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Despite filmmaking being more democratized than ever before with readily available technology enabling almost anyone who wants to make a movie able to do so, film distribution remains somewhat obfuscated. They don’t teach you the business of selling movies in film school.
So many filmmakers are left naïve, confused on what to do with their completed film, and gullible to the sweet words and empty promises (and one-sided boilerplate contracts) of the many sharks out there also known as film distributors.
Here is a sad story we have seen play out time and again. Broke independent filmmaker finishes their first feature after many years of blood, sweat and tears. Broke filmmaker signs a contract with a shady distributor, thinking they have made it now, the distributor will handle things from here, and soon the film will be out on Netflix or multiple streaming channels making money.
And maybe that film will make some money. Maybe it won’t. But that broke filmmaker will never see any of it because in that contract they have signed with the shady distributor, there are widely exaggerated recoupable expenses like $50,000 in marketing. And the film never recoups so all the money goes to the shady distributor.
If, somehow, the film actually makes money to the point the ridiculous recoupment costs are covered, the shady distributor lies, inveigles, and dodges communication all in an effort to never pay the broke filmmaker, knowing the broke filmmaker doesn’t have the resources to take them to court. The film has effectively been stolen. And the broke filmmaker is left disillusioned with the whole film business while the shady distributor moves onto the next victim. There are always new, naïve filmmakers. There are always new victims.
A photoshoot for Friends, Foes & Fireworks. Once we finished the film, we had to learn all about distribution.
We were once these naïve filmmakers, confused by distribution, coaxed by shady distributors, and we were lucky not to be burnt any worse than we were.
Then, in March 2020, after winning the rights back to our first improvised feature Friends, Foes & Fireworks from a dishonest distributor, we decided to try Filmhub instead. Filmhub works like an aggregator / marketplace connecting filmmakers and streaming channels. It is a licensing platform where filmmakers upload their work and streaming channels such as Amazon and Tubi select the films they want. They then work through Filmhub for automated licensing, asset fulfilment and payment processing.
Since 2020, we have uploaded over 10 films to Filmhub, both features and shorts, and we have seen our work land not only on Amazon and Tubi, but on Apple TV, Vudu, Hoopla, Kanopy, Plex, Xumo and many other platforms. Filmhub has become a big part of how we make money self-distributing our work and with each new film we release, Filmhub is always a trusted option. This is why:
Transparency
This is a big reason. Filmhub is upfront with what they do and how they work. You upload your film to their platform. Streaming channels license your film from Filmhub. You keep 80% of the revenue generated, Filmhub takes 20%. However, if you are thinking of signing up to Filmhub and want to get an 82.5% share of revenue for the first 18 months, you can do so by using this link and entering the referral code Nexus.
There are no upfront costs. There are no recoupable expenses. The deliverables are up to you to organize and upload and the marketing is up to you too once the film is live on a streaming channel.
Once your film is in their system, much of the process is automated. On the Filmhub dashboard, you can see when a title has passed QC. You can see when it is selected for a platform and when it has been delivered.
But best of all, several times a month, we see money in our Filmhub account – as soon as the platforms pay Filmhub the money is accessible to us – no waiting for a distributor to get around to sending reports and money. Payments are instant.
Now there are honest distributors out there, though they can be hard to find in the quagmire that is the distribution industry. But even the honest distributors more often than not still send reports and payments quarterly. I’m not a fan of this as when filmmaking is your business it is difficult to balance the books with income only available every three months.
An example of Filmhub’s Performance Insights tab.
It is also difficult to run marketing campaigns when you only get data on how your film is performing a few times a year. But Filmhub has a Performance Insights tab which shows you high-level trends of how your film is doing on a certain channel, or in a certain country. Filmhub has access to the back-end raw data from many streaming channels and so do you.
So if you run a Facebook ad for your film in Australia you can use Filmhub’s built-in filters to check if your ad has increased views of your film in Australia. This is valuable insight for any filmmaker as it lets you know what marketing is working and allows the filmmaker to double down or pivot to a new strategy. I find this type of information so valuable as we are always marketing our films and trying new strategies to reach viewers so having this data at our fingertips is crucial.
Access to Many Platforms
Filmhub works with over 100 streaming channels and they are continually adding new channels for filmmakers to access. Many of these platforms are niche and unlikely to earn the filmmaker much money. But you don’t know which channel might emerge as the next big thing for indie films.
When we uploaded Friends, Foes & Fireworks in 2020, the AVOD service Tubi wasn’t much of a consideration and Amazon, despite paying horribly low rates for each hour streamed, was still the platform where the majority of indie filmmakers made the most money. But in the last couple of years Tubi has emerged as an indie filmmaker favorite, and many filmmakers now make more on Tubi than anywhere else.
