For many in the world of film and television, the sixth and final step can be the most difficult. Successful distribution is reliant on others, and for the most part out of your control. In short, don’t expect to automatically be picked up by the ABC or Netflix. At least not without a considerable amount of effort or some help.

AGENT
Help, in the form of an agent, is one way to get to the decision makers. Mezzanine Films has a relationship with film agent Michael Aldridge, who assisted in the in additional sales of ‘Photo Number 6’ to new markets, including Thailand, the UK and Hong Kong. Agents attend film and TV festivals and conferences looking for what’s hot, selling complete shows as well as the rights to the concept for local production.

TELEVISION NETWORKS
Pitching to television networks is laborious, time consuming, and often a dead-end. But for those lucky enough to have the right story at the right time, then television networks make it easy to pitch via submission portals. Here’s two to get you started:

SBS Australia - https://www.sbs.com.au/aboutus/content-commissioning

ABC Australia - https://www.abc.net.au/independent/pitch/acquisitions/pitch/

APPLE TV
“Is This Thing On?” wasn’t eventually picked up by the ABC, but it was picked up by Apple. Anyone with an iTunes account can buy one episode or the entire series, and revenue returned to the production company is around 66% of the sale. But to get onto Apple TV, you’ll need an ‘aggregator’, like FATS Media Lab, who will ensure your post-production quality is up to the high standards that Apple requires.

PRIVATE NETWORKS
Photo Number 6 was shot in 4K, and there’s a growing private networks that are showing only high resolution. Plus filming in 4K today helps future proof, at least until 8K TVs hit Harvey Norman.

FILM FESTIVALS
Two Mezzanine Films, Dying for a Laugh and Copycat from Ballarat, were both submitted to film festivals via the website, Film Freeway. This can be the cheapest way to get noticed, and can help add some credibility to your show’s IMDb listing – which can help in an eventual sale.

YOUTUBE
The two Kate’s, Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan, started their cooking show called The Katering Show on YouTube. They built an audience online first, before getting picked up by the ABC. Likewise comedy trio Aunty Donna got picked up by Netflix, but only after they had developed a huge following via Channel 31 and its YouTube channel. But perhaps the best part of YouTube is that it allows for monetisation, with the caveat that you have at least 1000 subscribers having watched at least 4,000 hours within the past 12 months. A synch for Aunty Donna, who have videos that hit well over 100,000 views in a few months.

So as you can see, there are loads of opportunities to get your work out – assuming that that’s your intention. For some, you’ll be producing a show for internal company viewing only and so distribution is a given.