Filmmaker Ronnel Parham’s 4 Things to Consider for Wide Distribution
Posted on: Oct 24, 2024
Photo Credit: Hollywood HeadshotsRonnel Ricardo Parham is an award-winning filmmaker who’s successfully taken a web series with mini-episodes, turned it into a television series and gotten distribution with some of the top streamers in the world. He’s passionate about telling stories that represent the underrepresented.
Ronnel got his start in the industry in college with modeling and commercials at the suggestion of others. What began as an acting career with a move to Los Angeles became a producing career when a friend asked him to help fund/produce a short in exchange for a role with some creative control.
He discovered a love for the producing side and set out to write and produce his own web series called Odd Man Out. Ronnel acts in it as the central character and he based the story on his own strange experiences growing up. The series has grown from its early days on YouTube, to now being available on popular platforms like Peacock and Tubi.
Ronnel shared his thoughts on what independent content creators should consider if they have their sights set on distribution with larger platforms.
Tell a Relatable Story
It’s true you want to write what you know, but you also want to make sure your story is something that others can relate to. Think about the humanity in your story and consider who will connect with your characters’ journeys. You want to make sure you have something people will want to watch. You can also catch the eye of both audiences and distributors by having recognizable talent, a notable director or producing team, or recognizable intellectual property. You want a unique story, but even if it’s similar to others, think about how you can bring your unique perspective and voice to it.
“Odd Man Out started as just a concept. I always had this motivation to create a story about my life and upbringing. I grew up in the inner city, but I was privileged enough to go to school with rich kids. I was homeless three times as a teenager, but I kept going to school like everything was okay. I was living this chameleon lifestyle every day.”
Put Yourself Out There
Write the best story you can, gather the best team you can, and begin. Whether you are an actor, writer or crew person, you can’t always sit around waiting for the phone to ring. When you find ways to make what you can, you build something to show others and get more support in the future. You might wonder how to start with no money, but you start small.
Ronnel started with four-page mini-episodes for Odd Man Out, and after some festival success found a company that wanted to work with him to rework them into two half-hour episodes. He said too many people try to jump right in to raise funds for a feature, or something complicated with no previous experience. You can write something short and simple in daylight in a quiet space and shoot it on a phone with a phone microphone. Use that and step up with more support for the next one.
“Now you’re building intellectual property and have things to talk about when you network, when you ask somebody for money or [when] you try and ask somebody for something. The more you do it, you’re just going to get better. You’re going to keep applying to festivals. You’re going to start making connections. You might even be speaking at festivals. You’re going to continue to meet people. It’s just a very proactive thing you have to do in this business. I just go around all the time telling people to stop waiting on people, stop waiting on things, stop waiting on somebody to give you the green light. Go create things.”
Production Value, Production Value, Production Value
This is your name out there. It’s your reputation. Even if you’re shooting on a budget, you’d be surprised who you can get for certain rates, so you should try for the best talent and crew you can get. It’s better to keep it simple and focus on story, rather than trying to have better production value with big effects or complicated scenes. Make sure your editing is crisp and tells a cohesive story. Spend extra to repair color or sound when necessary.
Some people just want to work and get better at their craft. That being said, do what you need to do to make sure people are getting paid. When someone is getting paid, they are much more motivated to come out and do a good job. They’re much more motivated to bust their butt for you. Even if you’re paying people $75 a day, you’re showing them appreciation, and you can build a team and relationships you maintain long term. If you don’t have a lot of money, then think creatively about how you can tell the best story with less elements or cast involved.
Have a Distribution Plan
There are places like Film Freeway to find festivals, The Film Catalogue to find indie distributors, or the American Film Market conference that is for people buying and selling films or TV shows. You can start making a plan for distributors you want to contact or network with, but you’ll likely need to crawl before you walk. You can start by getting your project out there to festivals or free platforms like social media, YouTube or Vimeo. The idea is to build an audience and some solid support. You can look for streaming platforms that are just starting out and need content to stream. This builds an audience, but also shows future distributors that someone besides yourself took an interest in your project. You can strategically look for platforms and festivals in different areas or markets to begin to expand your audience.
“People were probably so annoyed with me, but everything I had going on with the show I put on Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter, Instagram. Next thing I know I was getting likes and comments and people were starting to see me in a different light. From there, I started finding these smaller distributors that were starting up and doing their thing, who didn’t pay me, but brought me new viewers.
“I entered festivals and won some awards. Five awards turned to nine, which turned to 11, turned into 15, turned into 18, turned into 21, turned into 25, turned into 27. As I kept leveling up, I would strategically send out emails to people [asking them] to check out the show. This streamer just picked us up. That eventually led me to Dame Dash and Homestead Entertainment. They helped me get the series onto Peacock, and I’m one of few content creators with a revenue split deal.”
The series now focuses on full-length episodes on Peacock and Amazon Prime, but they’re in talks with Quelly and A-list actors and others have begun to reach out.
Ronnel says all these things happened from just getting started with his four-page episodes, and continuing to produce and pitch himself. He said you may send hundreds, if not thousands of emails with little response but to expand potentials, all it takes is one person to get back with you and ask to hear more.
Jessica Mathis (AKA Divinity Rose) is an award winning screenwriter/performer/producer from Louisville, Kentucky. She is the CEO of She Dreams Content Development and Production, which focuses on female forward projects in comedy, docustyle and genre entertainment.
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