Why I use Filmhub to distribute my movies

A short story of their journey from small to big, from my POV

Around 2014, I uploaded my first movie, What Other Couples Do, to a DIY distribution company called KinoNation.

KinoNation would take your small independent film to a few big streaming platforms like Amazon Prime and some modest-sized platforms you might never have heard of. It kept 20% of your film’s royalties and you got 80%. You retained all ownership rights to your film.

Over time, KinoNation continued making distribution agreements with more and more platforms.

Around 2016-17, the founders of KinoNation got venture capital money to expand. And they renamed the company Filmhub. Though I was still using the company to distribute my films, I privately thought it would not survive. It seemed like the obvious trend was toward filmmakers putting their movies online themselves. But I was wrong! You could say I underestimated the staying power of the middle man.

I’m not using “middle man” pejoratively here. Middlemen often exist for good reason. I have no desire to take my movies to all the streaming platforms that exist now myself. And I am even less interested in making sure these platforms are indeed paying out royalties owed to me every quarter. And I’m guessing streaming platforms would prefer to work with fewer entities to add films to their libraries rather than with countless individual filmmakers.

The last I heard, Filmhub has deals with over 60 streaming platforms (including Tubi, Pluto, Comcast Xfinity and Roku), and probably tens of thousands of filmmaker clients.

I really like distributing my movies through Filmhub. It’s well run and the people behind it are a pleasure to interact with.

What’s wild is Filmhub has continued to grow and thrive to the point where, this morning, I received an email saying they are now distributing not only small independent films featuring unknown casts but also movies made by and starring "household names,” as stated on the landing page of their newly revamped website (featuring a shot from a film starring Penelope Cruz, L’Immentsita).

As you’re probably already aware, many traditional distribution companies have gone out of business.

Filmhub was founded by a smart, openminded, forward-thinking guy named Alan d’Escragnole. He believes the big streaming platforms should carry all the movies they can—big or small—with the idea that they can’t predict what every viewer will want. Why not offer everything? Why make your customer go elsewhere to find what they’re looking for? Obviously, whatever Alan is doing is working, because Filmhub is now one of the largest distributors in the world.

If you're thinking about making a film or have just finished a film and are concerned about signing away the rights to it for 10-30 years in a bad distribution deal, or if you're depressed by the low odds of selling it at a festival (you wouldn’t believe the stats on this; it is shocking how few films sell), take a look at Filmhub.

If you sign a deal with another distributor, it’s highly possible they’ll be using Filmhub to distribute your film. But they won’t tell you this, and you’ll receive less money, of course, because of the extra link in the distribution chain. You probably ought to be ballsy and ask a potential distribution partner if they’ll be using Filmhub to distribute your film.

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xo,

Courtney