Glen Reynolds, Founder of Circus Road Films: There are some doors that they’re easy to get into but you shouldn’t go through them, right? There’s some people that just don’t have your best interests at heart.
Film Courage: What is a producer rep?
Glen: It’s like a sales agent. It’s another name for a sales agent so it usually connotes being a domestic sales agent as opposed to an international sales agent. It’s a little different in that as a producer rep you are selling films to U.S. distributors and you don’t really have to take over the film from the filmmaker. You can make the deal, you can negotiate on their behalf and then they can deliver the film to the distributor and the distributor can pay them directly, it’s a fairly easy transaction. Whereas on the international front, international sales agents really have to take over that process. International sales agents are more like distributors in that you deliver them the film and then they go to markets around the world, sell these distributors and then in turn deliver the film to those distributors, collect that money and then account to a producer. In my case I don’t do that. I specialize in U.S. distributors and as most producer reps do and I’m just like a consultant sales agent for that purpose.
Film Courage: What’s the difference between a producer rep and a distributor?
Glen: A producer rep is really trying to get the filmmaker the best deal possible in the United States with a traditional distributor. Distributors are taking on the film, put it in theaters, putting it on video-on-demand [VOD], making blu-rays, selling the film rights to Netflix or HBO and putting on advertising-video-on-demand [AVOD] later like Tubi or Pluto so usually most distributors are handling all rights that way. As a producer rep, I’m meeting the filmmaker usually about the time they’ve finished the film or about to get in the film festival or just got into a film festival and I’m going to help them get into the world of distribution and show the film to the distributors to see who would be the best possible partner for taking the film out.
Film Courage: Why would a filmmaker hire a producer rep?
Glen: Well especially if you’re a first-time filmmaker most schools don’t teach film distribution and so there’s just a huge learning gap in terms of what distribution is and what they do. Usually I consider my part of my job as education in terms of teaching my clients what distributors…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BIO:
Glen Reynolds founded Circus Road Films in 2006 to provide strategic advisory services to filmmakers. Circus Road guides filmmakers through the festival and distribution process and negotiates licensing agreements on their behalf. Glen has participated in the sales of over 900 narrative and documentary feature films with many of them premiering at Sundance, Slamdance, SXSW, Cinequest, Tribeca, Hot Docs, Fantastic, Telluride and Toronto. Distributors of these films include Fox, Sony, Warner Bros, Universal, Lions Gate, Magnolia, IFC, Strand, Oscilloscope, Drafthouse, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Showtime, Starz, Lifetime, ESPN and Syfy. Some favorite films sold include the first films of some successful filmmakers such as Absentia, written and directed by Mike Flanagan (Midnight Mass); Pop Skull, written and directed by Adam Wingard (Godzilla vs Kong); and Newlyweeds, written and directed by Shaka King. (Judas and the Black Messiah). Recent work includes Clean (Tribeca/IFC) with Adrien Brody, My Dead Dad and 18½ with Willa Fitzgerald (101 Films). Glen has also co-produced twenty films to date including his favorite Conversations with Other Women which premiered at Telluride and stars Aaron Eckhart, Helena Bonham Carter, and Olivia Wilde. Other great production experiences include developing two projects with Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow) and co-producing five films with Ram Bergman (Knives Out, Star Wars: The Last Jedi). Glen holds a JD from the University of Texas at Austin, a BA in English from NYU and is a graduate of the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. He serves as a judge for the UCLA Screenwriting Competition and on the jury for the Woods Hole Film Festival.
CONNECT WITH GLEN REYNOLDS
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