What are screeners?

Screeners could be the people who check your bags in an airport, but this article is not about them, but about the film and videos that serve a professional purpose in the film industry.

In short

Screeners are used to find buyers in TV channels and streaming platforms, partners for co-production or as a way to apply for a festival, pitching forum or a film market.

Although people usually use the word “screener” to describe completed films, screeners can also describe a work in progress, trailer, assembly or a rough-cut.

Whatever name you’d call them, they all serve the same purpose: to promote a film with a specific target audience, which is usually a decision maker.

That is why, without any exception, senders of screeners wish to have maximum information: where they watched? If yes, in what way? How many times? Etc.

A small industry survey

We did a small survey among filmmakers, producers, distributors and sales agents, to ask them how they manage their screeners.

Results were quite surprising: The process isn’t very efficient. It’s actually totally manual.

Here they are:

• I’m uploading the same video many times to the platform I use (usually Vimeo). Each video is sent to another recipient, so I can track it. Not only do I spend time uploading the same video multiple times, I also have to manage passwords and analysis in a spreadsheet.
• I’m uploading one video and sending it to everyone. In order to understand who watched what, I use filters in the analytics, to isolate each screener. For example, I’d use a geo-location filter to know whether my film was watched in a festival in Canada. If there are two festivals in Canada which received the link, I’d try to add a date filter. If both receive the screener at the same time, I’m in trouble.
• I use one video for everyone, but must change the password from time to time. That causes confusion, because sometimes, the receiver of a screener tries to watch it AFTER I have changed the password already. That would be Ok, as I can update that invitee with the new password, but the thing is that they don’t always report to me, as they are very busy. So they move on to the next screener and I would never know I missed a chance.
• I send files through the cloud or share access to my Google Drive. I know I lose control over the file, but it’s convenient. I hope and assume festivals will not steal my film.
• I once tried a dedicated screeners service, but they asked for a long term commitment, had a setup fee and in general, were very expensive. I think they approach large studios. An arthouse distributor like me is not their target audience.