The Film Collaborative

a message from Orly Ravid, founder and co-executive director

With twelve years of acquisitions, distribution and sales experience, I conceived of The Film Collaborative because I was sick of the layers of middlemen standing in between filmmakers and the revenues they deserved but were often not receiving. I was further bothered by the wasted money and ineffeciency, to say nothing of greed and cheating. And frankly, the old model of giving up rights never made any sense to me. So I wanted to find a way to work with film based on a service model in which my team could get paid for our time, experience and work, but not be given ownership and control of a film. It was out of this feeling of frustration and commitment to fairness that TFC was born. We're non-profit, on purpose, and we truly believe in and stand by our two taglines: “filmmakers first.” and “we don't own your rights…you do!”

our mission.

THE FILM COLLABORATIVE is the first non-profit, full-service provider dedicated to the distribution of independent film, including narrative features, documentaries and shorts.

We offer a full range of affordable distribution, educational and marketing services to independent filmmakers looking to reach out to traditionally underserved audiences.

TFC will achieve these goals without ever needing to own or exploit a filmmaker’s intellectual property rights, opening up a new landscape of distribution opportunities free of extraneous middlemen and unfair contract terms, and drawing heavily upon the promise of new media/digital distribution and the power of viral and social networking.

In today’s marketplace, the traditional avenues of distribution for independent and art house distribution have dramatically contracted, leaving thousands of filmmakers without a way to bring their films to market.

As a result, there is a dire need for a service-oriented agency to step in to educate and empower filmmakers to reach out to audiences directly, to network with each other and trade vital experiences and marketing assets, and to master the tools of emerging DIY and new media opportunities.

By providing services geared towards educational consultation, low fee or commission-only sales support, non-theatrical distribution, DIY theatricals, grassroots/community outreach, low-cost publicity, and aggregation and marketing for digital platforms, TFC will re-establish a crumbling link between independent filmmakers and underserved audiences.