Nike Just Did It - Film Distribution

DIWO Example:  Beautiful Losers

Nike has stepped up to help Beautiful Losers be the latest film to chose the self-distribution route.  Filmmakers Aaron Rose and Joshua Leonard chose to align with the Fortune 500 sneaker and retail company to help with P&A and help extend the reach of the film.  As the award winning documentary open this Friday in New York at the IFC Center, Nike will be sponsoring a five market release and educational workshops.  Specific dollar amounts have not been released.

This is not the first film looking to get help from an outside organization.  Robert Greenwald has made a living leveraging the help of political organizations and there are many other examples:

• NHL supporting In the Crease,
• Spout sponsoring Four Eyed Monsters
• Pepsi sponsoring First Descent
• Dove sponsoring The Women
• Gatorade sponsoring Gracie
• Italian Jeans Co. sponsoring Lives of Saints

So what makes this different?  Imagine a future where every movie is "Brought to you by...".  The blockbuster movies, like Transformers, practically already do this with product placement and advertisements.  Indie movies should take advantage of all the same opportunities.  What makes movies any different from say a sports team?  Soon Shea Stadium will be called Citibank Stadium.  Its not like the bank is naming the starting pitcher and similarly Nike should not be picking the directors.  As long as creative control is not compromised, further empowering the filmmaker is a great thing.

Indie films need money and help to find audiences.  Brands have money and consumers and need to sell more product.  Lets see if the marriage will last or if this will be a quick divorce.

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