From Torches to Theaters: Peter Broderick and Angel Studios Audience-Centric Filmmaking Revolution

by Carole Dean

 

The Rise of Angel Studios: An Audience-Driven Film Company

There is a similarity happening between what Angel Studios is doing and what Peter Broderick is teaching. Angel studios have four men who are all technically educated and are running a brilliant company online using all new innovative technology.

They created a filming studio, and they created their own online platform to raise money for their film. Then they created another branch called Angel Investors to give you money to make your five-minute torch film to enter the Angel Studios financing program.

They want you to create a five-minute video to apply. They call it a torch. They take this from the creator of the Statue of Liberty, Bartholdi. To raise funds to build the statue, he built the torch first. With this metal display of the partial statue, he was able to fund the Statue of Liberty, which they say is the first crowdfunding campaign.

Angel Studios are very smart in using the audience to choose the films that they want to see.

 

Peter Broderick’s Audience Focused Filmmaking Approach

Peter Broderick is teaching you to go find your audience. Does this sound familiar? He wants you to go to conventions covering the content of your film. He shares successful examples of filmmakers with films on whiskey, on forgiveness and on loneliness who successfully did this.

One film about loneliness found their audience while making the film. They kept them interested in the film by entertaining the audience. They created quizzes for how lonely are you? They found and engaged their audience and raised money from the audience & their strategic partners while they were in production.

That’s using your crowd to fund your film. Rather than using the crowd funding platform like Angel Studios is doing, you’re getting right to your audience and corporations at the convention who make money off this audience.

 

Successful Examples of Direct Audience Engagement

Your audience and potential corporate partners will be at conventions and when you start working with your audience these corporations will find you. Peter Broderick in a recent seminar for Keith Ochwat, shared information about a company who had a whiskey film and they talked to a film festival about screening their film on the streaming platform. The film festival offered the filmmakers a split of the income if they brought their film to the festival and screened it for the filmmaker’s audience and the festival’s audience. Since the filmmakers had worked hard to create their own audience they decided against this agreement.

Instead, they wrote a story about their whiskey documentary and sent it to Forbes knowing that Forbes advertisers were whiskey and cigars, and their market was wealthy people. Forbes liked the film and promoted it with an article and drove people to the filmmakers crowdfunding which helped them tremendously.

Because of this Remy Martin read the article and they got involved. They paid the film makers $25,000 for some screenings. This worked well and Remy Martin paid another 25,000 for screenings. This also worked well for Remy Martin, and they gave these film makers a contract to do their Super Bowl commercial. What a step up for the filmmakers! Since they signed an NDA, they could not tell Peter Broderick how much they made for this commercial. 

As it turned out, it really was a good move for the filmmakers not to take their work to the festival but to reach out directly to their own audience. This is what Peter Broderick calls, “the new world of documentary distribution.”

 

Greenlighting Films Based on Audience Participation

Here are my notes from Neil Harmon, co-owner of Angel Studios from a recent conference.

No one at Angel Studios can green light a film. Everything is done by the crowd.  The crowd chooses their favorite films and that’s how a film gets made. In other words, the audience is choosing which films get made. That’s a unique way to green light a film.

To submit a film to Angel studios you need to create a torch. That is a 5-minute trailer that tells you the story of the film. You need to put your own money into this and if you don’t have the funding you can go to www.angelacceleration.fund, and they will take a percentage of the film and loan you the money if they like your product.

 

The Power of Test Screenings and Audience Reviews

Once you have the torch, you submit that with $50 to Angel studios. They then let the crowd decide if they like it or not. If the crowd likes it and it is one of the top scoring films, then Angel studios will fund it by crowdfunding.

They will also release it by crowdfunding for the P&A through their list of people who want to see more Christian films. He said the people that invested in the film, The Chosen were paid back 120% and that they are getting ready to pay back the investors in Sound of Freedom 120%.

Angel reiterated what the distributor Udy Epstein told us just a month ago that it is all about test screenings. Once the film is finished, they ask their crowd to screen the film and get feedback. Then they make changes, they screen it again more feedback more changes until they get excellent reviews.

