Actually Blockbuster is handled via a company that does in-house projects for Blockbuster.

I discussed our first film with the person buying for that company and he says blockbuster does nothing with documentaries right now.

We might just send our five dvds right to the president of that company.

I know our stuff is good, so if we can get the cases in front of any major exec in a chain they'll see it is packaged to appeal to many.

Eventually we'll get into chains, the more you have to offer them, the more the door opens. Soon we'll have 10 or so titles in our catalog, that's enough to get in the door I think.

Mom and pops might be a different deal though, since they're more accessible. I thought some of my sales crew might do well with them, but I'm open to listening to anyone that has had luck with Indy stores.

What works, leave behinds, catalogs, screeners, etc.

Since we don't sell this stuff ourselves, excepting our documentaries which are in Blockbuster now, I don't have any better advice. Most of our stuff is either direct to distributor, or web-based. Our sales to companies like BORDERS are managed by a publishing rep. They also managed our sales into Blockbuster's purchasing.
Indie stores are always more accessible, and they're always looking for additional profits. Like I said, this security person we did contract work for is having his best luck with small local shops that his sales guy visits himself.

DEJ Productions is the company blockbuster pushed us off to, their response to our first title was they are not looking at any docs right now. In my local blockbuster there is no doc section, they have new releases, kids, then genres like drama, horror, scifi, comedy, foreign etc. Did you get a national buy for your doc? What's the subject?

Native American culture. (history/dance)
They don't do well in terms of reorders, because it's not a big seller for them. They are a one-off buy, so we're not pushing, or rather our rep is not pushing for reorders.

I don't know how Blockbuster or Hollywood video selects which items to carry. They obviously carry successfull theater runs, but I don't know how they choose their indy and special interest titles (i.e., The Home Teachers, The Best Two Years, etc. are LDS titles that I'm always surprised to see at Hollywood Video).

However, I know how Borders, Frys, Best Buy and others select their book and software titles--having sold into these locations for over 14 years (their might be some similarity on how they handle video). A good theater run is a shoe in and is typically rotated in by the publisher contacting their specific video buyer. Other titles are sold in by a vendor's sales rep, but they often have to pay more MDF (Market Development Funds) or Co-op (a % of sales that goes toward promoting the items (usually just the store). The guarantee of MDF usually ensures the store will make a profit, even if the video does not sell well (and most new videos that don't sell through can be returned).

In addition, aside from the biggest vendors that often go direct (i.e. Disney), most chains purchase through wholesale distributors (Ingram Books, Navarre, Douglas Stewart, etc. - depending on the category). Retailers purchase via distributors so they don't have to place so many separate orders with hundreds of vendors. In addition, the distributors help cash flow (retail tries to sell it before they have to pay for it) and float the inventory (retail can return it to a single location and refresh it for new titles, etc.).

In these cases, you first have to setup an account with the distributors. Then, as you work with the resellers they already know they can order the inventory from their preferred distributor. In many cases, the distributors will carry only the amount of inventory you have already received committments from by the resellers.

Some locations, like Hollywood do not have the same arrangements as "for sales only" Borders, Barnes and Nobles, Best Buy, etc. since they can't return "used" inventory. In their case, they have to sell it at a discount (i.e., Hollywood video 3 for $25 specials). As such, the rental locations seem to take more risk with the titles (can't return used via distribution), so they may be more picky. I don't know what their margins are, but I assume it's an entirely different schedule for videos they buy to rent, versus those new units that they sell. They have to be getting huge discounts to sell at such low costs.

It is also interesting to note when a video hits the stores. There is a traditional order of items hitting theater, then airplanes, then hotels, then video, etc. (I don't remember the order from my Motorola set-top days), but it does determine their typicall buying cycle. Obviously, national titles are released all at once. I don't know their cycle for indy's and unique orspecialized titles.

I have a 250 plus page Website that has a LOT of this information along with strategies on how to sell in and then sell through within the retail locations. It is geared toward software but I used the same approach to sell in books. Many of the targets locations for books and software are the same as for video and so the process would be similar.

You can find out more at www.chanimal.com. The section on channel marketing might be the most helpful: http://www.chanimal.com/html/channel_marketing.html

I could go on for pages but the site has a LOT more information.

Good luck,

Ted

local buy then via a rep, you with sundance right, so you're in the best area for native content, beautiful part of the USA in SW

our stuff is general interest doc, tons of people have interest in UFOS, Nostradamus and Prophecy stuff, so we went to the main office and got pushed to their in house acquisitions arm, sooner or later we'll send packages of our stuff to the top execs

The artwork we did jumps off the cases, real good hooks

Sooner or later we'll get self space with them