Glen Reynolds, Founder of Circus Road Films: There are some doors
that they're easy to get into but you shouldn't go through them,
right? There's some people that just don't have your best interests at heart.
Film Courage: What is the producer's rep?
Glen: It's like a sales agent, it's another name for a sales agent so it usually connotes
being a domestic sales agent as opposed to an international sales agent. It's a little different
in that as a producer rep you are selling films to U.S. distributors and you don't really have
to take over the film from the filmmaker. You can make the deal, you can negotiate on their
behalf and then they can deliver the film to the distributor and the distributor can
pay them directly. It's a fairly easy transaction whereas on the international front, international
sales agents really have to take over that process. International sales agents are more
like distributors in that you deliver them the film and then they go to markets around the world
sell these distributors and then in turn deliver the film to those distributors collect that money
and then account to a producer so in my case I don't do that I specialize in US distributors
and as most producer reps do and I'm just like a consultant sales agent for that purpose.
What's the difference between a producer's rep and a distributor
so a producer rep is really trying to get the film
maker the best deal possible in the united states with a with a traditional distributor
distributors are are taking on the film put it in theaters putting on video and demand
making blu-rays selling the rights to Netflix or HBO and putting on advertising video on demand
later like Tubi or Pluto so they're usually most distributors are handling all rights that way
as a producer rep I'm meeting the filmmaker usually about the time they've finished the film
or about to get in the film festival or just got into a film festival and I'm going to help them
get into the world of distribution and show the film to the distributors to see
who would be the best possible partner for taking the film out
why would a filmmaker hire a producer rep well especially if you're a first-time filmmaker
most schools don't teach film distribution and so there's just a huge learning gap
in terms of like what distribution is and what they do and usually I consider my part of my
job as education in terms of teaching my clients what distributors do and which distributors do
it better than who and part of my job is to know who's doing it legitimately and who's not doing it
legitimately and who takes an appropriate distribution fee for putting the film out
into the world who's kind of trying to rip them off and so it's to protect them as well so there's
there's really just the knowledge of distribution that's one reason another is just protection
in in addition some salesmanship I'm trying to get the best possible deal out there and some
filmmakers a filmmaker in in theory could wear all those hats and they got to learn the distribution
landscape and learn who all the distributors are and learned how to negotiate these the contracts
and had a sales hat in addition to a creative hat there are those types right that that
could do it all I'm here for the ones that don't and producer ups in general are there
for the people who who can't that need some help in that in that area have you ever experienced
that where someone says I went to AFM [American Film Market in Santa Monica, CA] I go on IMDB Pro
and I see what similar films are who they're with and I just can't navigate this can you help me
yeah all the time because there's there are a lot of different kinds of people at AFM like
they're sales agents versus distributors sometimes they're they do both there's
been increasing trend of some international sales agents getting into u.s distribution
their contracts look a little bit different than what u.s distributors agreements look like and so
yeah I get it all the time that from filmmakers a they can't get the distributors to call them back
there are some distributors that are pretty good have an open door policy of looking at
lots of material and there's some distributors that just want to really use the system of agents
and reps that are out there to to kind of be a kind of a buffer against all the content that's
out there they don't need to see 10 000 movies a year they want to look at the top three or 400
in which to choose the 20 they might distribute that year so it just yeah most most filmmakers
when they go to AFM is a great learning process but it's not a great really great tool for
independent filmmaker to go to and actually sell their own film it usually they experience it once
they'll they'll find it's really hard to get in those doors to meet with distributors and
most distributors and sales agents want to keep keep the wolves at bay so to speak right so if a
filmmaker says well I'm very hands-on and DIY I’ll be the one to break through it's kind of
like they're breaking protocol a little bit that's not how yeah it's well it's not that it's not okay
it's just that there are there are some companies that it's just hard to get a return phone call
they're just busy dealing with the reps and agents for film and they're they're getting some of these
companies are getting five six submissions a day and some of them they just completely ignore they
just look at it and think I don't know what that is there's just there's just too much incoming
so it helps to have someone that knows them that says hey I can vouch this is something you should
take a look at it's not crazy for you to look at this you may not like it you may love it but
it's something you should pay attention to that that's one aspect of it but it even more than that
there are some doors that it's they're easy to get into but you shouldn't go through them
right there's some people that just don't have your best interests at heart they're just
there's a lot of in my opinion companies that just don't do it properly and take exorbitant
fees don't cap their costs don't do things that they should do to to to help their the their
client the filmmaker maximize revenues for them as well as for the company that took on the film so
yes there's there's multiple reasons to have a rep I think beyond just being able to get in the door
but I've known there are also people that make film after film after film and
establish relationships where they can just do that themselves as well especially first-time
second-time filmmakers that have a hardest time which are most independent filmmakers at the end
of the day of the of the ten thousand made a year it's nine thousand plus they're either
first-timers to to a certain degree so it's not just helping you get in the door it's also maybe
helping you stay away from doors that are open that yeah you shouldn't be venturing into for
sure and and even if you knew it's also maximizing the best possible situation even if you get in all
the right doors it is helpful to have someone that's had a a deal through this distributor
and how to fill film through this streamer and knows what it's like to be in bed with them to
those how good are they at communication how good are they returning your phone calls what do their
royalty reports look like do they send them to you consistently because it's not only the contract
you have to worry about it's the behavior behind the contract right because it's fairly easy for
distributors to kind of ignore a lot of different aspects of their contract
because it's just the distribution contracts are just hard to sue on they're all very distributor
friendly distributors are not going to make overtly producer friendly contracts in general
so even more important the contract is is the habits and behavior and have
been in the business for 25 years I’ve just seen a lot of a lot of behavior so to speak so
I think that's pretty helpful sure and these are these are contracts that only the distributor
draws up like someone couldn't say I’ve actually have my own boilerplate plate card yeah no they
it's always a distributor's contract in fact you should be actually wary
if it's not their contract because that probably indicates they don't know better
and they haven't been doing it very long I have seen that before where I got it
actually not too long ago someone came to me with a film and they already had an
offer from someone and I said okay did they have a did they send you a contract I could look at for
you and they said no they wanted us to sit and do the contract I said well there they can't be
that sophisticated if they if they're out there acquiring films and wanting you to come up with
the contract that's just pretty pretty it's a good sign that there's just not very savvy.