BeamAFilm is one of the newest kids on the block, and Gil Scrine made a feisty sales pitch for his boutique documentary streaming platform. His stated aim is to liberate the distribution of long-form documentary from the education sector and take it mainstream. Scrine has between fifteen and twenty films on board so far, and hopes to have fifty by the time of launch at AIDC early next year.

Jessica Ellis of ABC Commercial had some useful tidbits to add, pointing to smh.tv and fetch.tv as examples of platforms that are doing well online already. She made the interesting point that factual has not taken off on mobile devices, and in her opinion is better suited to other online forms - while comedy for example does work in mobile form.

Natalie Itzkowic and Tamara Piller of Red Gaffa were the Gen Y representatives on the panel, and took a different approach. Their argument was that it’s all about audience and relationship building, and their presentation focused on social media strategies and tie-in - they’re also launching a streaming platform next year called Filmtank. Finally Thomas Mai, a sales agent and producer, listed his ten rules of the new world of film distribution for the audience - couched firmly in online platforms and social media approaches, with some audience and collaboration tips thrown in for good measure. He argued that now, for any filmmaker, the approach should be “promote, fund and distribute,” in that order - flipping the usual approach of agonising time spent sourcing funds before anything else happens.

For doco filmmakers in the audience there was plenty to scribble down, although there were a few confused faces over the varied approaches of the panel. The main question that had everyone in a tizz was whether a filmmaker should sign over exclusive rights to a distributor. BeamAFilm’s Scrine argued that exclusivity provides a better return to the filmmaker, and allows them to get back to the business of making films without having to worry about distribution (although they do also offer non-exclusivity). Likewise, Ellis said the ABC was only interested in exclusivity. Mai and the Red Gaffa reps, on the other hand, were vehement that exclusivity is well and truly out, noting there’s such a range of platforms that really the filmmaker should be the only exclusive rights-holder of a work.

There was also some apprehension among the more seasoned filmmakers in the audience about social media; some worried they’d get bogged down having to provide updates constantly instead of actually making a film. The best advice came from Piller of Red Gaffa - if you’ve got something to say, say it. But it has to be something interesting - no one cares that you just started editing your film today. Even in the social media world, it’s still all about content.

The podcast of the session is now available online at OzDox.