Christie Marchese was working in film marketing when she realized that it was increasingly difficult for filmmakers to get their projects in front of audiences.
“We were watching and just seeing the big tentpole [films] getting put into movie theaters,” she says. “The smaller, independent cinemas were closing. On a macro level we thought, Something’s happening here. There’s still a demand for this type of film but the model is not working for it.”
That moment led Marchese to found Kinema, a platform that aims to revolutionize the way films are distributed and how independent filmmakers make money.
How does Kinema work?
We’re a tech company that provides software to the entertainment industry. Through our platform, you can find a film, secure the rights, and receive the film files for an in-person or online event, as well as track your audience. And then we build partnerships with mixed-use spaces to host really cool screenings. Revenue from ticket sales for the screening is split between the filmmaker, the host of the screening, and us at Kinema. It means that, for filmmakers, there’s a way to make money off your films that [was previously] getting left on the table. And for audiences, we’re expanding access to great films. Niche films do really well for us. The more specific the topic, usually, the stronger the community around it.
What are your biggest challenges?
Fundraising is always a challenge, especially in the entertainment space. And then marketing. We’re a very small team and we don’t have a large budget to do a lot of marketing and advertisements, so it’s a lot of word of mouth. We’re not directly impacted by the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes because most of the content we have on our platform, it’s [already] distributed and the actors and writers are not promoting it actively. They’ve already done that. Moving forward, the strikes might impact some of the flow we have, but our pillars of transparency and revenue sharing with creators are the things they’re fighting for right now, so we see this as an opportunity to work more directly with creatives and open up the platform even further.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself.
One of my early jobs was looking after the Declaration of Independence. I was working at a nonprofit [that encouraged young people to register to vote] and part of my job was [to be] a caretaker for a $10 million historical document.
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