 

The Audience as the Ultimate Rotten Tomatoes Score

They say that the reviews they’re getting from their crowd are the same as you’re going to find when the film is released from Rotten Tomatoes. It’s the same people, it’s the audience who is choosing Rotten Tomatoes scores and Angel studios are smart enough to figure that out and use it as their form of knowing when the film is ready to release based on scores from the audience.

Doesn’t that sound like a simple way to find and fund films?  It’s the audience who chooses and funds them.

Angel studios say they have over 100,000 Angel investors and these are the ones who are choosing the 60 projects a month that come in. The audience is looking for and focused on finding good stories. Stories the audience likes. That’s how they green light a film. They get the audience to watch the “torch” and vote on it.

 

Green Lighting Films Based on Audience Decisions

They do not want to see the script.  They do not want to hear a pitch.  Films are funded only from torches. You need to pay to create a five-minute story of what your film will be.

You must put your money into a torch then submit it with $50.00. If it is rejected, you can rework the torch and resubmit it, they don’t care how many times.

They ask the crowd to watch the film and decide if they want to fund it. The question they ask is, is this a story that amplifies the light? Do you feel empowered when you see this story?

They want you to feel that the film you are watching is a story that is true, honest, noble, authentic, admirable. This is how you decide. They are working from the wisdom of the crowd. They chose the animated film Wingfeather and they raised the money by crowdfunding. They greenlit the film from a torch film.

They work by audience decision only. I think it is a magnificent way to run a company.

 

“Pay it Forward” Movement: Audience Contributions to Expand Film Access

The Shepherd was selected to become the series The Chosen which brought in over $100 million. Now the Sound of Freedom has brought in over $100 million. The theaters love this. This is a crowd pleasing film and it fill up the theaters.

Angel studios are trying something new which is called “pay it forward.” The Angel studios are working with the theaters so that when you see the film and you are touched by the content you can buy a ticket for someone in America or any country in the world. The theatre will give your ticket to someone who doesn’t have the money or might not see the film.

The audience is doing this. They are so touched by the film they want to give other people tickets. It is a pay it forward movement. Angel Studios set up an agreement with theatres in countries all around the world.

 

How Angel Investors Choose and Fund Projects

Angel asks the audience, “Do you want to be part of stories at amplify light?” That’s what they ask you. They rely on the wisdom of the crowd to make decisions. It’s a collective effort. The Angel Guild chooses the films, and you can join that through Angel.com.

They have built a community around filmmaking. This is a brilliant way to create films. They are totally separate from the studio system. They could end up making more money than the studios because they know they have a hit before they even greenlight the film.

 

Looking to the Future: The Audience as the Heart of Film Industry Success

Studios are still wondering if they will make money on a film.  Angel Studios knows they will make money and pay back their investors. They said that was a major goal. They know going into the theatres that the investors are the audience for the film. These are the same people who want to see the film.

Angel studios went to CinemaCon to pitch movies to theatres. They said theatres loved their Christian films. The theatre said it’s wonderful that you’re bringing us films that the audience loves.

This is filmmaking by the audience for the audience. You may want to read Peter Broderick’s brilliant bulletins or go to Angel.com and learn more about it. 

 

Carole Dean is president and founder of From the Heart Productions; a 501(c)3 non-The Art of Film Funding Podcastprofit that offers the Roy W. Dean Film Grants and fiscal sponsorship for independent filmmakers.

She is creator and instructor of Learn Producing: The Ultimate Course for Indie Film Production.  26 classes which will teach indie filmmakers how to produce their films.

She hosts the weekly podcastThe Art of Film Fundinginterviewing those involved in all aspects of indie film productionShe is also the author of  The Art of Film Funding, 2nd Edition: Alternative Financing Concepts.  See IMDB for producing credits

Make Your Goal to Sell Your Documentary Direct to Your Audience

Direct to your audience: Building a documentary distribution strategy

by Carole Dean

Keith Ochwat from Show and Tell and Peter Broderick gave an incredible workshop. They talked about golden opportunities in the new world of distribution. They work exclusively with documentaries. And what they’re talking about can also be used for shorts and scripted films because it is about connecting with your audience.

