Jeff Deverett, Film Producer, Entrepreneur, Writer, Director: If you're a Netflix buyer
at a market, you're a celebrity. You almost need security to walk through the marketplace because…
Film Courage:
Can we go back in time to that first Netflix meeting you had? What year was this 2014-2015?
Jeff: The first one was 14 because I hadn't made the movie yet. I made
the movie in 2015 (the first one) so I pitched them before I made the movie.
Film Courage: How did you get that meeting?
Jeff: Netflix was a different company back then. I actually phoned them up and I emailed. I got
the name you could get they published email addresses like the company wasn't gigantic it
was big obviously it was still very big but it wasn't what it is today and you could actually
get the names of buyers and you could email them and they would actually return an email
so that's what I did I emailed well I had to email probably 15 or 20 times
um made cut left a couple of voice messages because you could also get that and then finally
I got a return phone call and you know I had done other movies before so it wasn't my first had it
been my first I probably wouldn't have gotten them the meeting that that was my fourth movie um the
one that I pitched them on so i'd already made three before so I kind of knew what I was doing I
said you know I here's what i've made here i'm an experienced filmmaker blah blah blah i've got this
movie you got the olympus coming up can I pitch you on it so they heard the pitch but then they
said um we can't take a chance on you until we see the movie so make the movie and then come back
but they didn't guarantee anything they just said make the movie and show it to us when it's done
so the movie finished yeah how soon before you're picking up the phone or emailing after that
the movie wrapped at you know 505 on a thursday and at 506 I was picking up the phone
literally okay no no I mean I was I was just saying okay i'm finished shooting
you know I didn't show it to them obviously until after it's finished edited and everything like
that but no no I was anxious but again back then I was depending on it a little bit more and I was
much more hopeful than I am today in terms of my realism level um so
because I was a little more naive the truth the truth is I just wasn't as beaten up as I am now
so um I really really was hoping that they would take it um but by the way the movie before that
I made it for disney and I had I had got into disney and I it was called king of the camp
it was a kids movie a camp musical just like camp rock and it was really it was great movie I loved
making it and it was so disney and I met with the disney channel twice and we talked about it and
I came really really close so I knew I had the flavor I had the taste of what it was to be and
ultimately they said no um and it broke my heart but at least I got there at least I had the pitch
and you know I sat in the disney office and and they watched the trailer and I saw you
know I got to that and they saw the movie and ultimately and you know it was it was a fair no
I think it was terrible no to get but as they say no is the second best answer
um but so so i'd been there done that so with Netflix it was like okay i'm not going
gonna set myself up for disappointment but I really really really want this
and and I got lucky and and it sounds like too there were ways to get in touch with people that
I mean you said you were incredibly naive but also there were there was more access points
way more access so there's no more access like back then it wasn't like they would
not look at unsolicited material they actually looked at unsolicited material now it's done
it's finished they get they're too big they have too many yeah it's so that what happened back then
does not happen anymore for obvious reasons yeah it's so tiny and by the way they weren't doing any
original programming back then I mean they just probably started I forget what their first series
was that they made internally but it was all all acquisitions so they needed product so there was
a lot look at the year that I sold them that movie I can't remember they statistically they told me
I can't remember the number exactly but they it was something like they bought 900 independent
films that year and the year I sold them the last movie they bought 300. oh wow so because they're
making stuff internally right so they don't need as much external product as they do now they still
need some but generally it's bigger stuff so it's gotten harder and by the way it's funny so i've
got three movies on Netflix and I sold them three I think I have less of a chance now even having
done business with them three times of actually selling them something more than I had back then
just because they're so big and they have so much internal production that it's gotten
even more difficult since you'd already worked in distribution didn't you have a number of contacts
you could count on to try to get you in the door even after let's say some of the window closed of
their email addresses being online for you to access them yeah absolutely no a lot of
distribution is networking and people who worked at one company often end up in another company or
switch around and you know you keep hopefully you have your friendships with them and your business
relationships and and they I do get a lot of pitch meetings that way because I know people
I mean that's a big component of distribution as it is in any business right is networking so
um yeah so i'm not as active in distribution anymore so I don't have as many contacts as all
newer people and younger people but the people who I have known for many years who are still
active I still get meetings how does one become active in distribution let's suppose someone's
starting from the ground level and they want to be able to build that rapport with
people what are some good ways they can do it themselves so it's funny you ask that because I
i do teach at san diego state university I teach filmmaking and I said to a lot of my students you
