usheru Marketing and Distribution Podcast

Marketing & Distribution Podcast

Where innovation, marketing and audiences intersect.

Join usheru Head of Film, Alex Stolz, as he meets experts from across the global film and entertainment industries to explore the latest trends, tools and strategies that are connecting audiences with the entertainment they love.

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Listen to our Latest Episodes

Castle Rock, Kubrick and the Art of the Trailer

Featuring Jim Fredrick

Film trailers are about creating emotion"

Ben Johnson Artwork

Unlocking Cinema's Data Advantage

featuring Ben Johnson

The film value chain is very disconnected from today's online reality.

The Changing Landscape in the Nordics

featuring Merete Christensen (COO and Head of Theatrical Distribution) and Thor Sigurjónsson (CEO)

It's a changing landscape, but people still want to see movies.

Luis Perez Endara

Reinventing Recommendation

featuring Luis Perez Endara

There is a need for more guidance and recommendations in streaming and theatrical"

Blue Harbour

A New Blueprint for Filmmaker-first Distribution

Featuring Amanda Sherwin, Mike Messina and Seth Needle

The current distribution model is broken, and Blue Harbor is here to offer a different approach that benefits both filmmakers and audiences."

Marina Kosten

Building a Future for Theatrical through Data

Featuring Marina Kosten

Optimising cinema businesses through better data strategies can transform the entire entertainment landscape."

Urszula Piasecka

The Evolving Role Of Distribution

Featuring Urszula Piasecka

The cinematic experience creates not just the campaign brand awareness but the platform for audiences to experience the film."

David Larkin

Building a Global Community of Film Lovers

Featuring David Larkin

Our mission is to support cinema and we make Letterboxd accessible for smaller films with lower budgets."

Serge Zabbal

Innovating Distribution in the MENA Market

Featuring Serge Zabbal

We don't always need to go wide - we need to go specific ... which means adapting every piece of content to every platform."

Avril Speaks, co Founder Distribution Advocates & Brandon Purdie EVP Global Theatrical Distribution, Angel Studios

Reimagining Distribution

Featuring Avril Speaks & Brandon Purdie

We wanted to have a conversation about how we can do distribution differently"

Benny Haesebrouck

Doing Distribution Differently with MOOOV

Featuring Benny Haesebrouck

We will always look to create opportunities for films we love ... it's our core mission, our core business."

Kymberli Frueh

Trafalgar Releasing and the Art of Event Cinema

Featuring Kymberli Frueh

When you walk in to a cinema, you're part of something much bigger. There's this transformation that happens when other people around you are emotionally responding to what's on screen."

Mathieu

Engaging Younger Audiences for Theatrical Releases

Featuring Mathieu Robinet

We try to be eventful on each film; to imagine some marketing strand that we've never seen before."

Nikolaj Mathies

Effective Film Promotion with TikTok

Featuring Nikolaj Mathies

The industry is used to working from a perspective of owning the media for film promotion ... but TikTok is earned not owned."

Elba McAllister

Distribution in LatAm, Exec Producing with the Streamers and the changing face of International Sales

Featuring Elba McAllister

As a distributor, I've learned that you have to be agile and ready to embrace change"

Brandon Purdie

Brandon Purdie on the Pay it Forward Triumph of SOUND OF FREEDOM

Featuring Brandon Purdie

Theatrical distribution is the process of the baton being passed from the filmmaker to the distributor ... and then the film becomes the audience's."

Reimagine the Greenlight featuring Ted Hope, Irina Albita and Anjali Midha

Ted Photo: Locarno International Film Festival

Reimagine the Greenlight

featuring Ted Hope, Irina Albita and Anjali Midha

Every creator, every filmmaker deserves transparent information on data and their money."

Enrique Costa on Elastica, Unlocking New Audiences and the Importance of Building a Brand

Unlocking New audiences and the importance of building a brand

featuring Enrique Costa

I love creating ways for a movie to be watched by audiences"

Reimagining Film Festivals

featuring Sarah Mosses, Brian Newman and Marcin Pieńkowski

It's crucial to be close to our audience, to know their needs"

Matt Rotondo

Co-creating Entertainment with Brands: How Matt Rotondo and Sugar23 are transforming the content pipeline

Featuring Matt Rotondo

We are inviting brands to co-create entertainment at the earliest stages."

Sarah Mosses

Creating Impact and Building Optimised Systems in Distribution

Featuring Sarah Mosses

We are obsessed with films that can make an impact in the world. So all the things that we do today we could apply to any type of media ... but we are obsessed about using those tactics for films that can make a positive contribution in the world"

Data-Driven Decisions in Entertainment

Featuring Anjali Midha

Marketing is about breaking through to audiences ... but also inspiring enthusiasm so that everyone else also finds out about your content, because marketing dollars can really only go so far."

Building Brands Experiences in Movie Marketing

Featuring Tega Williams

For the FastX, we wanted to do something different... we created an unforgettable experience that brought people to the cinema and brought audiences to the brands. It's giving value to everyone in the whole system."

Innovating the theatrical Experience

Featuring Thaddeus Bouchard

There's a lot of creativity in exhibition right now ... experimenting with how best to expand their business as a place of entertainment in the community."

Eduardo Escudero

Innovation, FAST channels and 'Reaching the Ocean'

Featuring Eduardo Escudero

We need to create synergies between the platforms and the cinemas"

Christie Marchese

Impact Distribution and Understanding the Audience

Featuring Christie Marchese

Identifying the right audience and understanding the megaphones that reach them is crucial for a successful marketing campaign."

Noortje van der Sande

Hybrid Consumer and the Intersection of Online and In-Cinema Experiences

Featuring Noortje van der Sande

We could see that it is the same people who go to the cinema who also decide to sometime watch online."

