Distributor

– When it comes to making money from your short film, it can either be done through a sales agent or a distributor. A sales agent will get your film and through connections will find buyers and market your film. Their main focus is to get buyers at TV channels, VOD and different in flight entertainment programmers where they would then pay you 50-75% of the money that they make from your film. They normally pay for the rights to your film. A distributer is similar to a sales agent but their main focus it to get your film out there-get your film seen. They focus on getting your film into film festivals whilst still finding ways to sell your film. Distributors sometimes charge you for them to help distribute your film so it is important that you chose an established organization. Even if they don’t make money through distributing the film to film festivals, it increases the perceived value of the film allowing them to make more money from it later on.

– In order to get a distributor or sales agent, it is important that you enter in a film festival that have a wide range of distributors attending and that you enter in festivals with markets. If not then it is important that you do a lot of research to find the right distributor or sales agent for your film who understands it and is passionate about it. When you do find one, then contact them but make sure that you have an EPK for the film and that you up load the film on a password protected online screener prepared first. When you pitch the film to them you should email them these materials as well as a short synopsis of the film, a strong promotional image and invite them to the film festival that the short film will be screened at.

We have chosen to get a distributor instead of a sales agent

– We have decided that for our short documentary a distributor would be the best. This is due to the fact that their main focus is to get our film seen which is important for our documentary as it being part of an independent company means there is limited funds. If our documentary is seen by many and particularly entered in many film festivals both in the UK and Internationally which is another focus of distributors, it will increase in value and be able to get seen by other distributors, sales agents or exhibitors who would want to buy rights to our film and exhibit it in their independent cinemas or other platforms. We prefer them to a sales agent as sales agents look for platforms on television whilst we think that independent cinemas and film festivals would be better platforms to show our documentary in.

– Potential Distributors:

– Journeyman Pictures

– Dazzle

– Dogwoof

Potential Distributors

Chasing Happiness Documentary

Journeyman Pictures:– Journeyman Pictures is an independent co-producer and distribution company that is based

in Surrey, UK. We believe that they would be a good distributor for our documentary as they have produced many provocative, profound and original factual content who are one of the leading independent content marketers and distributors. This suits our documentary as it will contain original factual content and profound information on the subject of happiness, that chase to achieve it and its link to other areas like crime, politics, depression, suicide, etc. The fact that they only focus on 3 areas with documentaries being one of the 3 proves that they specialize in that area and would be able to ensure that our documentary becomes successful. Also they state on their website that they create the most sophisticated online marketing campaign proves that they would be good to have as our distributer as our documentary needs to have good online marketing due to our limited funds. Furthermore, they are pioneers in niche marketing, are a focused distribution outlet, have a multi-faceted marketing strategy (with their youtube site getting 250K views a day) and will be able to get out film placed across the board (many different countries) also proves that they would be a good distributor for our documentary.

Dazzle (Short Film Label)– We believe that Dazzle would also be a

good distributor for our documentary as they are a short film label which shows that they specialize in short film so would know the best distribution strategy for our documentary. They also seem to focus on original films that are sure to inspire which is what our film will do, showing that our film would be appealing to them. Lastly, the fact that they are based in London and Paris also makes them a good distributer as it is where our film will be produced.

Dogwoof– Dogwoof is a London based distribution company wo are known for being the go-to company

for global distribution of cinema documentaries. They were the first company in the world to do a multi-platform release in 2005 whose content ranges from social issue films to broader themes like music and whose film campaigns are known for having social impact and commercial success. This shows that they would be a good distributor for our film as our topic could fall as being part of the social issue category making it appealing to them and also due to the fact that our film is a cinema documentary where they tend to professionalize in. Also the fact that they focus on global distribution is another benefactor for our documentary as in order for it to be successful it is important that is distributed to the mass market and known world wide. The fact that they started out as a UK theatrical distributor for independent films and are also a leading sales agent for documentaries proves that they would be able to successfully distribute our documentary and that in the future our film would be able to get into independent cinemas and be shown across the world.

Journeyman Pictures

Our chosen Distributor

Exhibition

Exhibition outlets for our documentary

Film Festivals

Sundance Film Festival– We believe that the Sundance film festival would be a good place to

premiere/exhibit our film as it is one of the largest independent film festivals in the united states where a lot of buyers would most likely be allowing our film to make money in the future if a lot of people are interested in buying the rights to the film. We believe that this would also be a good place to exhibit our documentary as they do showcase international short documentaries which our film would be part of. Also due to the fact that our film will have some shots of the American scenery and view points from different Americans will allow the audience to find people of their same culture to identify with even if the majority of the documentary will focus on the information from the British Professionals. This would also provide our documentary with international viewers and the fact that is it being shown in a popular and well known film festivals will generate press and increase its value for future buyers. Lastly, this will also be free exhibition as you don’t need to pay for your film to be shown in film festivals which we need due to our lack of funds

London International Documentary Film Festival, London Short Film Festival and

Sheffield Doc Fest

– We believe that these film festivals would also be a good exhibition outlet as they are festivals within the UK. This would benefit us as audiences in these festival would be able to identify more with the people in our film as they are of the same culture and background. These festivals also focus on short documentaries and short film which our documentary is a part of. This would also allow for free exhibition which is what our documentary needs as the funds are limited since we are an independent production. Furthermore, the success that our documentary could make from these festivals would allow our documentary to increase in value and attract local buyers who enjoyed our film and want to gain rights to it for further distribution to other exhibition outlets like independent cinemas.

Phoenix Cinema/Independent Cinemas

– We believe that our documentary should also be exhibited in independent cinemas as it is an independent production, even if this will occur later on. We believe that this would help us target people from our target audience due to the fact that they are people from income bracket B who would most likely be going to independent cinemas rather than big name cinemas. We also think that independent cinema would be good for our documentary as it will be cinematic and fit into the short film category. A particular cinema that our documentary could be shown in is the Phoenix cinema. This would be a good platform to show our documentary as they have a tendency to show micro-budget films and like films that inspire audiences as well as enhance their lives. This relates to our documentary as it will be inspirational and enhance the lives of audiences through a new intake on happiness. They also have their own film festival called the short cinemas that is only for short film which we believe would suit our documentary as it is a short film.

Funding

Funding opportunities for our documentary

Where we will get the funding for our documentary

– When it comes to the funding for our documentary we will be getting it from 2 different sources. This is due to the fact that in order for our documentary to be successful it is important that we take advantage of as much funding opportunities that we can get. We will be getting our funding from the BFI and the IDA Fiscal Sponsorship. The BFI Film Fund is a fund that is used to support documentary filmmaking and The IDA Fiscal Sponsorship is a program that helps independent documentaries get funded. We believe that they would be able to fund our documentary as our film fits in with their guidelines, making our documentary more appealing and suitable for these organizations.

IDA Fiscal Eligibility

As you can see our documentary does meet these guidelines as our film is a documentary and our documentary is an independent film. We are also doing all the stages, production, distribution and exhibition, ourselves so therefore we are eligible to get this funding.

IDA Review Criteria

We believe that our documentary meets their criteria as our approach to happiness will be innovative and will tell a compelling and realistic story that will inspire and engage the audience.

The End

Production, Distribution, Exhibition, Funding