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Getting your movie to streaming

You’ve done the research, read a couple of articles (hopefully this one too 😊 ), asked some experts and decided to self distribute your movie, at this point you’ve probably found that there are a lot of options, from a small premiere with family and friends to seeing your movie in the top 10 of your preferred streaming service, so to help you out a bit, here are some ideas on how to get your movie to the world of online video on demand.


Prime Video Direct

A division of Amazon Prime, allows you to upload your own content and decide how you want to get paid for it, with a variety of Licensing options. You maintain your rights, keep creative control, and have at your disposal many marketing tools straight from the giant of online retail. Prime Video Direct also provides you with metrics and information about your viewers that will help you understand your audience and market your content properly. This is no doubt a great way to get to distribution with no middle man.


Youtube/Vimeo/Own website

Another interesting option for self-distribution are online video platforms, such as Youtube and Vimeo, but also your own website, Facebook, or even Instagram. These platforms allow for your content to be seen, reach a wider audience and get feedback, but will not really help you monetize. This is not necessarily bad, but going this way or not will depend completely on your goals and plans for your project as well as its features. 


If this is a super commercial, easy-to-understand romantic comedy, this will be (in my opinion) an absolute no-no, because, c’mon! This is the kind of movie that you can make money from, so going on a free platform will just be hurting your work. However, if we’re talking about a more insightful short film, that touches certain topics or shows a more independent/artsy vision then, by all means, go for it. This will allow you to show your style, talk to a much closer and familiar audience and help you gain momentum that can eventually help you to reach other distribution alternatives and give your career traction to reach those companies we talked about before.


Aggregators and getting to (basically) every other streaming platform

Say none of these options work for you (and your project, mostly, your project) and you still want to have your movie on iTunes, Hulu, Google Play, and whatnot, you will need an aggregator. Aggregators are basically sales agents for VoD, they are companies that for a percentage of your revenue or fixed fee, will get your movie to streaming platforms. Just like exhibitors and movie theaters, these platforms don’t deal with individuals directly so you can’t really pitch your finished project and get a contract, but aggregators can. 


We’re not getting into detail as of what aggregators are best or what kind of deal you can expect, but - in theory - they can be easier to find than sales agents or traditional distributors, also aggregators do the work of encoding and preparing your film for streaming, while a sales agent/distributor will require you to provide that, so there’s that too.


Hope this gives you some insight on where to go with your project, in any case, always make sure to consider distribution from the start and include it in your budget even if you go for free or low-cost alternatives.


Happy writing!




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