The Broken Hearts Club
The producers of Broken Hearts Club, a romantic comedy by African-American writer/director Angelo Bell, are modeling their distribution plan after other other successful independent filmmakers: they have chosen a do-it-yourself model. Using a hybrid-distribution strategy of social media, television, VOD and DVD-on-demand the producer's officially rolled out the film to audiences around the world.
Following a successful film festival run that included the Hollywood Black Film Festival in Beverly Hills, the Portobello Film Festival in the United Kingdom, the Wreck-Beach Film Festival in Canada and the Festival of Independent Cinema in Italy, producers of Broken Hearts Club were contacted by several independent distributors. With offers that ranged from bad to worse, the producers decided to venture out on their own. Armed with a non-exclusive arrangement with Goliath Promotions, Broken Hearts Club slowly made it way out to audiences on the AMGTV and RTV television networks. Throught licensed airtime on small stations across the US, Broken Hearts Club made its way into the hearts of Midwesterners in limited regions and markets.
In the plight of independent filmmakers taking a do-it-yourself approach to distribution, sometimes bad news is good news. "We knew we were on to something good, when a version of the film that was edited for language caused a ruckus in Kansas," said director Angelo Bell. "A few inappropriate words slipped through the cracks and viewers called the station to complain. This told us that people were watching!"
The producers of Broken Hearts Club use a holistic approach to distribution by stimulating organic growth in the film's audience through social media. "Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and blogs (http://www.brokenheartsclubfilm.com) have helped bring awareness of the film to a wider audience," Angelo confirmed. Broken Hearts Club has had a presence on Myspace for two years and a growing group page on Facebook since 2009. To build their audience, the producers teamed up with singer/songwriters Alex Nackman and Chris Blake, who have large followings on Myspace and Facebook. The film uses songs by the artists, "Proximity" and "Happiness" respectively. As a result of the film's international audience, Angelo Bell has secured work consulting on projects as far away as Paris, France. However, the focus is on spreading the word about Broken Hearts Club.
"As a filmmaker it's always exciting to work on a new project, but our film was just released on IndieFlix and marketing is a priority." The film is available for immediate viewing here: http://www.indieflix.com/
IndieFlix is dedicated to providing a forum for filmmakers and their audience to interact and to building a community that translates artistic vision into commercial success. Commercial success is the operative word and a hybrid approach requires multiple channels. In addition to its availability on IndieFlix on DVD and streaming video rental, Broken Hearts Club will soon be on Amazon and Netflix. Later this year the film goes to European and African television, reaching a potential audience of 20 million on the Global Broadcast network and the African Broadcast Network.
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