How Do Netflix/Amazon Prime Films make their money?

[Max Field]

Hey long time no see,

To clarify I am not asking how to get acquired by Netflix.

What I am asking is once acquired by any of these streaming services, how exactly is the money handed out to the creators? Will some contracts pay a penny per stream? Do they give you a flat fee outright for X-time of usage? How does the negotiation work for a small producer vs a larger company?

I worked on a film that got on Amazon Prime video once, however it seemed to just be a pay-per-view thing as opposed to actually being in the streaming rotation for a prime subscription.

Any experience or insight on this would be greatly appreciated because google isn't giving clear info.

[Tyler Purcell]

If your show is bought by Netflix, they will take the rights for X amount of time for Y amount of money. 

So for instance, your deal maybe 2 years and $10k. 

The pay out schedule is also negotiated. Generally its quarterly/yearly, but the total amount paid out will be the same no matter the views. 

I'm pretty sure Amazon Prime is the same.

The film you're referring to, probably didn't have an actual Amazon Prime deal, they probably just put their film ON Amazon Prime, which anyone can do for a few bux. Then they pay out per view. It's disgusting you have to PAY to put your film there. 

 

 

 

[David Sekanina]

There's a wonderful youtube channel called 'film courage' and they've interviewed film makers on this topic.

 

EDIT: J. Horton also has a YT channel where he explains how much the model with Netflix and Amazon changed over the last two years for Indie film makers, and also interviews film distributors.

Edited October 8, 2022 by David Sekanina

[Tyler Purcell]

22 hours ago, David Sekanina said:

J. Horton also has a YT channel where he explains how much the model with Netflix and Amazon changed over the last two years for Indie film makers, and also interviews film distributors.

Correct, as of sometime in 2019, they no longer take genero indy projects.

They only take projects which have distributors. 

Our last film, which was an indy film, even had a big time distributor and still Netflix balked. We were forced to go on Amazon Prime, who balked as well, but eventually gave in and took it.