Why We’re Self-Distributing Guacamole Yesterdays

What no one tells you about indie film economics—and how we’re trying to change it

Director Jordan Noel and writer Hudson Phillips outside of a recent screening in Wilmington, NC.

Why Self-Distribution

When we released our first feature, This World Alone, we went the traditional distribution route. We signed with a respected distributor (a company that released films you have definitely watched), and for a while, it looked like we made the right choice.

• The film had strong pre-orders on Apple, enough to land on their “New and Notable” list.

• It was licensed to Hulu.

• We got nice press, great audience responses, and a solid initial rollout.

But even with all that, the film (made for just $30,000) didn’t make its money back. It turns out the “if you build it, they will come” dream we were sold wasn’t a reality.

And that was the beginning of our first real lesson in indie film economics.

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The Math Doesn’t Work

Here’s how the money breaks down when you go the traditional route:

• Platform fees (Apple, Amazon, etc.): ~30%

• Distributor cut: another 20–30%

• Marketing recoupment: the money the distributor spends to “promote” the film, pulled from your share, often with little transparency, and rarely effective

• Filmmaker share: usually small, slow to arrive, and with some questionable accounting

Even when everything “goes well,” most indie filmmakers don’t see much return. Many don’t see a single penny.

And in our case, things got worse.

A little over a year into release, our distributor stopped sending payments. Then they filed for bankruptcy. In fact, they still owe us several thousand dollars. Unless we hire a lawyer and spend more money (we don’t have), we’ll probably never see it.

The worst part? This is all NORMAL. You’ll hear eerily similar stories from just about every indie filmmaker at our level.

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A Shift in Perspective

When it came time to release our second film, Guacamole Yesterdays, we did reach out to distributors (just in case 😊). And there was interest, but the DIY punk-rockers inside of us just couldn’t find peace with any of the deals. The finances didn’t make sense. The passion wasn’t there. We felt like we’d just get lost in the machine. But we had this continuously nagging (and depressing thought) “What if this is just how it goes?”

That’s when one of our investors encouraged us to reframe the whole process:

“Stop thinking about it as just releasing a film and start thinking about it as building a business.”

That shift changed everything.

It’s hard enough to learn how to make a movie, but if we wanted to keep making movies, we had to learn how to run a business. In addition to our filmmaker hats, we had to learn how to put on our entrepreneur hats (and yes, that makes me cringe as much as you).

But, here’s the thing:

Movie studios work in volume. They make multiple films a year and hope a few of them hit so that the hits will cover the losses.

We obviously don’t have the resources to compete on that level, but it did help me reframe our goals.

What if we bet on ourselves for the long term?

Self-distribution meant learning new muscles (marketing, sales, audience-building, 🤮), but if we can learn these skills now, we might be able to build something that lasts beyond just one film.

It’s uncomfortable and overwhelming at times, but it also feels surprisingly anti-establishment because we’re finally doing it ourselves. We’re not waiting for permission. We’re not desperate for acceptance. We’re not crossing our fingers to be “rescued.”

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Composer Wil Wright mid-story at a recent Q&A in Knoxville, TN.

What Self-Distribution Looks Like for Us

With a very supportive investor behind us, we put together a new plan with this long-term, damn-the-man strategy in mind: release and market the film ourselves and keep 100% of our revenue. There is room for a much bigger upside, still roughly the same amount of risk as working with a middleman, and we see money from day one.

Here’s what it looks like:

• Allocated ~20% of our budget for marketing, publicity, and self-distribution.

• Partnered with Bitmax (an aggregator for online film placement) to get Guacamole Yesterdays on Apple, Amazon, and Google TV (available June 24 in all English-speaking countries!).

• Hired a marketing and PR team to help us tell the story and get eyes on the film.

• Self-booked 15+ event-ized theatrical screenings across the country to generate revenue and word-of-mouth buzz.

• Launched a “limited edition” merchandise line surrounding the film that includes screen-printed posters, enamel pins, screenplay books, vinyl soundtracks, and (coming soon) physical media.

We’re doing what we can with the resources we have (Jordan and I are both graphic designers, and I have a marketing background) and learning as we go.

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This Is a Test Run (And a Long-Term Strategy)

We hope (and pray and sacrifice to the gods) Guacamole Yesterdays earns a return. We’ve poured countless hours into this release—writing, designing, emailing, promoting, showing up again and again to guarantee its success. But even if it doesn’t fully pay off in dollars, it’s already paying off in something else: experience.

We’re not just trying to release a film. We’re trying to build a sustainable, long-term model for filmmaking that works without waiting on a gatekeeper to say “yes.”

And we’re in it for the long haul. Everything we’re learning on this release, we’ll apply to our next film (Gargantuan, coming soon 😎), and (fingers crossed) the one after that, and the one after that.

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Building Community, Not Just Revenue

I’ve also been thinking a lot about the Creator Economy movement, this idea that you don’t need to compete with the studios for millions of eyeballs to succeed. Just a few thousand people who truly care and connect.

Kevin Kelly’s “1,000 True Fans” theory says:

If you have 1,000 people who will buy what you make, attend your events, and spread the word, you can build a sustainable creative life.

For musicians or writers, that works pretty well. For filmmakers it’s a little harder (movies are pretty damn expensive), but the principle still holds.

It’s why we do everything we do. For community. For you guys…

• Offer screenings, Q&As, and live events

• Provide physical media, merch, and downloadable resources

• Build an email list, post behind-the-scenes content, and engage directly with you

• Focus on long-term community instead of short-term hype

Many of you reading this first found us through This World Alone. Now, you’re watching Guacamole Yesterdays on tour. And next year, we’ll keep that momentum going with Gargantuan.

Every post, every review, every person who brings a friend to a screening—that’s one more connection in a growing network of people who care about indie, heartfelt, emotionally raw stories and the people trying to tell them.

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We’ll Show Our Work

This model isn’t perfect. It’s messy, often exhausting, and full of unknowns. But we’ll keep sharing everything we learn, what’s working, what isn’t, some hard data (no matter how embarrassing), and what we’re trying next.

If you’re a filmmaker, we hope this inspires you to share some of your own story to help lift the tide for all filmmakers seeking a sustainable model.

If you’re a fan or supporter, thank you for being a part of this community. You’re helping us build something that lasts.

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Want to Support?

Here are some practical ways you can help:

• Pre-order Guacamole Yesterdays on Apple (preorders start June 10!) or rent/buy the film when it launches on Amazon and Google TV on June 24

• Come to a screening (Tickets now available for NYC, Athens, Tucson, Phoenix, Santa Ana, LA, & Austin!)

• Leave a review on Letterboxd, IMDB, or social media

• Buy merch: T-shirts, Blu-rays, enamel pins, and more now available on tour (and coming soon to our online store)

• Share the film with one person who might love it