How Much Money Do Independent Movies Make? - Glen Reynolds

Glen Reynolds founded Circus Road Films in 2006 to provide strategic advisory services to filmmakers. Circus Road guides filmmakers through the festival and distribution process and negotiates licensing agreements on their behalf. Glen has participated in the sales of over 900 narrative and documentary feature films with many of them premiering at Sundance, Slamdance, SXSW, Cinequest, Tribeca, Hot Docs, Fantastic, Telluride and Toronto. Distributors of these films include Fox, Sony, Warner Bros, Universal, Lions Gate, Magnolia, IFC, Strand, Oscilloscope, Drafthouse, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Showtime, Starz, Lifetime, ESPN and Syfy.
 
Some favorite films sold include the first films of some successful filmmakers such as Absentia, written and directed by Mike Flanagan (Midnight Mass); Pop Skull, written and directed by Adam Wingard (Godzilla vs Kong); and Newlyweeds, written and directed by Shaka King. (Judas and the Black Messiah).
 
Recent work includes Clean (Tribeca/IFC) with Adrien Brody, My Dead Dad and 18½ with Willa Fitzgerald (101 Films).
 
Glen has also co-produced twenty films to date including his favorite Conversations with Other Women which premiered at Telluride and stars Aaron Eckhart, Helena Bonham Carter, and Olivia Wilde.  Other great production experiences include developing two projects with Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow) and co-producing five films with Ram Bergman (Knives Out, Star Wars: The Last Jedi).
 
Glen holds a JD from the University of Texas at Austin, a BA in English from NYU and is a graduate of the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. He serves as a judge for the UCLA Screenwriting Competition and on the jury for the Woods Hole Film Festival.

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#film #movies #filmmaking

[clayaggeles]

There’s no formula to this business, really. We made our flick for a Kickstarter (donation based) budget of $22k and have made over $15k in returns after waterfall. We actually said that our budget was $22k to our foreign distributor and he wants to help pitch our next idea. You don’t know what kind of relationships you’ll make in the endeavor. You just gotta care about making something that will matter to someone else. Let the money take care of itself

[GTshortStories]

My indie film “Pick A Side” has made its budget back and most of that was due to Tubi. I don’t know if the .15 cents of viewing is accurate because that means a bunch of people watched my film. I didn’t make the film for money but it is great to know that it made money especially when I hear the stories of how indie films aren’t making anything. Great interview as always

[cinemathequerouge]

Thanks Karen
I appreciate you asking Glen so many good questions about Indy film numbers. We really need this info out here.

[juliusvlogivas]

This guy is very helpful and is def a good source for independent filmmakers looking to distribute.

[VangelisFilms]

Such a valuable (and sobering) conversation. What I really want to know is what kinds of deals films are getting from the lionsgates, Sony digital and A24’s of the world. There are still films that are being “sold” outright in the traditional sense, in the low-budget range. Also, foreign sales (while dying) still can be viable as most of the world hasn’t caught up to streaming to the same level as US. The question is, how does the filmmaker make the lion’s share of the money as opposed to the distributors and sales agents. Everyone wants “all rights” these days when in reality each distributor tends to have particular areas they excel in. Parsing rights is the way to go to maximize earning potential in my opinion.

[Goldenera]

Great series of Interviews with Glen 💪🏾💪🏾

[AlpsLifee]

Good to know, would have liked to have heard what makes the top earning indie films so special in comparison

[jonathangriffin]

In my honest opinion, the studios need to leave the independent films independent. In my opinion, I think the studios are afraid that the old studio system is not as original as it was in the golden age of cinema...and they were apprehensive when independent film gained popularity in the 1990s and then, independent films became really popular, to the point that new filmmakers started making independent films because they felt that the studios were getting stale and boring. Hollywood has been making MCU or Marvel movies or remakes of classic movies for a long time and a majority of them are really not that great. Hollywood is no longer original and independent filmmakers are returning to the "independent" way of making films because they still don't have any faith in the studio system. The independent film might be making a comeback because of how unoriginal Hollywood has become and still is in some ways.

[themanhimself]

literally this channel always makes me smile. besides all the great knowledge gifted by all these professionals, the show has such a great selection of people to interview and the interviewer does fantastic job each episode 🙏 thank you for the great content 🔥🦾❤️

[cinema]

Since there is so much content put there we have under valued the art and commerce of cinema. The distribution company knows there are so many films that they can undervalue it.

[RandomRouletteFun]

My independent film, Moorehouse Road, has done quite well on Tubi. As someone else mentioned, it has to be more than 15c per view, because I doubt my film has been seen by 150, 000 people in just a few months.

[dopetheadjective]

"AVOD platforms" sound like something someone would say in a Kevin Smith movie.

[takingitonedayatatime]

Thanks for the Video. Keep them coming 😌

[huddieentertainment]

Great interview. ! I have a few movies on TUBI. I was never sure how much each ad pays. I know it can vary and depending on how well the movie is doing. I was also looking into doing my own streaming platform doing AVOD. Stumbled across this while doing research. Great interview. Thanks. And I wish all the Indy filmmakers luck. It's tough doing alot of it on your own. Very few will understand the sacrifices, late nights, $$$ spent, hard work etc to finish a film. I know people who started films but never finished so finishing is a WIN in itself but if would be nice to see some good $$$
$$ 🙂 and I'm sure alot of filmmakers would love to do this as their primary source of income. How great would that be?

[egpthree]

If you had 10% of Tubi’s viewership (7.5 million) watching the majority of your movie, you’ve made 1.15 mil. What

[cobymarcum]

Low low numbers. Thank you for the warning. All the more incentive to make the best content possible to have better than average earnings.

[foundvhs]

If someone offers you “points” instead of actual pay, run as far away as you can. This means you will never see a dime.

[edcano]

It's interesting to know some numbers

[perimetrfilms]

Basically not worth making films is his opinion! But film makers should never make films for profit but rather information or art, or entertainment.

[Pietje_Piraat]

I would love to make mockusters for 50 to 70k if i could turn them over for double that cost