XYZ Productions

XYZ Productions was founded in 2008. Not unlike A24 they began a production company and recently started providing distribution services to other companies to license and purchase films. This decision really picked up speed in 2021 when they brought on James Shapiro from Neon Productions. Shapiro is most known for his work on Oscar award campaigns for the films “The Act of Killing” and “I Tonya”. 

According to the two other heads at the company, this shift will not affect the films they chose to highlight. “We specialize in a certain kind of film, and we know that audience inside out,” said XYZ CEO Spicer, and partner Bolotin. “We now have the ability to be a true studio to our filmmakers, all the way through release. James has been distributing elevated, indie genre films for twenty years and knows how to reach that audience better than anyone.”(Riman Roxborough).

The XYZ distribution model appears very unique with this current time frame and the launch occurring post covid should be noted. We’ve seen a shift in how distributors function since the complete loss of the movie theatre in 2020. A quick look on their website and the directors of the purchased films are labeled as clients. XYZ appears much more reminiscent of a marketing consulting firm than of the Direct Video Distributors who sued Big Idea or UBU productions. This shift can be attributed to the lack of Physical copies or complete dependency on cable in the TV sphere. Before films and television weren’t public goods, material copies had to be made and when scheduling a movie on TV there caused a heavy opportunity cost over what else could’ve been in that spot.

The physical changes to the industry have created this transfer of power, something that will be very good for the creators of films.  There can no longer be a codependent relationship between filmmaker and distributor it will be collaborative if they want to compete in this market.