In Episode 5 of this new podcast – Episode 5 – Producer Marc Clebanoff chats with Colin Geddes, a veteran programmer for one of the world’s top film festivals, as well as a veteran programmer for one of the world’s top horror streamers. Colin shares a detailed behind the scenes of the festival selection process plus the do’s and don’ts for filmmakers navigating the circuit. If you would like to learn a proven strategy to get your film funded, take a look at my 3 Part Interactive Workshop, How to Find Investors & Get Funded In it, I share the strategy you need to know to find, vet, and i ..read more

Check out any of the AVOD streaming platforms and you’ll notice a seemingly endless chain of super-low budget genre films filling the carousels. Many of them look similar to each other, and there are many with seemingly identical concepts. The key art may make them look like they had somewhat of a real budget, but once you begin watching, it becomes evident very quickly that the majority of these films were made on shoestring budgets. The crazy thing is that the budget doesn’t matter. I cringe to report that not even the quality matters all that much. Many of these movies make money. What’s B ..read more

As the strikes kick off, putting most of the film and television world on ice, the nature and business of streaming is under a microscope. Streaming has yet to come into its hay day. We enthusiastically embrace streaming in the United States, however, much of the non-English speaking world has yet to. In some countries streaming is in its infancy due to lack of internet infrastructure, or because culturally it simply has not caught on yet. Streaming is Spreading Worldwide The future seems bright in that streaming is slowly spreading worldwide and over time it will become the dominant way to c ..read more

In Episode 4 of this new podcast – Episode 4 – Producer and Global Sales Agent Marc Clebanoff chats with actor turned producer, Frank Krueger, about his experience financing and producing his independent feature film, “Darkness Descends” and more. If you would like to learn a proven strategy to get your film funded, take a look at my 3 Part Interactive Workshop, How to Find Investors & Get Funded In it, I share the strategy you need to know to find, vet, and impress investors and get funded! Plus you get a Live Q&A Coaching Call with me to ask questions and get feedback. Click here ..read more

In Episode 3 of this new podcast – Episode 3 – Producer and Global Sales Agent Marc Clebanoff talks with Level 33 Owner and veteran distribution professional Andreas Olavarria about domestic distribution strategies including day and date releases, how to best appeal to distributors, and the future of streaming. If you would like to learn more about Film Distribution, take a look at my free training, 6 Ways to Not Screw Up Your Film Distribution Deal. In it, I share 6 Distribution Deal Killers to avoid so your film can have the best shot at success. Click here to join me in this free trainin ..read more

I get pitched projects all the time. More often than not, when I get pitched a film package, particularly a lower or micro budget film, the attachments include actors that may be recognizable but likely have no name value or bankability. 3 Rules of Thumb For Casting There are three general rules of thumb when casting talent that determine value for a lower budget film: The actor has played an iconic role in their career. If an actor played a principal or standout role in a large iconic film at some point in the past, that actor will have an inherent international value. The actor is a househ ..read more

Every film that gets the greenlight is a small miracle. As producers and content creators, we spend 99% of our time killing ourselves to be able to spend 1% of our time reaping the benefit of our own small miracle – shooting our project. But once you actually get the greenlight and step on set, your real work as a producer begins – and it’s never smooth sailing. Regardless of how much preparation you might do, production is messy. Prepare for Battle I equate it to going to battle. Time, money and the elements are always against you, and as the producer, you assume all of the liability. Your n ..read more

As a sales agent, I always delicately inquire to producers what their real cost to recoup on their film is. Much of the time producers are honest with me and disclose their real budget, and often producers are dishonest and over-inflate their budget. Regardless of whether the admitted budget of an indie film is on the line or not, the number I am given is what the producer inherently assigns in their mind as what their film is worth in the market, and typically the expectation is well beyond that number. The Reality The reality is that more often than not, the budget spent on an independent f ..read more

As independent filmmakers, there are a lot of rabbit holes we have to be careful of going down. There are false investors, incompetent or dishonest producers, bad distributors – a million pathways that can either set up our dream project, or kill our dream project. One pathway that I’ve seen ruin filmmakers or their dream projects is going down the pathway of project fixation – getting so fixated on one particular project that they disregard all other opportunities and abandon logic.  I’ve seen colleagues get so wrapped up with one project that they ultimately paralyze their effort becau ..read more

In Episode 2 of this new podcast – Episode 2 – Producer and Sales Agent Marc Clebanoff talks with Rich Wolff, the CEO of Breaking Glass Pictures, a Philadelphia based domestic distributor about the mechanics of what happens to a film once it’s delivered for release, as well as some tips and strategy into best practices for engaging distributors. If you would like to learn more about Film Distribution, take a look at my free training, 6 Ways to Not Screw Up Your Film Distribution Deal. In it, I share 6 Distribution Deal Killers to avoid so your film can have the best shot at success. Click h ..read more