The producers of Yogawoman blazed a trail by self-distributing the feature-length documentary globally and are planning a similar strategy for their current project, Aussies Rule the World.
The innovative approach entails making the film available on DVD initially via its website, then arranging 4-wall cinema screenings followed by Video-on-Demand platforms.
Producers Michael McIntyre and his wife, director-writer Kate McIntyre, run Second Nature Films. They self-funded Yogawoman, narrated by Annette Bening, which portrays the ancient practice of yoga as a cure-all for the physical and spiritual ills of today’s women.
Aussies Rule the World looks at the AFL’s popularity in such places as the US, South Africa and Denmark, fronted by former Sydney Swans champion Brett Kirk.
“We’re about to break-even on Yogawoman so we’re looking beyond that,“ McIntyre told IF on the line from Los Angeles where he is negotiating a home entertainment deal.
As soon as the film was finished the DVD was on sale via the website. The producers arranged community screenings, then did 4-wall deals with cinemas. He estimates the docu, directed by Sarawati Clere and Kate McIntyre, grossed more than $150,000 in Australia and has sold more than 4,000 DVDs via the website. The cost of hiring the cinemas was cash-flowed from DVD revenues.
With an eye to international sales, he and his wife filmed sequences in the US, Japan, the UK and Germany, all places where yoga is popular. They arranged 4-wall screenings in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Boston, then did a deal with Shadow Distribution to show the film in 25 cities across the US.
He’s sold the title to Amazon Video in Japan (and just got his first royalty cheque for $10,000) and it will be available on iTunes in the US on New Year’s Day. Via a deal with online distribution company Yekra, the film is available for streaming worldwide. “Carving up territories is for dinosaurs,” he says.
While shooting Aussies Rule the World, the McIntyres gave Kirk his own camera so he could film himself in places they did not go to. Kirk proved to be a natural on-camera talent.
“We will follow the same distribution model we had with Yogawoman,” McIntyre says, who aims to launch the docu next July.
After that he and his wife are planning a feature-length docu on kangaroos, from ancient Aboriginal legends and the first white settlement through to the present day.