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The Way We Get By With DIY Distribution
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Around the same time, we read an article about John Sayles’ Honeydripper, which mentioned how he’d successfully used students from an Alabama college marketing class to help develop the film’s marketing strategy for that state. Not only did the class develop a strategy, but when the film played in Alabama, Sayles now had a group of people with a direct connection to the movie’s success.
We thought this was a great idea, but why stop at one school? What if we could find colleges and universities in states all over the country interested in developing marketing strategies for our film?
So we began reaching out, asking colleges and universities to help us figure out how to promote and distribute the film in their cities and states. We were thrilled by how many professors quickly agreed to use our film as a class project. Though the quality of the projects varied from school to school, each one delivered some tangible ideas, resources and methods for us to determine how successful the film would be in that state.
We had all of this data, but we didn’t know how to best take advantage of it. So we called a professor at Harvard Business School who we knew had close relationships with several studios and who had done a number of case studies on effective film marketing and distribution.
After a few phones calls, she agreed to have a group of students work on our larger business model for The Way We Get By. The students researched other successful documentaries, interviewed successful businesspeople in the industry and came up with a road map of opportunities at least worth investigating, given our limited budget. The students’ comprehensive plan was a living document for our film, and included a forecast for profit potential, a breakdown of direct sales versus store distribution and detailed research on DVD fulfillment companies.
MADE IN MAINE
Once the film was completed, we sent a screener to the Bangor Savings Bank. We had big plans for screening the film all across the state, but no money with which to do it.
We knew there were many different things we could ask for in our negotiations with the bank—screening fees, appearance fees, promotional materials for bank-sponsored screenings—but none of that mattered to us; it was all shortsighted profit potential. Instead, we looked down the road. What would we need to succeed throughout the entire life of the film? What would provide the bank a tangible return on its investment?
In the end, what we asked for was goods and services. We asked for the bank to pay for the costs of a film negative and 35mm film prints of The Way We Get By, which would make it easier to screen at bank-sponsored events at theaters in Maine. More importantly, the prints would make it much easier for us to mount a national theatrical run this summer.
We asked the bank to pay for the cost of 15,000 DVDs, 5,000 of which they could hand out to valued customers at a predetermined later date and 10,000 that we could sell for pure profit from our Website, at screenings, on a fulfillment site, etc.
After many negotiations, the bank agreed to make the largest financial commitment in its history and became the sole sponsor of The Way We Get By throughout Maine. To date, Bangor Savings Bank has spent more than $100,000 on in-kind and direct services for the film.
With five 35mm film prints in hand, we are now in the middle of a 16-city theatrical run throughout Maine, with the revenue from our cut of the box office helping to fund the larger theatrical roll-out in New York, Los Angeles, Boston and beyond. We’re also planning the best time to make our 10,000 DVDs available, and how both the theatrical and DVD release can best promote our upcoming television broadcast.
THE MISSING PIECE OF THE PUZZLE
In January, we received great news: PBS’s “P.O.V.” had selected The Way We Get By for its 2009 season. This was extremely important to us, because from the beginning we knew that television was the only major piece of the entire distribution puzzle that we could not realize ourselves.
Having a national television broadcast on PBS means a large audience viewing the film, which will increase awareness of the film and, more importantly, give a boost to all of the grassroots marketing and self-distribution strategies we have been developing from day one.
Knight was the first person we called to report the good news.
Throughout production, post-production and now distribution, we’ve had days when we’ve questioned whether or not the battle to get this film made has been worth all of the rejections and heartache we’ve dealt with on this long road. Truly, what has kept us going is the memory of that undefeated attitude we saw in Knight on that fateful night in 2004. If Bill could find a way to get through all of his struggles, who were we to complain? Who were we to say there was no way around a problem like dwindling funds or distribution challenges?
Thinking of Knight always succeeds in putting everything in perspective and has made us double our efforts. Telling his story is the least we can do. MM
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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by Nicole/MadlabPost on 7/15/09 at 9:19 pm
What an encouraging story. I didn’t expect to read this, as I was looking for a Traildance writeup that the programmer mentioned. I’m glad I found this article and am going to have to go and pick up this issue.
Locations have been and continue to be a major hurdle in my own filmmaking journey.
- Comment by Tajudeen on 7/17/09 at 5:49 pm
Truly inspiring. I am an emerging filmmaker based in Lagos, Nigeria. I thought a lot of the challenges I face in the course of filmmaking were majorly restricted to my country as a developing nation. But now I know better. I feel encouraged to push more and never give up.
- Comment by jack2012 on 7/01/10 at 6:20 am
Things are going well for us distribution wise so far. We have a month long run in Chico, we’re going to Livermore next, and we’re already talking to Santa Barbara, Salt Lake City, Larkspur, and several other cities right now, booking theatres as we go. Lots of work, but since folks like the film so much, it’s starting to get easier with each phone call.
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rattan garden furniture- Comment by how to write a thesis statement on 4/15/11 at 11:59 am
I could not agree more! You have an impressive writing skills my friend..
- Comment by la electrician on 6/08/11 at 4:26 pm
diy is the really the way to go. for everything really. great stuff
- Comment by Crazy Vision on 9/10/11 at 12:07 pm
thanx for shring this ..
please feel free to visit my blog asalah
This story was published in the Future of Moviemaking 2009 MovieMaker Magazine. The headline was:
More Than Getting By/Grassroots marketing, DIY distribution and a “no quit” attitude add up to success for the duo behind The Way We Get By
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