I'm J Horton and I'm making sell movies
and this is filmmakers on amazon prime
i mention Amazon Prime a lot for those
that don't know back in 2006
Amazon launched a service called Amazon
UNbox in the US later it was renamed
Amazon video direct and even later than
that renamed Prime video direct for our
purposes I'll just refer to it as Amazon
Prime which BTW Amazon doesn't like beCause
they don't want independent filmmakers
referring to their movies as Amazon
Prime movies because that infers that
you have some kind of special deal with
Amazon they asked filmmakers when
marketing that they use prime video or
hashtag prime video when marketing their
movies on Amazon.  became the first and still
is really the only major streaming
platform to allow filmmakers to directly
upload their movies without a
distributor or an aggregator see this
was huge for the first time ever Joe
smothers in Indiana could upload his 60
minute ultra-low budget vampire movie
with little to no gatekeeping and still
have it listed on the new release wall
right next to Pirates of the Caribbean
for several years hardly anybody knew
about it I think I first stumbled upon
it around 2011 I was using create space
to self distribute DVDs you know I was
looking to re-release a couple of my
older library titles after they had
finished their initial runs with
distributors see back in those days and
Wow basically still today when you
license a movie to Astra beuter it's for
five to seven years typically and at the
end of that time you can either re-up
that license or take the rights back in
most cases and use make 95% of what
they're gonna make in the first two to
three years
the returns get so low after that that
they usually become non-existent so it
makes sense if you have the means to
release yourself and make a few bucks on
those older titles so I did just that I
think it was around 2011 or 2012 I got
the rights back
I discovered Amazon Prime and put a
couple movies up they were literally
making a few bucks
and after a little bit I honestly kind
of forgot about him then you're too
later like out of nowhere one of them
started making some real well some
relatively real money it jumped from
making a few bucks a month to a few
hundred that particular title went up as
high as $1,200 a month at one point that
year this little tiny movie made almost
ten thousand dollars that year alone fYI
it was made for much much less for the
first time ever self distribution seemed
like a viable option at the very least
it was a great place to put my movies
after they'd finished their original
license with the distributor which was
pretty much my mo all the way up through
2016
now let me qualify something here for
the purposes of this discussion I'm
talking about very low-budget movies
movies independently produced for well
under $100,000 most of them actually
between 5,000 and 50,000 with no big
stars B and C level at best in 2016
these types of movies were starting to
become much harder to make money with
through traditional distribution between
2005 and 2015 I worked for a few
companies producing and directing these
kind of features and they were cleaning
up you know to this day I regret that I
didn't strike out on my own earlier by
the time I got the balls to do so it was
2016 and the bubble was bursting there
were so many filmmakers doing it now you
know back in 2005 if you told somebody
you'd made a feature phone for $20,000
got it distributed made some money they
would most likely a not believe you or B
think it was freaking incredible and how
did you do it tell me how you did it you
know it just wasn't all that common by
2016
equipment costs had gone down equipment
was better editing systems were
affordable and independent movies
flooded the marketplace like never
before and now with Prime video direct
filmmakers had a platform to get these
movies into the marketplace and a major
way without the permission of a
distributor and for about another year
or so it was glorious I forget the exact
amount they were paying out but I think
it was around fifteen cents an hour and
there were no real algorithmic or
content restrictions
I had one older library title around
that time that made almost twenty
thousand dollars that year a little tiny
four thousand dollar shot mini DV movie
that was way way way past its prime it
made more that year than it ever did in
his initial release but by 2017 things
had started to change more and more
filmmakers were discovering Prime video
direct and it was no longer this little
buried secret and content in most cases
very bad content flooded the market and
Amazon started to walk back they lowered
their rates their algorithms started to
get smart it was catching filmmakers
that were juking the system with fake
good reviews and peer to peer review
swaps I'll get into that whole thing in
a later episode they started pulling
movies that didn't adhere to their vague
definition of audience expectation I
lost a couple of movies myself and the
ones that remained were making much less
and suddenly I was kind of right back
where I started I really don't want to
be one of those naysaying film makers
like piling on about the villainous
Amazon narrative I really don't think
Amazon's in the wrong even with all the
changes that they made they are still
the only major platform that allows us
to directly upload our movies let that
sink in for a minute they are the only
major platform that allows us to
directly upload our movies it's their
world we're just living in it so how do
we move forward
well first off if you're counting solely
on Amazon for the income from your
projects that's a mistake it's hard but
you have to diversify your income stream
seek out other platforms for your
content new ones are emerging on a daily
basis and sure most are worthless but
eventually some of these will gain more
traction I for one use film hub they are
an aggregator they take nothing up front
and 20% off the back
and you upload they're much like you do
on Amazon and they submit your movie for
you to many many platforms my projects
had an average of five alternate
platforms at peace through film hub and
yes I love airplanes you love airplanes
airplanes are very fun and yes for now
the returns are small a fraction of what
I'm making on Amazon alone but over the
past year that gap has started to slowly
very slowly narrow it's not enough just
to make your movie and promote it you
have to make a brand start a YouTube
channel to a podcast start a patreon
I've done all three and keep trying new
stuff are you just on Facebook and not
Twitter get both hate Facebook too bad
there's a lot of stuff code hard there
at advertising get on there man you're
not on Instagram get on it reddit you
bet start a Facebook group
join a Facebook group but do something
different think outside of the box in a
nutshell that's filmmakers on Amazon
Prime if you like this video and like to
see more subscribe to my channel hit the
little bell and don't forget to check
out my patreon @ww patreon.com backslash
J Horton
