Film Courage: How many films have you helped get onto Netflix?
Glen Reynolds, Founder of Circus Road Films: I believe it's five to date. Most of my films
that have gone on Netflix have gone through distributors who then got into Netflix. In
terms of directly, I believe it's five how about this year. I know we're early in the year oh yeah
none this year none this year okay okay what's the most recent film you got onto Netflix most
recent I'm trying to think if there's something after Tinker that got onto Netflix there's a film
called a kind of Lo-Fi sci-fi film called Tinker I believe that was the last one was that the one
where she was a personal assistant to an insane writer oh okay because that looked good no she's
Crawford who's in it okay what are the advantages of a filmmaker getting their movie on Netflix
several things if first of all if you're beloved by Netflix and they want to bring you into the
fold in terms of making films one of the few companies that can just say yes very quickly
and finance your your movie there's a lot of things that come with that but they're they're
definitely they've got a lot of money to spend on production the bragging rights are pretty huge
I think that's what film and it's it's a way some people can see movies very easily everybody
doesn't mind paying the subscription fee no one has to get out their wallet and pay rent it for
four dollars so you can tell the world about it and everybody can watch it fairly easily
so I think that's probably the two main reasons that filmmakers want to be on Netflix
did they have would you say their their recommendations
are one of the best in terms of giving you similar titles so that your movie will be seen
by other movie like if I'm clicking on one then it's just it's it's so well sort of
the algorithm is so personalized yeah yeah I've seen I think that
I don't think I've ever so my films have been very indie not Netflix or produced
and so I think their heart they're hard to find unless you're told about it at the end
of the day and perhaps like with in the case of Tinker if you're you love indie film sci-fi
I'm not I'm not sure even with all the content they have now if you wish if that film would show
up unless you typed it in and found it that way so I think it's still hard even to get visibility
on Netflix with an indie unless you're something of theirs that got a lot more promotion than
something they acquired from a distributor you think that was probably much different a few
years back before they started producing their own content oh yeah yeah these not to produce movies
so they the everything was other people's content Studio content Disney movies unless yeah unless
no Netflix originals at first so yeah definitely a lot easier any disadvantages being on Netflix
I depend on your expectations and what you want I don't I don't think so
they're they're usually paying a license fee for the right to do it so what you're getting going in
it's a badge of honor these days to say you're you've got to film on Netflix
I think some clients if they're staring at a at a a minimal offer from Netflix versus someone who
wanted to put the film in 10 theaters they have to choose a path and depending on what they want
out of the film they might choose the theatrical path because they just want that kind of treatment
but there have been some deals like I currently negotiate a deal with a different streamer
where we sold the streamer a pay window they're going to take it they're paying a license fee
and another distributor is going to come in and take all the other rights and assume that contract
so they're going to do the theatrical do the transactional video then it's going
to go to that streamer that bought the film and then go to other other platforms later
and the same distributor was going to pay a lot less beforehand when they didn't know about the
the TV deal so they got their cake their cake and they eat it too so to speak because they got
the I can't say the name yet but the the cable deal that they're getting and they're getting
someone to take it out on 10 screens theatrically so that's a win-win in that case what are the
pathways to getting a film on Netflix these days so there's there's pitching into the originals
division to see if it's say something they want to take on directly from the filmmaker or you can be
with a distributor who then after they take it out on transactional VOD [video-on-demand] will
then try to pitch it to Netflix at the same time they might pitch HBO Hulu and other streamers to
see if they want to take it usually 90 to 120 days after the start of the transactional video window
so there's really two paths there's either directly we can sell it directly or through
a distributor as a window later on and cannot me as an individual just contact Netflix could
concise just send them a letter and my experience is not really just from that's not to prohibit
anybody from trying or who knows if you've got the right moxie to get in the door right
but my experience is that filmmakers come to me have tried have not been able to get someone to
watch it so it's similar to what you were talking about with the the need for a producer rep in that
some doors are closed yeah some doors are open maybe they shouldn't be but the ones that are
closed sometimes there's reasons and then you you do those might actually be the best ones
to try absolutely yeah okay interesting so if they know someone or if the distributor that
they've gone with has access that's usually how it's done yeah or smaller yeah exactly
and do most distributors promise that or they entertain it but they don't promise it
both there's some distributors that that say there's some distributors that that will say
yes we're going to pitch it to Netflix and HBO Etc that same distributor might also want to film but
say hey we want it but we're probably not going to be able to make a deal with HBO or Netflix if
they're being honest there are some distributors that on the lower side of the spectrum that don't
even try because they don't have the relationships they're smaller distributors that just can't that
take films out to the transactional VOSD space and the advertising video space but don't have the
relationships to make a deal with Netflix or Hulu, etc and then there are some distributors that kind
of pretend they have the relationship and just say that they can pitch them and really can't
how does an indie filmmaker get a Netflix original well the so there's kind of two ways one is if
you've somehow managed to pitch it to Netflix and they want to make it with you normally to get
that pitch you've got to be going in with someone who's made a film with them before they and most
Hollywood-based distributors and just don't have an open door policy for anybody to come
in and Pitch anything most of them including Netflix make films with the production companies
that are owned by stars or just producers that have been making films for a long time
and so your most likely path is getting involved with one of them getting somehow getting them to
look at your material and having them want to make it and take it in to get financing from Netflix
that's one way the other way is to pitch it to Netflix to the original department have them
like what you already made and decide hey we'll make it we'll turn into an original
it seems like they're taking a lot of or they're making a lot of adaptations
Netflix or at least the ones I've been watching are yeah yeah they make all different kinds of
content now it's from reality to documentaries and they're they're they analyze their the metrics
they have to see what their viewers want dictates what they make and who they make films with yeah
I've suggested several films because they have this email thing that you can just put in would
you like to a title we don't have that you'd like to see and right unfortunately I haven't seen them
up there but I keep trying and I have no personal investment in it I just want to see it on there
but do you ever recommend a filmmaker go with just a strict Netflix deal rather than theatrical
I'm usually following the lead of the filmmaker on that and trying to see what their goals are
and try to advise them according to what the what they want and I can point out
depending on what's being offered what I what I subjectively think is the best math monetarily
as in terms of maximizing the value was the best bet but if you want a certain kind of
exposure what's the other what's the other mean because there's all levels of theatrical
from one screen to 10 screens to 100 screens so it kind of depends on what's being proffered
and kind of depends on what I think the filmmaker wants out of it at the end of the day when you see
exposure are they also considering future projects down the line getting their name out there maybe
is more important than getting someone to see movie A it's about maybe movie b or c that's
coming yeah I find most filmmakers have competing goals that aren't necessarily at odds with each
other but many of them will say well it's most important for me to get my money back for my
investors but it's also just as important for me to make my get my next project off the ground
so I've really declared that they've got two important most important things at the day
I'd say and then it kind of depends because there are some people who have financed their
own thing so they have kind of they definitely have both things in mind there's some people
I'm dealing with where they have there's the executive producer that I never meet
and but they're in control of the property and they're much more concerned about
that going on to the next thing then maybe their executive producer is so and then I
get sometimes the executive producer is part of the discussion so they're having to pay attention
to that person really the goal is monetization I find that though usually the best situation for
exposure matches the best path for monetization is usually not it's pretty rare to have that
Netflix offer versus semi-wide theatrical rethink while the money's kind of equal
the exposure is kind of equal it's usually usually someone
is is putting up something that's a lot better than everybody else.