12 // Self-Distribute Or Surrender Your Film an Update.

What happens when you finish a labor-of-love sci‑fi thriller and the industry that’s supposed to elevate it feels cold to the touch? We open the curtain on The Dresden Sun’s release and share exactly how we took control: touring independent theaters, designing a smart digital window, and building momentum with creators who believed in the work. No middlemen manufacturing “marketing spend,” no vanishing receipts—just a focused plan to get a Christina Ricci–led indie in front of real audiences and actually see the upside.

We break down why volume-based distributors rarely prioritize your film and how “binder syndrome” quietly buries new releases after the honeymoon ends. Then we map the DIY theatrical playbook you can steal: call independent cinemas, pitch the fit, prove demand with trailers and socials, show up for Q&As, and extend runs when weekends hit. From a Redding premiere to an LA screening with cast and industry friends, each date becomes a case study that opens the next door. We pair that with a controlled digital rollout—purchase and rental first, streaming later—to protect the film’s value and keep attention flowing toward theaters.

Audience building is the engine. Our trailer crossed 500k views, the original song and music video drew listeners, and strategic Twitch partnerships brought new eyes from vibrant communities. We talk about crafting human VFX without AI, staying resilient after festival passes, and why polarization can be healthier than indifference when your story swings big. If you’re an independent filmmaker staring down distribution with a tight budget and tighter timeline, this is a practical, candid path to ownership, sustainability, and momentum.

Subscribe, share with a filmmaker who needs a push, and leave a review telling us which tactic you’ll try first.

