Cinetic Does Digital for Indie Filmmakers

For many filmmakers, the festival circuit is the first, last and only place their work is ever shown. But a new endeavor from Cinetic (rhymes with “kinetic”) Rights Management wants to prove there’s a digital life for all the films that don’t land theatrical distribution deals.

Cinetic Rights Management (CRM) is a new business from Cinetic Media, a film sales agency made famous for getting deals for films like Little Miss Sunshine and Napoleon Dynamite. CRM hopes to extend that indie success by selling films to new online, mobile and VOD distribution channels like iTunes, Amazon, Jaman and more.

I spoke with Matt Dentler, CRM’s brand-new head of marketing and programming, and he explained his company’s mission: “So many independent filmmakers are aware of this space, but not how to get into it,” said Dentler, ” We give people the entry that they might not otherwise have.”

In addition to sales, CRM will also market the movie to try and drum up awareness (and eyeballs) to the film through social networks, blog PR and free online screenings. “We don’t make money unless the film makes money,” said Dentler.

Cinetic Rights Management is a good idea from a filmmaker’s perspective — let someone else hassle with distribution. But it will have to sign a lot of movies and coordinate a lot of deals to a lot of distribution channels to drive a lot of eyeballs to generate substantial revenue.