How to Distribute your Short Film with Director's Notes' Marbelle

MarBelle co-founded the platform Directors Notes in 2006 as a way to make filmmaking more accessible by sharing useful knowledge on how to make films. Sixteen years later, Directors Notes has become the home for thousands of short films looking to premiere online, featuring filmmakers like Mark Jenkin, Rob Savage & Ben Wheatley. As a bit of recent news, DN has just partnered with BIFA’s The Douglas Hickox Award sponsored by BBC Film.

MarBelle is also a programmer and advisory board member at Aesthetica Short Film Festival, a voter for the British Independent Film Awards, and jury member and panelist for events such as The Shark Awards, Bolton Film Festival, Berlin Commercial, The Shiny Awards and Paris International Film Festival.

In this episode, as always, we cover a lot of ground. MarBelle talks about how important it is to build an audience from the ground up, not only through festivals but online outlets and your own social media channels. He tells us about the creation of Directors Notes, how they started and how they have continued to this day. We get into the weeds of what DN are looking for with their features as well as what it is like being an entrepreneur in this niche space. 

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