How Netflix “Belt-Tightening” Hurts Indies: A Filmmaker’s Perspective

Isaac Pingree is an independent filmmaker whose Day of Vengeance is not available on Netflix, though not for a lack of trying.  Here’s his take on how it’s getting tougher for independent filmmakers to get their product to market.

It used to be a breeze to get your movie on Netflix. If you managed to secure any kind of legitimate domestic distribution, Netflix wanted your film, and that was that.  Over the past year or so, however, Netflix has changed the way they do business, and as a result, they’re acquiring significantly fewer titles for their library. That’s a problem for me, as I produced and directed a film that came out straight to DVD earlier this summer. Whether it’s a problem for you depends on your level of interest in low budget direct-to-dvd indies, admittedly a niche market.

The film I directed is Day of Vengeance, an ultra low-budget contemporary western, set in rural Northern California. My film has two distributors: Artist View Entertainment for foreign distribution and Lifesize Entertainment for domestic distribution. The quality of a film’s domestic distribution is what determines how easily the American public can access the film. For a big studio film that may mean how many theatres the movie is shown in, for a film like mine on the other end of the spectrum, it means how broad is the average person’s ability to buy or rent the film online. Which brings us to Netflix, because without them, that average person’s ability to see your film is not broad at all. Netflix is the main supplier of rentals in the country and will most likely remain so for the foreseeable future. As a filmmaker, once you and your distributor have been iced by Netflix there aren’t a whole lot of options. You can try and get your movie out through every other venue, but you’re still left missing the biggest chunk of the market.

While not on Netflix, my film can be found online at Amazon, Bestbuy, Walmart, Target, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Blockbuster and others. Most of these online retailers either listed the film without buying any initial copies, or bought just a handful of copies. This gives us a chance to drive orders to these retailers through our own marketing efforts. We have the burden of pushing people to order the film before these online retailers will purchase copies, or purchase more copies, but at least we have that opportunity.

Amazon, for instance, has a very indie-friendly business model. They will list almost anything. Their initial order may only be 4 copies, but if they sell, they’ll buy more. It is a model that should be especially appreciated by independent filmmakers, because it gives you a chance to drive up business, and drive business to them, through whatever means you and your distributor have. There is no way to drive orders through marketing and media if there is no way for people to order. So Amazon gives you that start.

Blockbuster.com also lists my film and bought a number of copies to offer through their online rental service. I worked in a mom and pop video store in high school, and never thought I’d find myself saying nice things about Blockbuster, but their policy of trying to have the most complete library is very helpful to indie filmmakers.

Netflix used to attempt to keep the most up-to-date and complete library in market, and if you call them up they’ll still tell you that this is their goal, but recently it has gotten much harder for some films to get on Netflix. “Belt-tightening” is the reason they gave my distributor for not listing my film, that along with the film’s lack of any recognizable names and faces. They have made the judgment that if there are no recognizable actors in your film, it most likely won’t get enough visibility to justify carrying it. I certainly can’t argue that this is a crazy idea, and the Netflix decision makers know better than I about what is best for their bottom line. What I will argue is that this criterion ignores the possibility that name-recognition and the quality of a film are not always directly proportional. My film Day of Vengeance has received both positive and negative reviews from critics around the web. It was reviewed on this site and let’s just say it was a less than glowing review. Soon after, this site reviewed The Stranger starring Steve Austin (of the Stone Cold variety). While Straight2dvdmovies critic Jason Govern didn’t recommend seeing either film, he did call mine a “terrific first ‘calling card’ film.” Unfortunately, you only have the opportunity to rent one of these films on Netflix to see for yourself.

In the end, the losers here are small filmmakers like me, a guy who has no stars in his debut film, but wants the opportunity to be on Netflix and drive orders their way – gaining visibility and dollars that can be used to make a bigger, better film the next time out. And I guess I’m writing this to suggest to you that as Netflix waters down its inventory with mediocre or worse films with recognizable actors, and worthy independent titles are ignored, their customers are losing something in that outcome as well.

Still, I haven’t given up hope that you’ll see Day of Vengeance on Netflix at some point, so keep an eye out, and request the films you want to see.

Isaac Pingree produced, directed, and edited Day of Vengeance.