"Like, OMG, did you hear? My brother's friend's cousin knows this guy who has a friend in the industry and his film, like, totally got picked up, you know, as in the dude like straight up bought his movie. I know, right? Now he's supes popular and totally going places. The only thing left is that the dude has to sell it to somone. Fingers totes crossed."

 

Hollywood: Where dreams go to get smacked in the face by reality. (Source)

Depending on who you are, the above paragraph confused you, intrigued you, or made you just a little frightened. Whatever the case, there's no denying that conversations exactly like this are happening in every corner of every coffee shop in cities like L.A., New York, Vancouver, and even Austin, Texas or Nashville, Tennessee―anywhere you might find an active film community. 

From the summer tentpole superhero and robot films to teeny tiny microbudget crowdsourced projects, filmmaking is alive and well across America. Much of the point of going through this creative process is just to make something good. The rest of the point, of course, is to make money off of it.

To make money off of film, no matter the size or genre, people have to see it somehow. To get butts into seats, there have to be seats in the first place. That's where you come in. As a film distribution agent, the whole purpose of your existence is to get a film from point A (the filmmakers) to point B (the theaters). 

Whether domestic (in the U.S. or Canada) or foreign (not the U.S., and usually not Canada), you're gonna have to sell sell sell whatever film you've just bought bought bought. That's right: theaters pay you for the rights to show your movie that you got paid by filmmakers to sell (source). Some may call it the circle of life, but to you it's just another day on the job, which should net you an average of $60,000 a year (source).

 

Yoga should also be a major factor. (Source)

Now, unfortunately, this particular job description isn't all sunshine and lollipops. Many filmmakers and studios don't like the monkey in the middle (that's you). Production reps and film sales agents definitely have a purpose, but only because they're an extra set of eyes and ears trying to get a film to its premiere. That's why this job takes a special kind of person. 

You're going to have to have the drive to succeed in the face of rejection, and you're going to have to socialize with an incredible amount of strangers (both gorgeous and otherwise because, hey, most of your work takes place in L.A.). Making this into a career is a challenge, and motivation will be a major factor in staying in the game.

Remember: films are typically expensive, and many don't return a reward for all of the risk involved. That's why so many studios have their own distribution branches, and why they've also started distributing each others' films: it spreads the risk and prevents anybody from losing too much. The good news is: this is totally an option for you. 

The bad news is: you're not going to get anywhere near the amount of credit for getting a film into theaters as you otherwise would in any other film-related gig. So you're going to have to make a choice: do you work your behind off under someone else's banner, or do you work on your own and assume all of the responsibility? Either way, you better love films, because you're going to be up to your eyeballs in them.

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