We have also recently been getting our work on Apple TV through Filmhub. Back in 2020, we paid over $1000USD to the aggregator Bitmax to place Choir Girl onto Apple TV. There was also a $100 annual service fee to maintain our Bitmax account. Now our films Machination, In Corpore and Friends, Foes & Fireworks have been picked up by Apple TV via Filmhub with no additional costs or fees. Apple TV is just another channel working with Filmhub to license titles.
We also notice Cinedigm is selecting our titles via Filmhub. This is the parent company of Fandor and though we haven’t seen our titles on Fandor (yet) we have seen other filmmakers reporting they are live on Fandor via Filmhub.
Platforms such as Apple TV and Fandor carry weight, they are known by the average consumer, and at one time not long ago they could only be accessed by working with a distributor who may or may not have your best interest at heart, or an aggregator who would charge upfront fees to pitch your film to such a channel. Now, filmmakers are gaining access to these channels via Filmhub. Who knows which streaming channel will work with Filmhub next?
Ease of Use
Filmhub’s new title upload screen.
The first time you upload a title to Filmhub it can be daunting. Having the right assets, organising the captions, working with the correct specs for the artwork and trailer. But there are Help Articles to guide you and each title will also get an acquisitions manager who can answer any questions. And once you deliver one title successfully, the process becomes pretty straightforward.
Much of the process is automated with Filmhub relying on technology to make things easy and efficient for both filmmakers and streaming channels. This is not surprising given their CEO Alan d’Escragnolle is a tech industry veteran.
The process is so easy that some shady distributors even take films from filmmakers and just upload to Filmhub themselves as a way to reach platforms. This happened to us with Friends, Foes & Fireworks; without our knowledge or permission a distributor had uploaded our work to Filmhub and claimed they held the rights to do so. We submitted a copyright notice and had the title reverted to us.
In short, you don’t need a distributor or anybody else to get your film onto multiple streaming channels. It’s easy to do with Filmhub.
Control
Filmhub is non-exclusive. Even if your film is already on certain platforms, even if you already have a distributor (depending on your agreement with that distributor of course) you can still work with Filmhub to reach more channels.
You can limit the channels Filmhub pitches your film too. For example, say your film is already on Amazon, under the Rights Management for your title you can exclude Amazon from where Filmhub can place the film. **
Or, like we do, you can use Filmhub to access major platforms in North America and work with international distributors to reach platforms and markets Filmhub cannot. You can also remove your title from Filmhub by contacting them. There are no contracts that lock you in. You are in control.
What We Dislike
There are a couple of things we don’t like about using Filmhub. The first is you can’t set a release date for your film. It gets delivered to a channel like Tubi for example, and you just have to keep checking Tubil to see if your title is live yet, and when you see it is, that’s when you start promoting.
Filmhub CEO Alan d’Escragnolle argues this is the future and you just have to be ready to go with your marketing push once your film is live on a platform. Many filmmakers agree with him; but we would prefer if we could control the release date. It makes coordinating marketing and working with a publicist easier.
The other thing we dislike about Filmhub is you are paid through Paypal. This means as an international company, we are not only hit with the Paypal service fee on our earnings from Filmhub, but then an extra fee (hidden in Paypal’s horrible exchange rates which never match the true market rate) when we convert our US earnings to Euro to transfer to our bank account.
We would love it if Filmhub would implement an alternative payment process (revenue paid straight to our US bank account for example) but for now the Paypal service fees are a cost of doing business.
Conclusion
Much of our success as filmmakers in the last few years has come via having our films on Filmhub. And for that we are grateful. Film distribution is difficult and you have to approach each potential opportunity and offer with caution. Research everything and everyone. The best plan for each film depends on the film. But for many films, especially micro-budget work, we have found Filmhub is often the best way to get your film out there and be paid.
Written by Ivan Malekin
** Since this article was published, Filmhub have introduced different subscription plans ranging from Free to Plus to Pro. You can no longer block channels on the Free plan. However, we remain on the Free plan as we currently have no need for the services offered on the paid plans. Your needs may differ. You can see the different plans and the benefits and limitations of each here.
If you are ready to join Filmhub, we invite you to take advantage of this link with the referral code ‘Nexus’ to receive 82.5% revenue share for the first 18 months instead of the standard 80% at no cost to you. We approached Filmhub ourselves to be an affiliate, because of our own positive experience with their service. We have seen too many filmmakers taken advantage of by distributors and we want filmmakers to know there are options out there, like Filmhub, that make distribution straightforward and are completely transparent in how they operate.