Marc Schiller of Bond/360 thinks you should price your independent film differently depending on the platform and the time since release.
He lays out his strategy in ‘How Much Should I Sell My Film For?’ on Medium.
Keeping your conversion rate between two and three per cent is key, he says.
“Conversion rates are never static. And because of this the price of a film should also never be static.”
Sell on your website to your core audience. But don’t overlook the iTunes and Netflixes out there:
“The benefit of having your film in the marketplace and supported with promotion is that your film can now be discovered by those who may not have known about it. A significant amount of sales of independent films happen specifically because they are found and discovered in New Releases, Top 25, etc. In addition, many of your core want to purchase on iTunes, not your website. The biggest mistake a filmmaker who is selling direct can do is to try to divert sales from iTunes so that the film is purchased on the website. Rather, they should be doing everything in their power to get their film into the Top 20 of its category so it can be discovered by others. This increase in sales is worth every penny of the commission the retailer takes.”
My take: excellent advice, backed up with concrete figures. Thanks for sharing!