know that you might want to consider going into distribution to start your career not production
and know that you know in five or ten years after you do distribution you'll
end up hopefully in production and just you know make sure you guide yourself in that direction
that's how you do it you got to work in it like you can't expect to be
a working film producer and understand the distribution circles because you're not in them
you got to work in a distribution company go to the markets meet your competitors
meet other people meet buyers the distribution companies are constantly meeting with buyers
their drink having drinks and dinner and all this kind of stuff and meetings and you get to
know these people and you know and you develop relationships over time but you have to work in
distribution to develop those relationships or go to film markets so buy a pass no
no no no you can go to film markets and kind of be on the periphery but you're not going to
get in the inner circles uh I see yeah no if you really want to get those relationships you got it
like listen a lot of people go to film markets and festivals and sit in panels and see the people and
once in a while somebody's nice enough to answer some questions or meet afterwards or whatever
but it's not the same you're not developing that kind of relationship because you're not doing
business together you're just kind of an irritant that you're a filmmaker who wants their attention
that's that's the truth you know um so they'll if they're polite they'll give you the time of
day most of them are polite so they don't bother because they don't you know it's like being a
celebrity everybody wants your attention and you just don't have time to give it to everybody and
everybody's going to pitch on the same thing and just get tired of it after a while like if you're
a Netflix buyer at a market you're a celebrity like you almost need security to walk through
the marketplace because everybody is gonna like just just divulge you know just jump all over you
they just want your attention for a second right just to clarify the first time you pitched Netflix
were you pitching them an idea or an actual film a good great question so the film wasn't made so I
guess it's an idea but the film there was a script there was the production was ready to go all the
actors were in place I knew where I was shooting it was just like pre-production I pitched them at
that phase so the movie i'd already financed the movie by the way I didn't need them to finance the
movie if the movie was already financed ready to go ready to be shot but I felt like you know had I
if I were to do it again I would pitch them even earlier this time but but I pitched them
at that point and by the way I didn't just pitch Netflix I pitched everybody this wasn't exclusive
Netflix was one of the companies I pitched I pitched in every studio I mean disney was
where I was hoping to put that movie full out I mean disney was the target for it it was
you know girl-centric it was female empowerment 12 year olds I mean it's the disney audience
frankly I was shocked that disney didn't buy it disney bought it for the disney channel for
the rest of the world but not the united states I was shocked I expected the sale to come from them
so i'm not disappointed that it came from Netflix as a great customer and ultimately worked out
fantastic they had a huge huge audience but it was the disney audience that I was like when I
pitched my investors and they said where are you like what's your niche audience who's your
niche target I said it's disney I mean we're setting up the movie it's a disney s style movie
it attacks their audience this is who we're going for so and I had several meetings with them
because I knew the people there and they just said no and then luckily Netflix said yes but you know
I also pitched pretty well every studio I mean I had I knew a lot of people like sony warner um
fox I knew people at all these places through my distribution days so I was able to get meetings um
so that's how it happened um but it happened just before I made the movie so
there was lots to pitch on and I had made a promo reel I obviously I couldn't shoot
make a trailer because I hadn't shot anything yet but I cut a promo reel almost like a little
sort of three-minute documentary about who the i'm making the movie about where i'm shooting
it little narration that type of thing just to make it a little bit more visually appealing
and it was a good promo reel did they say why you wouldn't they didn't want to take on u.s territory
Netflix I mean uh disney I don't they didn't like the movie they don't tell you why they
don't tell you why okay and even if they do tell you why it just make you feel good you know it's
what are they going to say to me it's not a good movie or it doesn't you know what you know what
they actually they did say you know what they said they said it doesn't um suit our audience
and I said okay this is confusing to me number one is disney channel rest of world took the movie and
it suits their audience but disney channel usa said it doesn't suit our audience and then I
said that to them and they said it's a different audience and I said you're kidding me but who am I
gonna say what am I gonna argue I mean you know I just take everything to mean we don't like it you
know thanks a lot nice try no matter what they say I just that's what I hear they could say anything
and I hear sorry nice try come back tomorrow yeah I just wasn't sure how much they told you because
that's very fascinating that they the rest of the world liked it but the us but I don't believe it
you don't believe it I don't believe I know first of all I know darn well that that movie
plays to their audience they just didn't have room for it or whatever that's what they told
me it was you know whatever they needed to tell me to be polite and you know and get me out the door
that movie plays to their audience we all know it they know it I know it you know it's
the world is not different that way 12 year old girls are 12 year old girls everywhere.