Transcript

Why Traditional Distribution Fails

The Theatrical DIY Playbook

Controlled Digital Rollout Strategy

Responsibility And Attrition In Filmmaking

LA Premiere And Wearing All Hats

Myth, The Grail, And New Paths

Audience Building And YouTube Reality

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Bit of an update, a little bit of a uh oh, what do you call it? Um just um, you know, what we're experiencing right now, releasing a uh a moderately sized independent feature film starring Christina Ricci, Mina Suvari, Linus Roach, Stephen Og, Lee McCloskey. And yeah, I just wanted to kind of give you guys a little update. So we are in the middle of this uh theatrical self distribution that we are doing ourselves on our own. Um and I I want to say that the the key to this episode is that if you are doing anything the normal way or what what feels right, you're behind and you're doing it wrong. It's just the truth. Um so I'll I'll I'll I'll get right into it. Um we had our reading premiere of the Dresden Sun on February 2nd. It was an amazing emotional evening uh for myself and for Michael. As uh you know, if you've been following this podcast, we have been working on this film for years, years. Um we filmed it in 22. Um, we finished all of post and everything in 25. So roughly two and a half years of of post-production. Um I should say probably about a year and a half of post-production. We had so many different uh speed bumps along the way, but uh we knew from the very beginning that we were going to make this movie and it's gonna be really cool, and uh we did. We followed through on it. We we set out and we did it. And that is the one thing that we can do as filmmakers, you know. It's um it's funny having the dream of making a movie and then actually going through with everything, you know, a movie of excuse me, a movie of this size, you know, that's that was the our dream was to have this size of a film to really show what we can do. And uh good lord. I'm glad I didn't know what we were getting into. Like you have to have a bit of you know, innocence coming into this uh in order to actually do it. Um but we did it, that's the important thing. Um I've got a couple um kind of like I don't know if they're warnings or just you know, this is what we're doing and this is why. Um because if you couldn't tell, um Hollywood is dead. Uh it it's cold to the touch. And we uh knew that we wanted to have total control over what this film was gonna look like. We did not anticipate um the uh needing total control over distribution, and um I have something to say about that entire um aspect of it's the business and show business. So the distribution. If you are making a movie right now and you are not going to self-distribute, you will never see a penny for your movie. Most likely. Uh the odds are ever stacked against us in that regard. And even going through the self-distribution. Um, you know, there's not a good way of self-distributing unless you have a sizable audience that uh can serve, you know, um, and pay back your budget, right? But, you know, all of us want this our our movies to get out there and have as many people see it as possible. And when you are successful at that, you want to be able to get paid. Um the way that anybody who claims that they will represent your film, the way that it works, is they are volume wholesalers. So you are not the only film that they are representing in any way. Um, so you're you they will make you feel very special and that they believe in what you're doing, and that uh, you know, they're gonna they're gonna get you right on the financials and can pretty much guarantee that whatever they say, it's gonna be the exact opposite. So, you know, um you start out as the shiny new object and they make you feel beautiful and respected and loved, and thank god we got them on our side. Holy cow, they're gonna do all this work and get the film out there and get seen and all this. And it can't be further from the truth. That's just not the way it works. The the entire model of handing off your movie to somebody else to sell it um is old, antiquated, broken, corrupt, and uh needs to be discarded. In its place is total control of your of your baby, of your project. And that has to happen. You cannot sign off 15, 20, 25% of your movie to anybody. You have to figure out your own distribution. And even if you do sign with someone, they're not going to market it. Um, you know, they'll they'll take it to uh they'll take it to uh you know markets and stuff, but you're gonna be sitting in a a binder with everyone else. But at the beginning, you're at the front of that binder, so they're you know, that's pretty cool. But as soon as your film is uh released, you are immediately replaced with the hottest chick in town or hottest guy in town, and the cycle repeats itself, and that's how they get paid. They are volume wholesalers, they do not care if your film makes money as long as your film and whatever films are bundled with it uh sell at the markets. They are going to take that money and then they're gonna run. And you have these uh caps, you know, in your contracts that uh hopefully you you put a cap, a marketing cap, um, and otherwise they'll just keep on saying that they're spending all this money on your movie. And so any receipts that come in, they keep that money. Um, you know, if you maybe at the very beginning, uh you might have a really good release, and uh um maybe a bunch of money comes in. That's cool, but they're gonna take the bulk of it, uh, they're gonna chalk it up to expenses and um, you know, marketing fees and all that stuff, and then they're gonna take their percentage on top of that. And somehow um you're still in the red. It's weird how that works. So what we did was we learned uh from our first film, which was a very, very low budget uh indie film and not much risk, and we knew that uh this film was quite a bit riskier, and we will not repeat what we did the first time. And so we are self-distributing. And you know what's so funny too? The other reason um that we're self-distributing is we've been told so many times by uh people that want to uh represent this film on different levels that you know theatrical is dead. Like