Ouat Media? - Toronto, Canada...

[MinionZombie]

Recently got an email from Ouat Media, based in Toronto Canada. Was wondering if anyone knew anything about them? Got this email out of the blue, almost disregarded it as spam. My name is Kam Jeyarajasingam and I’m the sales/acquisitions coordinator at Ouat Media – a short film distribution company based out of Toronto , Canada . We distribute films of any genre up to 40 minutes in length. For more information on Ouat Media, please check out our website: www.ouatmedia.com My colleague recently saw your film in the UK and we’d be interested in representing them for worldwide sales. Does your film currently have representation? If you’re film is already represented by a distributor, please accept my apologies and disregard this email. We think there is potential for your film to be broadcast in other territories and in other media platforms. I just want to confirm that you own all the rights to the film and have all the proper clearances in place for cast/crew, music etc. Please let me know if you’re interested in distribution and we can discuss the details. Best wishes, kam Any thoughts? I'm an automatically suspicious kinda person, so figured I'd float this out here to see if anyone here knew anything about this Ouat Media group.

[DawnGirl27]

MZ, my sis-in-law is originally from Toronto. I'll email her the link and see what she knows. Her brother still lives there, so if she doesn't know anything, maybe he does. Will get back to you when I know anything!

[Danny]

after a brief googlin' http://www.kelseymatheson.com/blog/?page_id=16 - mentions two films being distributewd by a quat media http://www.linkedin.com/pub/2/a89/28b - the guy in question. http://www.scwfilms.com/2007/01/ther...pleasure-2007/ another flick the group in question http://www.ouatmedia.com/ and there imdb http://www.imdb.com/company/co0195375/ looks legit enough, but i too am paranoid first, but my detective skills seem to pay off in situations like this.

[MinionZombie]

Righty-right, I'll hit them back with an email seeing what's up. They were asking about one of my films, but one from 2005 - which is a bit old, and a certainly unrepresentative of where I'm at now. So I'll see what it's all about, and suggest another one they might be interested in.

[Danny]

another thing you gotta look at is what there rates are, you hear of lots fo companies that will pay peanuts for your work and people will accept just to get some distribution and then down the line get into issues about who has the rights and stuff.

[MinionZombie]

another thing you gotta look at is what there rates are, you hear of lots fo companies that will pay peanuts for your work and people will accept just to get some distribution and then down the line get into issues about who has the rights and stuff. Exactly what I was thinking of. I want to of course retain the rights, it's my sodding film after all, and it'd have to be a good deal for everyone. Sent them an email, will see what they say if they come back.

[DjfunkmasterG]

They will most likely pay you a percentage or upfront fee. Which film were they asking about MZ?

[MinionZombie]

They will most likely pay you a percentage or upfront fee. Which film were they asking about MZ? They emailed me concerning "Trapped", but when I emailed back I said basically "dude, that's a really old one of mine and doesn't represent where I'm at" - so I suggested that if I got involved, "VHS: Long Play" would be a better one to put up. I still like "Trapped", but that's from way back in 2005, filmed with my previous camera in 4:3 with no colouring, the script isn't as good as I can do now, same with the actual coverage and editing and so on - it's me three-and-a-half years ago, so something more up-to-date would be better, hence suggesting "VHS:LP" - which was shown at the 2008 Phantasmagoria film festival in Swindon actually - the organiser said it looked rather good on the big screen (I was unable to attend in person). I'll see what they say when they come back to me, the acquisitions dude is currently out of the office/away from email (one of those auto-reply 'answer machine'-like thingies).

[DjfunkmasterG]

Hey man, if they are giving you some cash, give them whatever they want. Although you may feel your earlier stuff is not up to par, keep in mind MZ, everyone who has watched it has enjoyed it. Trapped is a great Tongue in cheek zombie short, and I thought it was funny as hell.

[Danny]

Hey man, if they are giving you some cash, give them whatever they want. egh, im inclined to disagree with that, dont be so desperate to get your stuff out that it could have unseen later ramifications which could seriously put you up shit creek without a paddle.

[MinionZombie]

egh, im inclined to disagree with that, dont be so desperate to get your stuff out that it could have unseen later ramifications which could seriously put you up shit creek without a paddle. And this is the thing that my Tory-voting-arse thinks of on a daily basis. I want to retain the rights over my work and not have it pinched away from me, even though they're just little shorts made for no cash, but still - you know what I mean - if they can't fulfill that, then most-likely fuck that. ... We'll see what they say, or rather I'll see and then report back - they've not come back yet, but it's the weekend now and the acquisitions guy wasn't in the office before that, so...

[DawnGirl27]

MZ - sorry it took so long to get back to you. My sis-in-law has been busy with sick kids at home... She tried looking them up on the Better Business Bureau but got nothing. She suggests that you ask for the address, phone number and Toronto license number just to verify with the government that it's a legit business. Hopefully you've gotten a hold of them already and found out everything.

[MinionZombie]

Thanks for the effort, DG. Seems to be a legit business, got a draft version of their agreement, but bloody nora is there a lot to read - scanning through it though, it looks like an awful lot of work on my end providing multiple copies in multiple formats in both NTSC and PAL, plus a bunch of information and so on ... waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much work for me to be arsed, methinks. Will have a deeper look at the draft agreement they sent so I can get an idea of what they do, but to be honest, I don't think it's ultimately worth the sheer hassle. But - I'd keep them in mind regardless, because in the next few months I should be working on a short film that's being produced locally (with a small budget too), and that project would have somebody filling the producer role - and they're looking for ways to get it out there in the end - so I'll keep it mind to suggest to them. That's what I'm thinking right now anyway.

[DawnGirl27]

Good luck whatever you decide.