Kisses And Caroms Discussion Board

Kisses And Caroms Discussion Board: Video Distributor!

andrew	Friday, July 18, 2003 - 03:11 pm Hey, just curious, you mentioned you have the stuff in place to get your movie into blockbuster, how do you do that, have you set something up with a video distributor yet? I'm super curious on this, and I find good bits of info on it few and far between. thanks!
Vince (Vince)	Friday, July 18, 2003 - 03:28 pm We have been making documentaries for years and have an established distribution channel set up with many wholesalers. We get our boxes printed and our tapes/dvd's duped by the same companies that do everything from Disney to TaiBo. We then send samples to the distributors. They review, then buy, and try to sell, or they sell, then order what they need. Totally depends on the wholesaler. If "Tapeworm" sells Blockbuster 6000 pieces, then they call us and we have them made. We can ship up to 50,000 pieces in a weeks notice. We deal with a few distributors who deal with Blockbuster, Hollywood, Tower, and Best Buy, just to name a few. You can learn more at the VSDA show. Also there is a trade mag called Video Store At the least you can place an ad in there and you'll get mom and pop's to order your stuff.
andrew	Friday, July 18, 2003 - 04:04 pm Oh weird, I thought I replied but I guess it didn't take: Have you been to the VSDA thing? I'm thinking of going next week and just curious if it's worth it. I'm clueless on selling stuff straight to video, and I figured that'd be a great place to learn up on that. And thanks for the great info! Very curious as to what docs you've done, although maybe if I look around the site more, as I plan to, I'll figure that out!
Vince (Vince)	Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 01:28 am VSDA is worth it if you're new. Plus you'll get all sorts of cool giveaways. My 7" tall Kirsten Dunst (in a cheerleader outfit) magnet from Bring it on is still on my fridge. Basically, you take your video, add 30 seconds of color bars and 1kz. tone at the beginning. Follow that with 30 seconds of black then add an FBI warning, then start your video. Next apply for a upc barcode. Design your box in Photoshop as a 300 dpi file. Put your barcode on the back in the upper right corner. Grab a factory "Paramount" or "Universal" box and use it as a template. The industry is set up cretin ways, don't try to change it. Include a copyright, company name and address. Have the box printed. You'll pay from .16 to .25 cents a piece in quantities of 3000 to 5000. Take your boxes to a duplicator and have a hundred done. They'll dup, label, sleeve, and shrink wrap for about $2.00 for a 2 hour tape T-120. Now place an ad in the video trade mags, or take your stuff to a trade show, or call mom and pop video stores, call distributors, sell your tapes. That's it. Your rich! Send me a cut!
UPC	Tuesday, July 22, 2003 - 02:49 pm Hey Vince, I'm assuming you're busy so I'll keep this short: "Next apply for a upc barcode." I know a number of independent music organizations have worked around the $750 charge from the UCC (http://www.uc-council.org/) and charged their members in the sub $50 range for a UPC to sell their CDs. Just wondering how you went (are going) around it and if you know of any indie film organizations that have done the same thing for DVD/VHS distribution? I'd rather spend $700 paying an actor and still be able to distribute the finished work in mainstream retail. Thanks. Made my way here from 2-Pop. Dig your site, good luck with your movie.
Vince (Vince)	Tuesday, July 22, 2003 - 10:24 pm I've heard of that with music, Basically, when you apply for a UPC, it's yours forever and there is an almost infinite number of barcodes that can be issued from it. I suppose I could actually lend my number out, if I wanted to. I've never heard of it for indie's. I doubt it exists. Most people don't self distribute their flicks. They either sell it, or mostly they shelve it. On our first few documentaries we didn't know about barcodes and we didn't have one. We weren't able to get on Amazon.com because they require a barcode for tracking. So, we had to toss all our boxes and start over with a barcode on them. The $700.00 may seem like it's better spent elsewhere, but you must remember POST. A UPC is part of POST for me. It makes sure I get my product to market. I'm self sufficient. The idea is really to just make it easy for a distributor to accept your product. The simple fact is, if you have a complete CRAPPIE flick, they will still buy it, and sell it. This is how so many crappie things end up on the shelves of the Vid store. But, if they have to invest money and time in your crappie flick, they won't. So, be self sufficient and guarantee your product makes it to market. A barcode indie org would be a good idea. Glad you like the site, I try to improve it daily.