Algirdas Ramaška

Breaking Boundaries in Film Festivals: Algirdas Ramaška on Innovation, Adaptation, and Audience Connection

Featuring Algirdas Ramaška

Our goal is to create and give the experience to the audience that they didn't even think was possible."

Tilane Jones

Leaning into Community

Featuring Tilane Jones

We have to find other ways to get the message out there and this makes us lean into community"

Mandy Kean, Kate Gerova

Creating Elevated Customer Experience in cinemas

Featuring Kate Gerova and Mandy Kean

It's about being customer-centric ..and that goes back to your personality and brand "

Emma Jamieson

Embracing New Marketing Channels

Featuring Emma Jamieson

It's about the mindset to think social at the very start of your marketing plan"

Sarah Timlick

Elevating Canadian Distribution

Featuring Sarah Timlick

You have to be a student of the game... and we've really been studying the data"

John Donnelly

Changing Landscape in Exhibition

Featuring John Donnelly

We have a lot of data points that we use and one of the most important ones is our employees"

Nikki

Building Brand Communities for Films

Featuring Nikki Justice

We treat every film like its own business - and every film has its own audience."

Michael Matrenza

Marketing, Madman and the Evolving Market in Oz

Featuring Michael Matrenza

The vision that you have as a marketer working on cinema releases to actual consumer data is getting better and better all the time."

Patrick O'Neill Founder and Managing Director Wildcard Pictures

The Irish Market and Unlocking New Talent

Featuring Patrick O'Neill

There's a couple of films we've been associated with that were made outside the system ... those films feel very special especially when they perform well"

Dorothee Pfistner photo

The Art of Acquisitions

Featuring Dorothee Pfistner

We buy movies because it's art and an economic model. But you also buy a movie you believe in, even though you know it is a challenge."

Nick Camacho

Building a Distribution Brand

Featuring Nick Camacho

It's all about the connection with our audience"

Roxanne

Building Audiences from the Ground Up

Featuring Roxanne Avent

Studios work form the top down whereas we build audiences from the bottom up"

Niels Alberg

Bringing Audience Insight Into Movie Development

Featuring Niels Alberg

The industry has been trying to force data into creativity, but we need to turn that around ... and force creativity into data"

Tyler Dinapoli

The Marketing Funnel for Independent Film

Featuring Tyler DiNapoli

TikTok is very much a top of funnel platform for us. As much as it has a social quality to it, it is also an entertainment destination in itself"

Bill Guentzler

Acquiring Films for Global Audiences

Featuring Bill Guentzler

The industry is ever changing and you have to be open to those changes to continue to thrive"

David Kapur

How to Grow GenZ Audiences for Film

Featuring David Kapur

If you increase the awareness early enough in the life cycle then there is a youth audience for a breadth of film content"

Bringing Filmmakers Closer to the Audience

Featuring Sanne Junker Pedersen

The potential here is not just assuming that there is an audience, but actually knowing ... and also to be smart about how to connect with them"

Kjersti Mo, Teresa McGrane, Francesca Accinelli and Annette Novak

Live from Cannes 2022

Women Innovators in Film

Featuring Kjersti Mo, Teresa McGrane, Francesca Accinelli and Annette Novak

Mark Hirzberger-Taylor

Bringing Classic Films Back to Cinemas

Featuring Mark Hirzberger-Taylor

It's amazing and inspiring how, in spite of all the challenges, our industry continues to reinvent itself’"

James Shapiro

The Changing Face of U.S Distribution

Featuring James Shapiro

Especially in the independent space, the most successful distributors are the ones that have a data-driven approach’"

Alex Hamilton

Evolving release patterns

Featuring Alex Hamilton

We are becoming more platform agnostic ... but if a film is successful theatrically, it is likely to be successful throughout its subsequent life"

Innovating Distribution in West Africa

Featuring Moses babatope

You'll never have a perfect product, but if you have a product with the key elements your audience responds to, then you need to aggressively pursue that.'’​

Avtar Panesar

Launching Bollywood titles to a global market

Featuring Avtar Panesar

No company can claim to have a monopoly on their audience."​

How to successfully launch content on VOD

Featuring Nick Savva

What you're seeing is a lot more consumers adopting a lot more streaming platforms - and these are continuing to launch at a dizzying pace’"​

Lia Devlin

Lia Devlin examines audience behaviour with Alex Stolz

Featuring Lia Devlin

I suspect on the day Squid Games drops on Netflix, it will really put a dent in cinema going on that day... So that's what we're up against, really all forms of entertainment including gaming!’’​

How films are influenced by audiences and more

Featuring Kevin Goetz

Do research early, do it at the capability stage, in order to understand what you have and how much you should spend - it gives you an early marketing roadmap’’​

Karol Martesko-Fenster

The importance of building an audience base

Featuring Karol Martesko-Fenster

I always tell filmmakers to create a website, talk about your film, have response forms where people can sign up for more information. You have to build the audience before, during and after making your film’’​

Indie films & the ‘traditional model’ ?

Featuring Delphine Lievens

Pre-pandemic indie films were moving away from the traditional model but the pandemic has accelerated it so studios are using different streams as well’’’​

Jakob Abrahamsson

Discussing movie distribution

Featuring Jakob Abrahamson

There are few times in the history of the moving image when there has been more demand, more opportunity"​

Jake Garriock

‘The huge threat to online film marketing ’

Featuring Jake Garriock

Most people can’t measure a film’s success culturally"​

Eve Gabereau

Getting that ‘cultural hype’

Featuring Eve Gabereau

People still want to go to the cinema, but they don’t have the sense of urgency with films like they did with BOND - so how do you get that cultural hype?"​