How I Got Distribution For My Short Film UNCONTROL
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How I Got Distribution For My Short Film UNCONTROL
We got distribution for my first horror short film, UNCONTROL. It's now available to watch on Kweli.TV! So, how did we get here? And why is it important?
It took us almost three years, but here we are: my horror short film Uncontrol got distribution! It’s now available on Kweli.TV!
It’s somewhat rare for a short film to be played anywhere outside of festivals (if not self-distributed through Vimeo our Youtube), so I thought, why not share how we got here? It’s been such a lengthy and at times frustrating process - and it took a fair bit of willpower and faith.
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This is Manon de Reeper’s newsletter about her journey towards making her first feature film, wading through the messy Hollywood waters and trying to make sense of it all. It’s probably interesting to other screenwriters, directors and producers who’ve embarked on the same journey.
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Uncontrol was shot in Houston, TX in October 2020 after a very successful crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark. We had a relatively successful festival run in 2021, despite the pandemic. It played at Austin After Midnight, the Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival - the biggest and most important festival in the Caribbean, and given that I was living in the Caribbean at the time this was a huge honor and pleasure - and a number of smaller and Dutch festivals (thank you for the support, motherland!)
Deep in the throes of psychosis brought on by neglected OCD, a woman comes to face her inner demon. Here’s the trailer:
Why not Shudder, Alter, Short of the Week etc?
Oh, I tried! Before I started working on Uncontrol, I had hoped for Uncontrol to play on any of those channels. But: unfortunately, we’re not the ones in charge over there.
Shudder apparently doesn’t take short films at all, or at least, they didn’t when I pitched it.
Alter said: this short is too short, and there’s not enough story! Uncontrol sits at a brief but comfortable 6.5 minutes including credits. I was a little surprised that they said it’s “too short”.
This runtime proved perfect for film festivals, but apparently, the streamers want something that’s at least 7 minutes long, because otherwise viewers won’t watch? I’d never heard of that before (and they did not list this requirement anywhere), but hey, maybe that’s good to know for future horror short filmmakers. 7-8 minutes would be sweet for both festivals and online streamers.
Regarding there not being not enough story… I suppose that’s in the eye of the beholder. I personally think we tell a pretty complete story with stuff to unpack in this short runtime - and there’s no dialogue… The selection procedure for any distributor or festival is incredibly subjective. It’s definitely possible that if the short had been considered by someone else, it would’ve been selected.
Short of the Week, as I learned, is kind of pay to play and very hard to get into - and if you look at their horror section, it looks like they don’t love horror by POC. I did try, but we got rejected. Shrug.
Throughout all of this, I was very aware that we are a rarity - Uncontrol is directed (by me) and produced by (Anna Tran), and starring WOC (the amazing Tené Carter), telling a West-African inspired horror story. You don’t see a lot of Black faces on these platforms - not on their teams nor in the content they distribute.
So I started exploring Black platforms. I submitted it to AllBlk - who liked it a lot but said it was too short, too. They only acquire shorts of 15 minutes or more. Facepalm.
Our deal with Kweli.TV
The next platform I tried was Kweli. It’s a fairly new but renowned Black independent streaming platform, and I love what they’ve been doing. Run by a Black woman, I felt like they would probably appreciate Uncontrol more for its West African lore. And I was right - they loved it and agreed to license it.
Except… for them it was technically too short, too. They were very willing to work with us though. They had us add a number of BTS stills at the end to lengthen the runtime to the 7-minute minimum. Too easy!
We have a one-year non-exclusive contract with them, and we get a share in the revenue. It probably won’t be much since it’s calculated per watched minute (and there just aren’t that many minutes lol). But that’s ok! We knew shorts don’t really make money, and you’ll see, that wasn’t necessarily our goal.
So for now, Uncontrol lives on Kweli!
What distribution for a short film says about us
As I’m working on my first feature film, it was important to me that on top of Uncontrol being a very good “this is what we can do with $10k” proof of concept/skill, it would live somewhere that wasn’t our own Vimeo or Youtube account.
It signals that we can work with a distributor of some sort, that we can move past gatekeepers, that we’re connected, and that we’re team players. It will look good for potential investors and collaborators on my feature. It’s another stamp of approval by another sort of industry institute. It makes us look more legit, more professional.
On top of that: whoever watches it and enjoys it is hopefully a part of our future audience! And in the end, Kweli is a hugely important platform for us to be visible on, considering we intend to continue making BIPOC genre content with Deviant Minds Productions.
Connecting with our audience
Eventually, yes, we’ll self-distribute on Youtube. Maybe sooner rather than later. The potential audience we can reach there is too enticing to pass up. And that’s what it’s all about in the end - finding and connecting with our audience.
The first time I watched Uncontrol on a big screen after having seen it on a small screen 500 times during the edits was a very gratifying and humbling experience. I didn’t actually watch much of the film: I turned around and watched people’s faces as they were watching. Someone’s popcorn-filled hand hovered midway to their mouth as they were watching, captivated, mouth slack. People gasped and jumped at the right moment. On top of that, I got to connect with folks about the OCD or anxiety they or their loved ones experience.
It’s that shared experience of emotions, capturing people’s hearts and minds that makes all the hard work and persistence worthwhile. <3
Check out Uncontrol on Kweli (or request a private screener on the email address below)
Things I enjoyed this week
TV: Heartstopper and Platonic
Music: Ibaraki - Kagutsuchi
Podcast: Long Island Serial Killer and The Retrievals
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This newsletter is written by Manon de Reeper.
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