Need film distribution? Why not sell it on iTunes? A $200k success story
Posted on 20. Jul, 2011
The Polish brothers have sold their HDSLR (shot on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II (reviews)) based movie on iTunes and raked in over $200k already!
[source: This tweet from lensflare35]
The trailer
for lovers only… from Polish Brothers on Vimeo.
Mark Polish & Stana Katic
It is available here on iTunes
More on the success
From the first post I saw on the movie at filmmakermagazine
From Steve Pond at The Wrap comes a piece on the Polish Brothers’ latest, a French-shot no-budget romance called For Lover’s Only, which was made with a production budget of, the article says, “zero,” and has already made $200,000 on iTunes. It stars Mark Polish and Stana Katic (Detective Kate Beckett on ABC’s Castle), and it was shot on a Canon 5D, with the filmmakers posing as tourists, not worrying about location fees, and, writes Pond, “They even got the film classified as an experimental film by the Screen Actors Guild, which meant they didn’t have to pay Katic, who shared an agent with Mark and brought her own wardrobe.”
…What’s most interesting about the story, though, is not the budget contortions but the release method. And although there seems to have been at least one industry screening in L.A. last Fall, the film wasn’t distributed early to journalists — including, um, magazines that once put the filmmakers on the cover. Instead it relied on the Facebook and Twitter feeds of the director and star Katic for publicity.
(cover photo credit: snap from the video)
10 Responses to “Need film distribution? Why not sell it on iTunes? A $200k success story”
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July 21, 2011
[...] is rapidly changing.How the Polish Brothers Are Raking It In With a Stealth, No Budget Movie (via planet5D)var switchTo5x=false;stLight.options({publisher:'52b76d3d-a3cc-420e-9ad5-5754a0610115'}); [...]
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July 22, 2011
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July 25, 2011
[...] the Polish Brothers Are Raking It In With a Stealth, No Budget Movie (via planet5D) Filed Under: indiefilmmaking Tagged With: blog.danielcardona.net , for lovers only , [...]
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Lance Bachelder
20. Jul, 2011
Ummm… you may want to change your header up there – it’s not “a couple of guys from Poland” – it’s the Polish brothers. You may want to Google them.
planetMitch
20. Jul, 2011
Thanks – good catch
Alan Halfhill
21. Jul, 2011
I liked the content but I really wished they had used a stabilizer on their handheld. Took away from the beauty of the shots.
G
22. Jul, 2011
I could answer the ‘why not sell it on iTunes‘ —, there is no way to put a feature film on iTunes without a major distributor. Apparently these guys did it, but I don’t see any information about how they got onto iTunes in the first place.
I know how to get a short onto iTunes, but the process it absurdly difficult and, at least with the group I had to go through, I have yet to see anything close to an on-time payment.
Robert
23. Jul, 2011
Mitch, You make it sound positive that they didn’t pay their talent and stole locations. I think it’s disgusting not compensating employees/contractors or those who contribute. Any other industry and they’d be in court. Why films are somehow different than any other for profit endeavor is mind boggling to me.
Robert
23. Jul, 2011
Fine Filmmaker magazine is responsible for the comment but don’t be complicit in reposting is my point.
oscar
31. Jul, 2011
trailer looks boring