Jeff Deverett, Film Producer, Entrepreneur, Writer, Director: Here's a crazy counter-intuitive
thing about Netflix that most people don't know which makes no sense but it's true.
Film Courage: What's the likelihood of someone who just has an idea
so no screenplay, no trailer, no artwork, no attachments, getting a pitch inside Netflix?
Jeff: Minus one to zero unless they have an agent who is really likes them a lot and wants to get
them in there. First of all Netflix doesn't take unsolicited pitches none of the streamers take
none of the studios or the streaming companies take unsolicited pitches meaning you can't phone
them up they don't have like a place a website or an entry point where you can phone them up
and say I have a great idea I'd like to pitch you it doesn't exist I mean they publish that that's
right on their website okay so the only way you can get in is with either a agent slash manager
a lawyer so whoever somebody who's connected internally in there or a distributor who's done
business with them all right that's the only way that you can even attempt to get a pitch
so so right away you can't get in directly so maybe you can get in that way but
highly highly highly unlikely also because you haven't done anything before I mean they have a
lineup and I mean let's talk Netflix has a lineup at their store so long they have every single
major filmmaker in the world who has done anything wants to do it for Netflix right because I mean
they got a gigantic audience right so think of all the people ahead of you in line and what their
credentials are relative to what your credentials are so I would say if you want to attempt it then
you try to get in line for an agent who you're not going to get the time of day from either
so then keep working at your craft sounds like don't don't don't just
expect to jump along here's the way to yeah you're not going to jump the line
there's no way I can't even think of getting lucky to jump the line the the only way that you can
sort of get ahead a little bit is is do something make something that is notable that gets you that
that their usher says hey who did that and takes you closer to the to use a metaphor type
of thing right and that would be here's a crazy crazy counterintuitive thing about Netflix that
most people don't know which makes no sense but it's true and it's not just Netflix by the way
it's pretty well all the streaming companies okay it's pretty well all the big releasing companies
the more popular you have the more success you've done in when you've released your movie
the more attractive you are to Netflix so get this you want to make a move you
want it you want to get their attention make a movie put it onto youtube for free
create as much awareness as possible spend effort tons of effort creating awareness get two million
views then all of a sudden you're going to get onto their radar screen and everybody says
wait wait a second I just gave my movie away to two million people like why would anybody
want it now after that and I'd say they would say because they have 160 million people and
2 million is a test market for them and they just need to see that hey people 2 million people like
your movie then all of a sudden now they're going to be interested that's the best way to get their
attention now how do you get that I mean getting you you go viral you have a great movie you create
awareness that's what this is all about but that's how you get the attention of a major streamer now
it's as counterintuitive as that sounds it's not really when you think about the theatrical
business right the movies that Netflix wants the most and all the major streaming companies
are the big movies and pre-coveted the big movies open theatrically to half a billion dollars worth
of business like 500,000 or 50 million people seeing these I don't know whatever the numbers are
didn't do the math properly but 25 million people have already seen the movie why would anybody want
that everybody's already seen it but yet those are the ones that are most coveted and have the
get the biggest payoffs at the streaming companies why because the streaming companies believe that
people want to see them again these are big movies and they'll want to be seen twice
and then or three or four times and that's why they're so valuable even though they've
already been seen you don't use it's like love you don't use it up there's endless amounts so
you don't yeah you use up one view with a viewer but they have ten more left or five more whatever
the case may be so that's why i'm saying if you can release a movie an independent movie and get
tons and tons of awareness then you'll you'll get on the radar screen a lot better you'll get to
the front of the line a lot quicker and people will say okay I like this what else do you got
so on one hand plan for success submit to some of these higher tier festivals don't don't just
assume don't rest on that you'll get in but at the same time don't sabotage yourself where you
think that you just have this amazing idea and somehow you can get in to Netflix to pitch it
with no other vetting yeah I don't believe in miracles but if you believe in miracles
like that would be in the miracle category like I have a great idea I’ve never done anything before
and I think that i'm gonna get in the door on Netflix and they're gonna fall in love with
it so to me that that's a miracle that's like so far beyond reality maybe it's happened I doubt it
maybe it could happen once and maybe everybody the myths and legends will be created around it but
I put that in the category of a miracle how about we move the needle a little bit of miracles and
talk about a finished screenplay first finished screenplay am I getting into Netflix you're still
in the you're still in the category of miracles you're just maybe a little further down okay yeah
no you're if you're not a proven writer first of all they're not reading it second they're
not accepting it they're not reading it unless it goes in through a literary agent who they do
business with which you can potentially do that but how do you get that literary agent you got to
get them so that's almost as hard as getting into Netflix itself so you're still it's it's tough I
know it's not like this is one of those things where you say to speak the truth and the truth
kind of hurts a little bit yeah it's reality so you've got this screenplay you put your
heart and soul into it it's probably really good and you can't get anybody to read it
so that's why sometimes you go down both paths you spend a lot of time getting an agent or trying to
get an agent who hopefully can get in the door and pitch it to somebody but you don't put all
your eggs in that basket at the same time you start to think about okay how do I do this myself
maybe one happens before the other or you never know and we go back to the einstein quote yeah so
so you're not you're not banging your head against a wall and you're trying a different route
which is more of a proven route instead of my thing is different because we all think our
story is special yeah and there's nothing against anybody's story or their writing or their skill
but you kind of have to go through certain channels it can't just be yeah like hollywood
and when I say hollywood i'm including like not just the studios i'm including the big streamers
now and the basically the people who control most of the eyeballs they've done a really good job of
locking out all the indies that's they don't do it on purpose but the reason they do it is because
they deal in such high caliber product I mean it's a business decision right like they're dealing in
very very high-end production quality content and actors and that type of thing and they just don't
need to waste any time on indie film production it's just it's it's a nuisance it's aggravating
like that's it any game they have so many so much time in a day why would they spend it on that when
they have the resources to do so much more bigger caliber stuff which is what they're doing like
look at this what the streamers offer now I mean the value that they give to to consumers 10 a
month for like multi-million dollar productions with a-list actors and and fantastic storylines
and writing and everything like that how do you beat that like you're an indie film producer like
how do you even compete with that so looking at it from that perspective like fear is fair right
they got a business to run they got viewers to satisfy so and they have all the resources to do
it and and revenue coming in from subscribers so why do they need to focus on why does any exec at
a streaming company need to read an indie script when they got 50 other scripts sitting beside them
written by in-house writers who were high-caliber successful people who are on staff they don't
that's that's the reality because here's the thing about indie filmmaking that i'm going to give it
credit for it's generally a lot more creative than than all than big budget film that the big bunch
of stuff is very well done and I love it but it's predictable it's formulaic it's a lot of sequels a
lot of stuff like that because they they know what the audience wants they just keep giving them the
same thing over and over so the innovative stuff is going to come from the indie film world and the
big studios know that it's just very aggravating to access it all so once in a while there's a
breakthrough and and they have lots of innovation internally as well they encourage innovation from
their internal writers but the cutting edge stuff is coming from the indie film world so that's
where the indie film world has a little bit of not an advantage but you know it's a unique approach
but it's just a matter of organizing it to get it through so that it can get through the system.