When Kristen Stewart’s acclaimed feature directorial debut, The Chronology of Water, was acquired by Forge for domestic distribution a few months after its Cannes premiere in May, one question crossed the minds of many in the industry.
“Since the start of COVID-19, we have had the opportunity, as film producers, to think about what kind of sales organizations we can work with to provide the means to release the films we are making,” says founder Marc Mathias Thayer. “We had some early success, but some contemporaries asked if we could handle sales and distribution. A few years have gone by, and now that’s all we do.”
With a flood of content flooding the market, new boutique distributors are also looking at releases in an avalanche, often prioritizing what filmmakers want or targeting specific audiences. In the past year or two, companies like 1-2 Special, Cartuna x Dweck, The Future of Film Is Female, Joint Venture, Muscle Distribution, Suncatcher Prods., Watermelon Pictures, and Willa have begun placing low-budget indie films in theaters. It’s happening on a larger scale, too, with AMC Theaters Distribution turning to domestic distribution specialist Variance Films to take stock of the situation since its 2023 launch. The operation has had great success with concert documentaries such as “Renaissance: The Beyoncé Movie” and other event presentations.
But having more options doesn’t necessarily make producers’ lives easier. “The biggest thing you need is patience and finding your niche,” says Mabel Tam, senior vice president of film and head programmer at Landmark Theaters. “There’s no one-size-fits-all approach anymore,” she says, citing the Jewish-Catholic interfaith comedy “Bad Shabbos” as an example. “They released in Florida first and then targeted wherever they wanted to go before expanding to New York and Los Angeles. You have to be nimble and patient and keep an eye on the release calendar to make sure you don’t compete with anything too big.”
“Sea urchin”
What could be better than finding a niche audience for your film? A distributor with niche audiences across the board. Watermelon Pictures is a division of Chicago-based MPI Media Group that focuses on Palestinian films and related subjects. Founded in 2024 by brothers Badi Ali and Hamza Ali and creative director Alana Hadid (sister of models Gigi and Bella Hadid), it has distributed about a dozen films and launched the Watermelon+ streaming service. The potential to reach underserved audiences is similar to how Angel Studios has found success with audiences seeking family-friendly, faith-based content.
Suncatcher Prods., which recently handled the theatrical distribution of the Armenian documentary There Was, There Was Not and also assisted Watermelon, is a label focused on theatrically releasing films about women, people with disabilities, and the environment. Annalisa Shoemaker, a veteran of Amazon and Focus Features, founded the company in 2023 as a rental theater distribution company. The film got off to a good start with Oscar nominee To Kill a Tiger, which was shown in more than 40 arthouse theaters after its award-eligible run. Shoemaker recently stepped away from his documentary-heavy lineup to work with AMC Theaters to book the romantic comedy “Good Bad Things” and set up a Hulu streaming deal. “One of our goals at Suncatcher is to build community. We work backwards from our audience to learn what they want and how to bring them together,” she says.
On the surface, the agenda of “The Future of Cinema is Female” appears to be quite direct. The idea is to create gender equality in the film industry by supporting the creation, exhibition and promotion of first-time female filmmakers. “What I saw coming out of the festival was that there wasn’t a lot of parity in the types of films that were being featured afterwards,” says programmer and FOFIF founder Caryn Coleman, who launched the nearly eight-year-old organization’s distribution arm a year ago. “One of the reasons I wanted to do this is because there are so many of these movies that I can’t handle them.” But her model could have broader application, using nonprofit organizations to raise all the money. “That doesn’t mean we’re not trying to get back the money we invest, but as a nonprofit, we’re trying to do it in other ways.”
Production and distribution company Willa is “focused on socially and culturally significant films,” said founder Elizabeth Woodward. Willa’s impressive film lineup includes Claire Denis’ The Fence and the Spirit Award-nominated La Cocina. “Sundance Institute is serious about the future of distribution, which is why they invited me to be a part of their fellowship,” she says. “So I worked with some great mentors to really formulate Willa’s business model.”
“Good and bad things”
Most of these new distributions are geared toward more authentic cuisine, but there are some notable exceptions. Cartuna x Dweck, a partnership between Hannah Dweck and Ted Schaefer’s Dweck Prods. In partnership with James Belfer’s Cartuna Animation Studios, production begins on the horror comedy Dead Lover, which will be screened using a scratch-and-sniff “Stink-O-Vision” card. “We want to be in the cooler, weirder types of movies, but it doesn’t seem like the market is very receptive to those movies,” Belfer says. “And sometimes we worked with certain companies, but it just didn’t make sense to us. So we thought, ‘Why don’t we focus our energy on distribution?'” Their rival might be Muscle Distribution, recently founded by film historian Elizabeth Purchell and focusing on classic queer underground and art films.
Each of these new companies may not be making a lot of money, but together they can make a big impact. “New smaller distributors are being welcomed by movie theaters, especially independent theaters and small theater chains,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at comScore. “Many of them are filling the void by offering films that may not generate much box office revenue on their own but can collectively increase profits, while also providing distribution and marketing for films that are just starting out or have been overlooked.”
It’s never been easy for independent filmmakers, but the emergence of so many boutique distribution companies is a stark reflection of changing expectations. “There are literally dozens of great films premiering at Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, and all the other regional film festivals,” says Lela Meadow Connor, executive director of Art House Convergence, an independent exhibitor group. “But traditional theatrical distributors’ marketing budgets are down, or they’re not getting the same box office returns as they used to. But the windows and terms[of professional distributors]are often more favorable to theaters, with some even splitting the odds.” And some distributors admit that theater is often just a loss leader. “They think of theater as marketing, and they want to recoup some of that money through streaming.”
One of the buzzwords you hear a lot in the indie distribution world is “bespoke.” That’s a fancy way of saying that each film release is tailored specifically to it and its unique audience. The new company, Joint Venture, co-founded by participant veteran Chris Lane, promises to “build alliances with filmmakers, audiences and partners to unlock the potential of each film.” This allows filmmakers to be more involved in the release of their films, target communities with specific connections to their characters or subject matter, and provide opportunities for others to partner with them on marketing campaigns and screenings. If You See Something, a recently released romantic thriller about an Iraqi doctor seeking political asylum in the United States, the film’s website encourages viewers to join or donate to organizations that welcome refugee families.
“La Cocina”
In February, former Sideshow executive Jason Hellerstein launched 1-2 Special, assembling a team of indie film veterans and aiming to release up to 10 theatrical films a year. While many distributors claim to be filmmaker-friendly, 1-2 Special aims to be as involved as producers want and be as transparent about the process as possible. The label got off to a flying start on October 10 with actor Harris Dickinson’s feature directorial debut, Urchin.
New boutiques are also emerging that claim to operate “filmmaker first,” where producers get a share of box office revenue before or at the same time as distributors. “This is the premise that many emerging distributors are signing up to or branding themselves as,” says entertainment lawyer Elsa Ramo of Ramo Law Firm. “And the devil is in the details. How are the contracts really structured? Are there any hidden costs or fees? Do they have a business plan that will generate revenue? Because there’s so much market volatility, the best contracts will offer some kind of upfront payment or minimum guarantee. If you’re only dealing with revenue shares, it’s a much riskier proposition for producers. There’s nothing better than getting the most money upfront.”
Ramo says while the influx of new players is exciting, producers shouldn’t let their guard down. “In terms of evaluating delivery, you need to make sure it’s not just the offer on the table that’s being evaluated,” she says. “Will these companies have the cash a year from now? Because the one thing that hasn’t gone away in this cycle of emerging distributors is that they really need to do their due diligence.”
