Amazon VOD will not let your film pass QC if you have website addresses in your film or trailer. I think Filmhub has a problem with that too.
So what does a filmmaker do if their documentary focuses on advocacy, and interview subjects are speaking about the websites for their organizations? If the movie is often ABOUT these websites, how do we get around distributors’ rules?
I’m currently editing a doc that will run into this issue. Anyone who has experience or ideas on the subject, let me know.
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Mike Boas Those are the rules and you can't get around them. The reason those are the rules is that your film is going to a platform which makes money ONLY when people stay on platform. You can have a separate version for YouTube or other social media which don't have those restrictions, or you can simply promote on your own website.
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I understand why their general rule is no URLs. (Even if they’re not literally links.) I was just wondering if anyone had found wiggle room for special cases and how they navigated that.
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I believe you can say the name of the organization and in conversation people can say 'I was on their website" - to insinuate there is a website. I believe our educator went through this in our recent Documentary Filmmaking class: https://www.stage32.com/education/products/4-part-class-introduction-to-...
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Always check the specific distributor's guidelines—some may allow it if it's presented as an "informational graphic" integral to the content. If you're looking to dive deeper into navigating the industry with projects like this, we have two great upcoming events: a Pitch Tank with a CAA exec today and a Q&A with showrunner Amardeep Galsin next week!