Advice on Selling Your Own DVDs of Your Indie Film

Some indie filmmakers who are considering selling 'preview' copies of their film from the movie's website and at screenings asked for my advice:

Here are some possible subject areas we think we need to consider and/or figure out. Is there anything you can think of as well or insights about any of this you can share?

Glass Master
Digital Capture from your master
MPEG-1 & MPEG-2 Video compression
Audio compression
DVD programming/scripting
Menu and navigation design and production
Encryption: Standard Copy Protection Schemes --
CSS (Content Scrambling System)/Macrovision Ripguard
Formatting to DLT tapes
Final mastering and replication
PAL/NTSC
Menus and Navigation
Color Correction
Authoring
Graphic Design
Subtitling
Multi-language Tracks
Regional Programming
Internet/web linking
Cases/Artwork
Master to DVD
Acceptable formats
Final Mastering & Duplication/Replication
Pricing
Online ordering/payments
Data base of buyers/inquirers
Packaging/Postage/Mailing

Here's what I wrote back...

Size of Print Run

If you're going to package the discs yourself, the quality is not going to be great and you should price accordingly. I believe the some companies that do the pressing will just do packaging and printing. So you could get a bunch of cases and discs with art on them and all you have to do is burn the data to the discs. You should look carefully at pricing to determine if this is worth it. I think the smallest run most of these companies with do is 500, with many of them only doing 1,000.

Glass Master vs. Consumer Master vs. Self-Burn

It's not worth ordering a glass master if this is a limited run and you can't use it anyway if you're using a consumer DVD duplication tower. However, using standard DVD-Rs (or DVD+Rs) is not going to guarantee the disc will play in every player. So just be aware you might have to refund to people who have old DVD players.

DVD Menu/Encoding

Any film student can figure out enough to design a menu for you in DVD Studio Pro. You'll probably want someone with some experience to do the encoding.

PAL/NTSC

Don't mess with PAL. And it's not worth messing with copy protection either - it's complicated, if you use MacroVision you have to pay them, and it just limits who is going to watch your movie. If you're really worried about piracy, release your own copy of the movie on the torrent sites and have text that comes up on it every once and a while that tosses back to the website and just chalk it up to promotion. Better yet, have the director introduce the film and speak directly to the pirates and ask for their help promoting the film. The torrent people weren't going to pay for the movie anyway, but if they tell other people about it, it might actually generate sales. If you release your own version, there is less incentive for someone to rip a clean version from the DVD. If you're worried about sales to Asian and African markets that are rampant with street piracy, you should get a distributor in place for these markets. This isn't going to be a big check, but it's more than you'll get if the movie is already in the market illegally.

Make the disc region 0 so you can sell it/give it to someone in any country and there's a good chance they'll be able to play it.

Color Correction

Professional finish or in-software? Up to you. Either have someone do the best they can with Avid's tools or shell out for the real deal, which probably means doing a Digital Intermediate (DI) in your case, since you shot on film. I remember seeing at a trade show some cheaper DI technologies for indies. If you're never ever ever going to go back to 35mm for a master, then you can use your HD dailies to make an HD master (D5 or HDCam-SR formats recommended), which is what Joel and Christine did on Rain in the Mountains. This kind of master is great for DVD/Bluray and passable for digital theatrical projection.

Languages

Subtitling and multi-language is probably out of your purview for a preview edition. There are places you can pay to do this sort of thing and you really should have at least French and Spanish subs/dubbing on a fully-featured DVD for selling in North America. [And, pace comments, also be sure to include English for the hearing impaired. It's the easiest and most fun subtitle to do -- (lively music).]

Website Design is Critical!

In terms of the online stuff, there are pre-built shopping cart code blocks that can be added to websites. Have someone web savvy look through the code of a few film websites you think do this well and see if they can determine how they did it. I'm not sure what the deal is with credit cards, but you'll probably have to pay for a system that is capable of processing them. I wouldn't go the PayPal-only route. You want to make it as easy as possible for anyone to buy the film however they prefer.

A place that prints on demand and handles payment and fulfillment is starting to look attractive, right?

Pricing Schemes

As far as pricing, the only recommendation is to try to have more than one option. Have at least a cheapo version and a version (a signed copy limited edition?) that's really expensive. Better yet, add a middle option that bundles the soundtrack. Tiered pricing is an age-old gimmick that works.

One way to make sales at festivals and screenings would be to offer a 'Festival discount' that is a few dollars less than the website price. This is a way of incentvising people to buy now while at the same letting them know they can still get it on the website. The base price will be determined by the profit margins you're after. I would warn against pricing it too low. A new DVD is about $14.99 to $30.00 in people's minds. Unless your packaging looks as good as any DVD in stores, it will probably make people put a lower value on it. You want people to think of the film as quality, so price accordingly. (Well, at least start high. If few sales are happening, you'll have to drop the price.)

Self-fulfilment

If you're mailing yourself, likewise think of quality. Have multiple speed options and charge a little more than USPS for each of these options (for extra profit and to cover yourself in case they raise their rates). Use bubble mailers - print the addresses, don't hand write them if possible. Make sure to include a promotional postcard or sticker in the package and, especially if someone has bought the high-tier version, a hand-written note can secure a loyal customer.

Manage That List!

As I'm sure you've heard from distribution consultant Peter Broderick, the e-mail mailing list of buyers is the most valuable part of this to you and the #1 reason to sell the DVD yourself. Don't abuse the list. No more that once a month mailings, and ONLY if there is genuinely interesting news that you can use to market with. (Be careful about advertising a better version of the DVD to people who have already bought the preview version.) Have someone who doesn't mind spreadsheets keep this list. I've been collaborating with Writer's Lab West, the NYU Alumni group, and had success with the Spreadsheets function on Google Docs. I gave the members of board access to the list and they can add names and notes themselves faster than emailing me and having me add them. Since there's only one master list that everyone is working from, it greatly reduces the possibility someone is going to get double-contacted, which I learned from my non-profit internship is the fastest way to get angry calls (and it makes your operation look like it isn't organized).

Good luck,
John

Photo credit: public.resource.org on Flickr. Used under Creative Commons license.