I know its been a lot about our Distribution Lab lately - but we do have one starting again this summer - and just want to make sure people know about it - and what the potential is :) (there will be a few more informative lab posts coming up too) - OK - enough shameless self promotion (until the bottom of this email!).
This week we have a guest post by producer/director Kade Atwood who along with Megan Rico (Director) and Bryson Alejandro (Producer) are in the fiction section of the Distribution Lab. They developed an innovative way to engage audiences at festivals with their wonderful fun film Edie Arnold is a Loser. They offered to share their experience!
By Kade Atwood - Guest Post
After spending two years trying to make a film the “traditional” way by attaching name talent and shopping it to financiers, we decided to stop waiting on someone else’s green light and make a film ourselves. We called in all the favors and scrounged up as much money on our own and willed Edie Arnold is a Loser into existence.
Edie Arnold is a Loser follows a timid Catholic school outsider whose accidental turn behind a drum kit sparks an unexpected transformation. What begins as a mortifying moment becomes the catalyst for a secret punk band, a surge of confidence, and a collision with authority—at school and at home. With humor and heart, the film tracks Edie’s growing self-expression as she navigates friendship, rebellion, and the consequences of being seen.
Not too long after production we realized we hadn’t given much thought of what to do once the film was complete. We knew we wanted to submit to Sundance and SXSW. We also knew our chances of getting in were slim. And that our chances of then finding distribution (the majority of films at these festivals don’t) were even smaller. What used to be a reliable model is now the equivalent of winning the lottery.
We realized the “traditional” Hollywood model failed us in production and we’d be stupid to expect anything different in distribution. So we decided to forge our own path forward and take Jon’s distribution lab.
If you’re a director/producer in the early stages of making a feature, you need to be thinking about distribution and marketing. I was told this while in prep for Edie Arnold is a Loser and the reality is we just didn’t have the bandwidth to think about it. If you don’t know anything about distribution, build in an extra 2-3 weeks of prep in your schedule to research and plan for distribution.
As indie filmmakers, our greatest resource is time. The reality of the industry today is that every filmmaker needs to be willing and ready to operate as a business owner. Since we wrapped post on Edie Arnold my full time (unpaid) job has been business operations.
We submitted a work in progress cut to festivals in the fall around the same time we started the Distribution Lab. Our plan was to expect the worst and hope for the best. It’d be cool if we got into a major festival but our plan wasn’t built around it. That felt like putting the destiny of our film in the hands of someone else and if you can’t tell by now, we’re VERY opposed to that.
Then everything changed in December when we were notified that SXSW selected Edie Arnold Is a Loser for their Narrative Feature Competition.
Before we move on, let’s talk goal (Jon’s annoyed I’ve waited this long to mention it). The goal for our film was money. Not because we’re sell outs! Although Marvel hasn’t come knocking yet…
The film was completely financed through friends and family. We also asked the cast/crew to defer a portion of their rates which everyone agreed to. This film was only possible because everyone believed in us and this story. Ethically we felt money had to be our first goal as a way to repay everyone’s generosity.
Our secondary goal was career. (Jon allows secondary goals - but one goal takes precedence.) Megan and I are first time feature directors and we’d love to support ourselves financially doing this full time (we both have side gigs to keep the lights on). These goals have helped frame every part of our plan.
Since we didn’t have a budget for marketing, our focus was building a grassroots word of mouth campaign starting with SXSW.
We really lucked out. One of our cast members, Alexa Paige, blew up on TikTok shortly after production. It was unrelated to our film but she clearly understood socials better than us. We asked her to lead our social media and she absolutely killed it!
A lot of other filmmakers complimented our social strategy during SXSW. We didn’t have the reach, spend or star power as other SXSW films. So we each made a post talking about a film we were most looking forward to at the festival. This usually led those larger film accounts to repost us.
Jon preaches authentic audience engagement and creating value for that audience. I’ve been attending Sundance every year since I moved to Utah five years ago. Not once had a filmmaker engaged me while waiting in line. That seemed crazy! You have direct access to hundreds of audience members waiting over an hour to see your movie. What a perfect opportunity to engage and build your fan base.
At SXSW, me, Megan and Bryson would walk up and down the line chatting with everyone and handing out merch. We made a behind the scenes zine, tampons (relevant to the film), sunglasses, stickers and buttons to hand out for free. Someone who couldn’t get into the film even left a 5-star review on Letterboxd because our producer gave them merch after being turned away.
While we originally handmade our merch to save money, we discovered that our fans really appreciated the personal touch. Shout out to the Salt Lake City library system, it’s AMAZING. They have a Cricut, button maker and heat press which we used to make stickers, pins and shirts. The only expense is the cost of materials. Check out the resources at your local library!
During our Q&A we’d pass around a clipboard for newsletter signups. At the end we’d ask the audience to rate us on Letterboxd and follow us on socials. As the audience left the theater, someone from our team asked each person if they’d like to record a review of their move. If so, they were directed to a line which lead to two people from our team recording reactions.
Creating this unique experience generated great word of mouth throughout the festival. Ultimately it lead to SXSW selecting Edie Arnold for a buzz screening.
Attending every festival has become a priority for us. Not only is it an opportunity to build our fanbase and drive engagement but it makes for a better audience experience. And that leads to better reviews and more eager fan support. Most of our Letterboxd reviews mention receiving merch or talking to the filmmakers.
We’re only three festivals in but we started experimenting with selling merch. We sold buttons, stickers and t-shirts (limit 10 per festival), zines and tampons are still free. We made over $200 at one screening. These items (except shirts) are on a board with a Venmo QR code. People pay based on an honor system, allowing us to be available to chat with fans. We’ll continue to refine this moving forward. But for a small film like ours, a couple hundred bucks across what will ultimately be 15-20 festivals adds up.
Attending the festivals has also been a great way to test and refine our audience. We knew our demographic was going to be teen and young adult females. But we’ve found the group this film resonates with the most are children of immigrants. Although our film is a comedy, it grounds itself in an emotional conflict between a mother imposing societal expectations on her daughter at the expense of her self-image. These findings will help refine our marketing plan for the theatrical and digital releases.
Our release strategy was to have a short theatrical run and move quickly to digital, thinking that Gen-Z audiences preferred digital. But thanks to the lab we learned that there’s a large appetite amongst Gen-Z to see movies in theaters. There just aren’t many films being made for them – and more importantly – that know how to market to them.
Now we’re looking to do a long theatrical run, starting with eventized screenings in select cities which we hope to roll into longer multi week runs. We’re also exploring unique models for VOD release where the film isn’t accessible to anyone anywhere. But that’s still in development.
We’re in an amazing position where we are now receiving distribution offers and guess what, they’re not great. But we aren’t beholden to these offers because our Plan A was always to distribute the film ourselves.
Every filmmaker needs to change their mindset. Relying on a distributor is no longer a viable Plan A. You have to plan to do it yourself. If that incredible offer comes along great – but if you built your own distribution path, you aren’t at the mercy of predatory deals. Filmmakers stop being exploited the moment we stop being desperate.
We’re happy to share more about our process, just reach out!
I’m on Instagram.
Find out when the film is screening at a theater near you
Watch the trailer
Follow us on Instagram and TikTok (we promise you’ll get a lot of great ideas to promote your own film!)
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