you're not gonna get into theaters, um, you shouldn't try, and uh, you know, we're gonna get you placed well on Amazon streaming. And uh I can tell you that that is a flat out lie. So one of the things that we are doing is we are self-distributing theatrically as well. Um, there are hundreds of independent theaters across this country, and all you have to do is call them up and ask them, hey, I have a uh really cool indie film uh that I think would do well in your um demographic in your area. Um can we talk about having uh a weekend at your theater? And they say yes or no. And if they say yes, you have your conversation and you show them, you know, the trailer, you show them, you know, your your uh your your reach on social media, and you kind of lay out a little bit of a plan um so that you can get people into the theater that weekend. Um and you don't know, you don't know if it's gonna perform, if it's not, but you get to go and watch your your movie in a movie theater with other people. It's pretty cool. That's what we did. Um and that is really exciting, that that is available to us. You don't need a booker. Um, you know, uh a lot of times these are mom and pop shops, you know. You just go and especially if you're you know, if if the film was made near where these theaters are, um, communities like to know that uh these things are happening and they're curious, you know, they want to see a movie that was made in Reading. Oh my god, I actually I'm interested. I heard about that. Why did it take so long? But um, you know, it's like uh you will get support in that way, and because you're self-distributing, if it does well in the theater, in their theater, then just keep it there. Tell them, like, hey, you know, uh, let's just keep it going as long as you want, you know. Um, and uh yeah, and maybe hold off on putting it on Amazon for you know, like Amazon Prime, free streaming and stuff. What we're doing is we are currently touring the film through uh smaller regional theaters. And on February 23rd, uh it's uh February 12th today. On February 23rd, our film will be uh available for digital purchase and rental on all the major platforms. And that is because we have total control. If if we had a distributor, they'd be like, no, it needs to be streaming, you know, uh on the 23rd. You can't just do digital purchase and and uh and rental. That doesn't make any sense. And so the reason we're doing it is because we are going to we we want people to see the movie in the theater. That's where it was made to be seen, that's where it's optimized to be seen. We don't need internet trolls shitting on the film on IMDb. And uh, you know, we want people to have uh a personal interaction with this movie, and you can't do that uh watching it on your phone or your home entertainment system unless you have a really sick entertainment system, which good on you. So it's important that you understand how crazy it is. I might have mentioned this before in a different episode that we work so hard to get our film made and get it to that, you know, checkered flag, only to at the very end uh you know hand off what is essentially a newborn to a stranger uh who has ill intentions. It's crazy. It blows my mind. I can't believe that we did it. You know, for interpreters, it makes me a little sad and a whole lot mad. But that's why it's uh important that you figure out your own distribution. And if you're not, you will not succeed. Umb is in the business of trying to support you except for you. Nobody cares about you enough about your film except for you. You know how to market it, you know what people want to see this, but it's truly up to you. And that might feel really daunting, really, really uh intimidating because it is. This is a a big industry and it is saturated with mediocrity, uh bad films, good films, uh studio films that have millions of dollars to pump uh advertising. So you have to figure it out. And that's what we are in the process of doing is figuring it out because we have to. That was always what we said when we'd run into again speed bumps, uh, the occasional brick wall. You know, Michael and I would look at each other, do you think we can make this film? And we'd both say at different times, we have to. We have to. There's no other way. So the same thing goes for distribution. You have to figure it out. Hollywood is dead. Like I said, it's cold. It is cold to the touch. And it's not coming back anytime soon. You know, we have so many tools available to us now that uh we can make really, really good stuff. It allows us to truly focus on the story. So yeah, that's where we're at. Um February 16th in uh four days, we will be in Los Angeles for our LA premiere. Very, very excited about that. We've got uh, you know, industry people, we've got the cast coming. It's gonna be amazing. I can't wait to see everybody again. Um you know, it's uh yeah, it's it's gonna be a lot of fun. I'm not as stressed out about the LA premiere as I was about the Reading premiere, because all of it's very new. You know, we organized all that ourselves too. And it's largely just Michael and myself. There's two of us doing all of this. So, you know, booking, uh, getting red carpet, getting the step and repeat, you know, designed and then printed and shipped off in time, getting a photographer or videographer. It's it's uh, you know, it's an indie film production again. So we're not we're not uh we are we are well versed in wearing all of the hats, you know. And as much as Hollywood is dead, I think, you know, always the dream is to get a studio to fund your your feature film. So, you know, that's still our goal. That's I don't think there's anything wrong with that. But when you make an independent film, there as Mark DePlace said, the cavalry is not coming, the horses don't even have saddles on them, they're sleeping in the stalls. Um yeah, I just I cannot stress enough, you know, if we all banded together and and understood this, that it is truly our our responsibility to, you know, not only you know, write our movie, find the funding, film it, you know, doing all the pre-production stuff, all of the post-production stuff, but it's also our responsibility to sell this film. So yeah, it's uh it's