Keith starts out by saying if your plan A is to go to a festival and make a deal to sell your documentary, you’re in for a rude awakening.

 

Sundance’s disappointing sales and streamers’ changing preferences.

This is not happening in today’s world. Peter Broderick wrote a bulletin telling us that Sundance did not sell any documentaries this year.

He covered the changing landscape of what the streamers are purchasing, and this caused people to get upset so Peter took this opportunity to explain what is happening and how documentary filmmakers should be looking at the new world of distribution in the future.

Peter told us that in 2019 lots of films were sold at Sundance and 53% of them were directed by women. The festival seemed to proclaim it was the beginning of the golden age of documentaries. But this year 2023 there were no sales at Sundance and of the international docs in competition there was one sale so that is startling. Streamers bought nothing.

However, they brought their own films. They brought all celebrity doc films that the streamers found easy to sell and non-controversial. The films the streamers bought in previous years were of no interest. What they’re financing now are safe, commercial, and mainstream.

Many of the films screened at this year’s Sundance would have been sold in previous festivals but not this year, it’s changed that fast.

To sum it up, there was no interest in political films in terms of acquisition. There was a film about Harvey Weinstein and one about Elizabeth Holmes and both sold or were financed by the streamers. But not this year. What happened was a shocking, depressing change.

Peter says that most festivals have little or no impact on distribution, of course there are always exceptions. One reason to go to a festival is to see your film on the big screen and in a theater. Another reason is to get a laurel for marketing.  Peter says two laurels are enough.

Going to film festivals will not find distribution for you. There may be other reasons to go to a festival, perhaps to enjoy the city they’re in, to meet other filmmakers and to network. Just be honest and realize you’re not going to get a distribution deal.

It’s time to understand that festivals are not essential for selling your film or making money.

Now we’ll get into Peter’s new world of distribution. He said I wouldn’t spend more than 10 percent of my time on festivals, and I would put 90% on conferences. You need to design a customized festival strategy based on your distribution strategy and your goals.

 

Reduced acquisition of documentaries.

You need to know that not only has Sundance gone as a sales outlet for documentaries, CNN is gone! They’re not acquiring docs, they’re making their own. Showtime is gone.  HBO is in the quicksand of Max and it’s dissolving and disappearing in some way. The fact that HBO’s been a brand that was built over the years and has a great following doesn’t seem to matter at this point.

People are not going to movie theaters to watch documentaries anymore.  This change happened during COVID.

What we see in theaters is superheroes. I looked at a list of independent films listing the gross this year and the first independent film was 31st on the list so those other thirty above it were all from studios.

 

Streamers new narrow focus.

The steamers have gone as a distribution source for independent documentary films.  The streamers told one filmmaker we’re only interested in true crime, celebrity, and music. That’s a very narrow market.

And there’s one other possibility if the film has tremendous international appeal and if the film falls into the buckets as stated in Variety, which is crime, food, music, and sports you might have a chance. If you’re not in one of these buckets in terms of acquisitions they’re not going to take your film seriously so narrowing the categories is a real problem. Realize when you say celebrity that means that the subjects are instantly recognizable to viewers. And they must appeal to people not just in the US but in Brazil, Japan, and other places.

The algorithm tells Netflix if you have a market in that country when they put your product in their computer. This is how they decide if your film fits their audiences.

Most film festivals show diverse films that are innovative, politically driven, and provocative, pushing boundaries. However, the distributors are not interested.

If you want to make a commercial film that’s highly accessible, easily promotable you might get this financed but you would be a director for hire. It would not be something that you’d dream up on your own.

 

The impact of international appeal and specific content categories.

One filmmaker summed it up and said, “the need for celebrity and star driven projects with enough reach to be watched in Brazil and Canada” is what streamers want.

