Sacred Sites is a much smaller production than, Lioness, and in many ways it is a good test case for the practicality of hybrid distribution for micro-budget filmmakers.
Wiese chose to focus his distribution efforts on semi-theatrical releases, DVD sales at screenings and direct DVD sales from his corporate web site.
The story of how Wiese distributed Sacred Sites is a also good example of the power of a core personal audience. Wiese has built several core personal audiences in years past. He is well known and highly respected by independent filmmakers, film students, film teachers and practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism. When I asked him if he would share the results of his distribution efforts for Sacred Sites, he sent me the following figures by email (these figures are as of July 2010).
Cost: $13,000 (Travel, lodging, shoot, post edit, mastering, music and mix, 1000 DVDs, but not marketing)
LA Theater Rent: $2000 (One Night theatre revenue $2000 or slightly less)
Not included staff time in marketing, nor filmmaker's time. No fees paid.
DVD income: Total DVD sales of about 1000 units. Of this 1000, 200 units sold at full price of $24.95, and 800 sold retail, with a net to MWP www.mwp.com (Wiese's company) of about $8.00 each after COG (cost of generation) and marketing.
VOD (video on demand) and foreign rights: The VOD rights and the foreign rights are still in the works.
There were various "affiliate sales" through quasi-theatrical screenings for dharma centers, Tibet House, Office of Tibet, Tibetan Nuns, etc. raising through ticket sales and DVD sales another $2-3K.
"We are working on a Sacred Sites photo book" Wiese wrote, "and we are about to release the CD sound track.
"My expectation" Wiese said, "is that the project will pay all of its costs and make a small profit. A VOD or foreign TV sale would put us over the top.
"Sacred Sites - as a project - is not a business." Wiese continued. "A series of films - call them "Sacred Journeys" is a business as each film can be re-promoted and rereleased each time another one is done. Marketing costs can be amortized across many films.
"I'm on the third film in this series now (The Shaman and Ayahuasca) and I think this will be a sustainable model as I can re-release each film which a subsequent one comes out - bundle, box sets, etc.
"I figure that you need five films (or books, or music CDs) in the same genre, going out to the same core audience, to build a line and a business," Wiese said. "One-offs are not a business."