been a long road. And as much as I um I'm not so much angry, I'm I'm appalled. You know, the arts have really taken a beating the last ten years. And you know, it used to be that the storytellers were the philosophers of of a community. They're the ones that set the tone for thought and things to consider and talk about and ponder. And it's been completely undermined by cheap um mindless uh scrolling that, you know, I'm guilty. But you know, the dream is still there to make movies. And um I th that cannot stop. If that stops, then society as we know it is also dead. So I don't want to start another podcast called Society is Dead. So But um Yeah, so you know, keep going. Like everything that you're experiencing, everything that I've experienced and Michael's experienced, none of this is new. This is it's all cyclical, and everyone that was before us figured it out. You know, George Lucas didn't know how he was gonna make Star Wars, but he figured it out, and it's just an immense amount of work. This this industry is uh is really a game of attrition, you know. A lot of people drop out that are way more talented than you and I uh but they don't have the the gall, the the uh the fortitude to forge a new path. And that's what it's all about, you know. I love mythology and uh Joseph Campbell is uh is I just love listening to his uh the power of myth series. And I've read the books and you know just tried to ingest as much as possible, but he tells the uh the story about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and it's a very popular myth. And you know, the the Holy Grail was always their um that's what they were looking for. And they experienced things that that distracted them. Um they tried to walk the Paths that were worn already, that someone else had already walked down. And Joseph Campbell talks about the fact that the Holy Grail is not on the beaten path. It's truly into the unknown. That is where the Holy Grail sits. And I don't know what your Holy Grail is, but I know what mine is. And I don't think anybody's walked my path yet. Um, or at least, I mean, there might be glimpses, like I might see some grass that's kind of batted down a little bit, and so I know I'm on the right trail, but I do know that I have to get off of that path and and you know, hack my way through the jungle. Um so yeah, that's what we're doing. Made a movie. Now we're trying to get people to see it. So we've got a new website, thedresdonsun.com. Uh, we've got uh YouTube channel. Um Michael is making all the trailers. Uh, this is this is how talented the guy is. And if you're listening to this, you might have already uh seen our our uh music video. But Michael is also a musician, he's a really fantastic uh kind of like a Seattle grunge, you know, rock musician. And he wrote a song called Too Much Information. We had the local radio stations play it in Reading. It was so amazing to hear. Uh, the first time I heard it, I was freaking bawling. It's just like I can't believe this is happening. This is so cool. Um, but yeah, Michael's so freaking talented, man. Uh, so he wrote the song, uh, recorded the song. Uh the song is produced by Alex Newport, who also did our film score. Michael uh filmed the music video and then edited that. Uh, we put it up on YouTube and it's got like 120,000 views. Our trailer has about 515,000 views. Um, and yeah, so you know, we're trying to uh uh get as much out there as possible to as many people as possible. This is another thing that I wish I'd known before, but you know, for an indie filmmaker, I do believe that it is really important to have an audience already. Um, you know, we started with zero subscribers on YouTube. Now we have like 500, something like that. And uh that does not help us. That does not help us. So if you're listening to this, please go to the Archetype Pictures YouTube channel and like and subscribe if you haven't already. But um, you know, we're really trying to and maybe leave a comment on our trailer and our music video because we are, you know, really uh walking up a steep hill uh regarding that. And um, you know, I do think, yeah, that it's important. Uh there's a couple YouTubers now, the Philippo brothers, and then what was the other guy? He just has a movie out just now, Mark Applier. Mark Applier is a huge YouTuber, and his film, you know, he made his film for three million dollars, and I think it's gross like 36 million or something. Oh and so um I think it's uh, you know, if you if you're a young filmmaker, really focus on building up an audience because they will be there for you when you release your movie, uh, which I think is a big deal. It takes a lot of a lot of the grunt work out of it. So but you know, this is uh again, this is all learning experience. This is I don't think any two films are gonna be alike. Uh whether you know, whether you're producing or directing uh your next film or your first film, I think they are all going to be very, very different and you have to figure it out. You the holy grail is to get your budget back, right? And so you have to forge your own path to the grail. I don't necessarily like to speak in metaphor, but sometimes I don't know how to relay something else to relay the message uh properly uh without going into metaphor. So I apologize for the cliche, but yeah, it's just important. So February 23rd, a couple of important dates. February 23rd, our film is going to be on Amazon, on Apple TV, Fandango, and I think one more for digital purchase and rental. If you have a theater near you, um please let us know. Go to the Dresdonsun.com and in the booking tab, fill that out, let us know where you're from, and we will try to get into the theater near you. Um that is our plan. Uh we are uh we have a big stream coming up tonight with CuteBot on Twitch. Uh that was another thing that we figured out that nobody has ever really marketed a movie through streamers like this. So uh I think that is pretty innovative. Um we included these big Twitch streamers in our movie, which did incentivize them to promote the movie, which was always the goal. And uh they all did an amazing job, and we, you know, we're giving opportunities to people that want to do more than just Twitch stream, you