Peter shared a story with us about festivals being virtual and how it has greatly expanded the audience for people that want to see good docs coming out of a festival.

Example, Edward Snowden was going to do a live festival with Q&A remotely in one room and this room had 620 seats. The festival decided that they really wanted it to go virtual and said this way 2000 people can watch it.  They did. After that another 90,000 people watched it so think about this. You are expanding your viewership and reaching a huge audience through international virtual screenings, and you don’t have to be at a festival to do that.

Peter says it’s not that there will be less documentaries because you will see documentaries on Netflix and Amazon, but they will be much narrower in content.

And he admits that independent films are not working in theaters right now. He believes that the mainstream of content is online rather than in theaters. Netflix recently said that they’re not looking to do projects that reach 2 million people, they want projects that reach 20 million people. That’s their current thinking, that’s how they want to curate their content. And maybe have the same amount or fewer titles which reach more people across broader geographies.

Peter says it’s a tough reality to swallow this shift and know that the old world of documentaries is not coming back if the streamers are in control.

 

Building core audiences.

He said we must get into the reality of what’s happening and look at new ways to market and fund our films and that is you want to sell direct to your audiences.

If you have core audiences, then that’s who you need to start with. You can reach out to them while you’re making your film and connect with them before it’s finished. They can give you useful feedback. That’s very important because Udy Epstein, the owner of 7th Art Film Distribution told us how important it is to keep giving audience screenings and getting feedback and making changes before you release your film.

Do not rush to get your film into a Film Festival, it will not benefit you. Audience response and guidance will give you a better film every time then you will be accepted in film festivals. Put the time and effort into audience screenings for feedback.

Udy said you need to do a lot of screenings before you release your film and don’t apply to festivals until it is in excellent shape, and you have very good audience feedback. He also shared that he is going to many less festivals than he did before. This is the new way. The distributor will let you come direct to them. It is a lot cheaper when you approach them directly.

 

Building relationships with your audience and partnerships with corporations.

Keith & Peter shared a film called Water of life. They did a successful crowdfunding campaign and raised $80,000. The documentary was about Scotch whiskey and prominent distillers in Scotland. They built a big e-mail list from their crowdfunding, and they brought on some large partners in their audience.

The filmmakers did a couple of focus group screenings and then they were invited to come have their premiere at a festival.  The deal was the festival would give them a split from the ticket sales. The film team was expected to do quite a bit of promotion and send their personal list of donors and fans to the film festival. In other words, they had to give their audience to the festival people and then split the income. They decided to take a risk and do it themselves.

Bravo for them! They made a difficult decision to skip festivals altogether and do a virtual event.

 

The success of Water of Life documentary film.

They did not hire a PR team, but they emailed Forbes magazine which had advertisers of Scotch whiskey & cigars and an audience interested in whisky. They reached out to Forbes who read their information and watched their film. Forbes wrote an article that said the film was great. And linked it to their virtual event where they made $13,000 in ticket sales. They kept every bit of it for themselves.

One of those partners in the virtual room for their premiere was Remy Martin and they sponsored a series of whiskey club screenings for around $25,000. This made the film makers very happy. Then, Remy Martin sponsored another series of events six months down the road. 

During this time, the filmmakers built a good relationship with Remy Martin who ended up hiring those two filmmakers to do their Super Bowl ad and signed an NDA, so they never said how much they made but it was a good career step-up for them.

The most important part of Peter and Keith’s teaching is to show you how to get away from the gatekeeper and make your own decisions to move forward. You need to find your audience and if that is at a convention then that’s the best place for you to go.

Frances Causey is a From the Heart sponsored filmmaker. She has been working with Peter Broderick for many years and follows his advice. She has done exceptionally well with all her documentaries. She says, “it is a lot of trouble, and it is costly, but it does pay off.” Going to conventions, finding your audience, and then taking the product direct to the market.  This is her priority over film festivals. She may go to a few festivals, but her focus is direct to her audience.

