While contemplating how to distribute my documentary Cats of Malta, I had some big decisions to make regarding the most profitable way to approach the release. My partner and I figured we had two clear options — go at it alone, or hand the film over to film distributors. 

At the time we had discovered a platform called Show&Tell, run by documentarian and distribution strategist Keith Ochwat. Keith and the platform members believe that filmmakers, particularly documentary filmmakers, should be making money from their films without handing over a large sum of that profit to a distributor. 

I wholeheartedly agree because, even though not all distributors are dishonest, the work filmmakers put in to make these films is endless and filmmakers deserve to get paid, like all artists. A documentary can take many years to plan, produce, shoot, and edit. With most documentaries there can be large costs involved to obtain rights for images, music, extra footage, deliverables, marketing and so on, and Cats of Malta was no exception.