know. Uh CuteBot Kiana is a also a uh singer, and so she has a song in the movie, and we're gonna be dropping that uh music video in the next week or so, and um, she's got a much, much bigger audience than we do. And so I'm really hoping that some of this is innovative. Uh indie filmmaking to me is the most important visual uh media that we have. Um I really, really do think that indie film has to figure out a way to survive. Um we are we are being neglected. Um we are being drowned, drowned out by other uh you know, means of taking in video content, which you know, we just have to figure it out. Times are changing, you can't fight that. And if you if you if you let that really you know uh dissuade you from from pursuing your dreams, then I don't think that you really wanted it. And that that's the attrition that I'm talking about. You might be way more talented than anyone else that's listening to this podcast or that's talking into the microphone right now. But unless you can figure out a way to make it forward, it's just not gonna happen. Sorry. So we have to figure it out. We are figuring it out for archetype pictures, which is really exciting, really aggravating, extraordinarily scary. But uh, we have a good movie with a great cast and a hell of a lot of heart. I'm really proud of everyone that worked on this. This was a massive undertaking. And uh I I I think this might be the last moderately sized independent film of this particular genre. So, like a sci-fi cyberpunk, you know, action thriller that we have, uh, where there was not one ounce or uh bite of AI used in the making of this film. It was not used. I saw on our trailer that some people were accusing us of being, you know, making this with AI. It's like, no, no, we didn't spend a year and a half, two years in post-production figuring out how to get AI to make this for us. We filmed on real locations, we adjusted those locations with CGI, with real paid human beings doing all the work. And if we could have paid more, we would have. Or more people, we would have. So I'm really proud of that. I'm really, really, really proud of that. So um, I would like to uh uh submit this film to the uh Independent Spirit Awards this year. We are notoriously uh not film festival darlings. This movie is two hours and nine minutes long. Um we got denied from every single film festival, and which is bizarre to me. I really don't understand it. Um objectively, this is a good movie. Um you know, but it deals with a lot of big ideas, it it deals with uh yeah, just a lot of big ideas, and I think it's a little too long for most film festivals, and um, but you know, it's a good movie. That I can say with assurance. So I'm excited about the future. I'm really excited about Monday, the LA premiere. I'm really excited because we're gonna be showing in, we're gonna be opening up in two more theaters. That'll be six theaters that we've been in so far. Uh we open there, uh we open up in Trinity County, Northern California on, I believe Friday the 13th. We open uh, oh no, I'm sorry, in Plumis County, the Plumis Arts Theater on February 13th. Really badass. People get to watch it. They did uh a news article on us. Um, I'm gonna be posting a lot of those onto our website, thedresnansun.com. Um, you can check on there on the in theaters tab to see where we are, where we've been. Uh really exciting. Um but uh yeah. So thank you guys. I'm gonna keep this short. Um apologize for the break. You know, after uh Steve Bridges passed, I don't know, just it really hit me kind of hard. And I I kind of lost the desire um to sit here and talk. And uh, and then started prepping for all the premiere releases and uh theater releases and you know, everything like that, and just got I was like, I don't know where I am, I can't feel my legs. So I'm feeling really good about this. It's really nice. Uh you know, I I appreciate you listening to me. I appreciate you coming back every time uh after all my breaks that I have to take. But um as I say every time when I come back, you know, I want to do this more often. So I like it. Hopefully I get some more guests in the future, and we can talk about independent film and and what it what it's what it what it is, what it's looking like, how how other people succeeded. Um if you're a filmmaker that's made something, or you know, if you're uh just a creative in general and you're going through some stuff, hit me up on on Instagram at uh Hollywood is dead podcast. I would love to uh connect there. Um always looking for guests. So if there's anybody that you suggest that I should reach out to, um, you know, tag me or tag them in a comment on my Instagram, and uh I will look I will look into it. So thank you as always for the support. Let us know on um also on socials uh that you've watched our film. Um if you would be so kind as to leave a uh generous IMDB rating, that would really help us as well. Um I gotta tell you, I'm kind of terrified with all the uh haters out there what you know our IMDB rating is gonna be. Um because you just don't know. You just don't know. We made this to be seen in the in the theater. And um, you know, if you do watch it at home, please just focus on the film. It's uh we're a small company trying to do our best, you know, and I and we did, we did our best on this. Um you know there's some people that left ones on our IMDB. And it's like, really, it's not, it's not a one. You know, if you go there now, you'll you'll see there's not a single four or five rating. It's either a one, two, or three, or a six, seven, eight, nine, and ten. So the film can be polarizing. It deals with a lot of big ideas, I'm telling you. Um, and so I would rather it be polarizing than not. I don't want it to be all over the board. You know, I'd rather people love it or hate it. I think that's good for business. As long as more people like it or love it. But uh, I don't want people to feel indifferent about it. That's the worst. This is not a media mediocre movie. So alright, guys. I'm gonna let you roll. I'll uh try to check back in after the the uh LA premiere, and uh you can always keep up to date with us over at the Dresden Sun uh movie Instagram. I'm on Instagram at Tylockamy. And see on the next episode.