I highly recommend both Keith and Peter. You can learn more about Keith Ochwat and Show&Tell at www.showandtell.film and Peter Broderick at www.peterbroderick.com.

 

Carole Dean is president and founder of From the Heart Productions; a 501(c)3 non-The Art of Film Funding Podcastprofit that offers the Roy W. Dean Film Grants and fiscal sponsorship for independent filmmakers.

She is creator and instructor of Learn Producing: The Ultimate Course for Indie Film Production.  26 classes which will teach indie filmmakers how to produce their films.

She hosts the weekly podcastThe Art of Film Fundinginterviewing those involved in all aspects of indie film productionShe is also the author of  The Art of Film Funding, 2nd Edition: Alternative Financing Concepts.  See IMDB for producing credits

3 Essential Indie Film Distribution Tips from Peter Broderick

by Carole Dean

Peter Broderick on Film Distribution Peter Broderick is an expert on film distribution for indie films.  His company, Paradigm Consulting, helps filmmakers design and implement state-of-the-art financing, distribution, and outreach strategies.

He can review your film and give you excellent advice on your film’s potential market.  I advise every filmmaker who has the opportunity to seek his advice.

He joined me on my Art of Film Funding podcast “How Not to Negotiate a Distribution Deal” and shared his film distribution wisdom with us.

Think of Film Distribution as a Partnership

“In many cases, in the past, the relationship between distributors and filmmakers has been a kind of master/slave relationship” Peter explained. “ All the power was in the distributor and all the decisions were made by the distributor.  The filmmaker just had to kind of follow whatever the distributor decided.”

Peter considers that these days, in the newer world of distribution, we should really think about partnerships that are win/win.  “It’s good for both sides.  They appreciate what the other partner brings to the situation and they want to maximize the relationship.  Have it work for both sides.”

Create a Customized Film Distribution Plan

Before filmmakers get that distribution offer, Peter recommends that they have designed a customized distribution strategy.  Customize it to their goals, their target audiences, and the avenues of distribution and the versions of the film.

You should be specific about what rights you want to give to the distributor. You also need to be clear about the rights you want to retain. This could include the right to do screenings, and the right to sell downloads, streams, and DVDs directly from your own website.

By creating this, you can show it to a distributor and say, “We’re really interested in working with you. This is what we’d like to do.  Can you partner with us using our customized distribution plan?”

This gives the distributor a clear understanding of what you want to give them.  It importantly outlines what you want to keep.  It puts you in a stronger position for negotiating.

Ask Before You Sign

When a film is finished, the filmmaker too often wants to get the film seen.  They sometimes can take a distribution deal they later regret. 

“Of course you want to hear lovely things about your film.”  But don’t, Peter warns, be seduced by the distributor’s flattery.  Be diligent in finding people who are working or have worked with this distributor.  Don’t rely on the references distributors give you, since all distributors will have at least a few clients that like them.

“Find filmmakers online” he suggests, “who have worked with the distributors you’re considering.”  Peter  recommends speaking with 3 to 5 filmmakers about each distributor you’re seriously considering. He recommends asking pointed rather than general questions.

For example, instead of asking “do you like your distributor?”, ask if they’ve made as many sales as they expected to make and if the filmmaker has received the amount of revenues they expected to receive.

Don’t ask, “Do you like your distributor.”  Do ask, “How much money have you made?” 

Ask “Is the distributor working for you?” “How often do they call you or communicate?” “Do they treat you as a partner instead of an annoyance?”  Make sure they are treating other filmmaker the way you want to be treated before you consider making a deal.

“You’re bringing knowledge, you’re bringing some core audiences, you’re bringing expertise in the area that your film is made within and they should value that.”

Carole Dean is president and founder of From the Heart Productions; a 501(c)3 non-profit that offers fiscal sponsorship for independent filmmakers. She hosts the weekly podcastThe Art of Film Fundinginterviewing those involved in all aspects of indie film productionShe is also the author of The Art of Film Funding, 2nd Edition: Alternative Financing Concepts.  See IMDB for producing credits.