Rate & Review Distributors and Film Critics

The Indie Film Naughty List is a chance for artists to review, evaluate, and share their experiences with movie distributors and film critics.

The artist and creator of the content is made to feel like they have no power and their voice no longer matters once their film is released.

We look at distributors and critics based on multiple criteria and allow artists to do the same as we evaluate whether the person is a pro or a hack.

A qualified distributor proves to have a well-run business,. Professional movie distributors should be putting the filmmaker first, offering transparency, timely payments, and contracts that are not attempting to inflate costs or trick the filmmaker; after all, it is the filmmaker who provides the product to the movie distributors, and it is the filmmaker who should be looked after.

A qualified critic is trained and educated in the field they cover. They can be journalists, historians, educators or professionals within the field, but they have both experience and education and are qualified to write a critique of a work. Furthermore, a critic makes an effort to be a journalist by balancing out objective writing with supported criticism.

Movie Distributors: A “hack” distributor is often considered among the dregs of the industry. These are movie distributors who have a track record of inflating costs (marketing, aggregation, artwork, etc.), denying transparency, not paying filmmakers, not responding to filmmakers, not releasing movies, and/or simply not working in the best interest of the filmmaker who they are actually working on behalf of.

Film Critics: A “hack” is someone who typically lacks education, experience, training and/or journalistic integrity. A hack is very rarely a trained and/or experienced journalist. The web is filled with people seeking attention, often negative. In most instances, a hack writes for a website that is rarely visited, a personal blog, or simply posts to Amazon or IMDB. 

Anyone who works in the film industry can sign up and submit a review, a critic, or a distribution company for consideration.

We strongly encourage creative artists to be the primary sources of our “user” ratings and reviews.

When you register we will ask for a verifiable name, email, and IMDB page (none of which are made public) to verify the submitter.

Film Critics and Movie Distributors can respond to ratings, reviews, and comments, however, if they are found to be rating and reviewing their own listings, we will delete the rating/review and take this into consideration with our evaluations.

The Indie Film Naughty List is powered by the Independent Filmmakers Guild of America and serves as an informational and educational resource for filmmakers looking to find reliable distributors and critics. 

Users can rate distributors and critics however they see fit based on their personal experiences and insight. However, if the site conducts an evaluation or an expert review, we do so based on the following criteria:

DISTRIBUTOR CRITERIA EXPLAINED

With movie distributors, once we have at least five user evaluations, we may decide to add an overall summary evaluation and opinion based on user reviews, ratings, and comments.

1. COMPANY REPUTATION: Based on the ratings, reviews, and comments from users on the Indie Film Naughty List, what is the overall reputation of this company?
2. PROFESSIONAL INTEGRITY: As we look over reviews, ratings, anc comments from users, do the movie distributors take the principles of truthfulness, accuracy, fairness, and accountability? In other words, does this appear to be a professionally run company? Is there a point of contact who represents the company in a professional manner, returns calls and emails, and acts in the best interests of the filmmaker?
3. CONTRACTUAL TERMS: How satisfied are users with the contracts from the movie distributors? Do the contracts clearly outline the rights to be held as well as the length of the term? Are there performance clauses? Do they have spending caps on items such as marketing and other aspects of distribution? Are their contracts and terms negotiable? Are there hidden or unexpected fees? Does the distribution company receive any additional payments either upfront or on the backend?
4. REPORTING & PAYMENTS: Does the distributor have a reputation for transparent, fair, and timely reporting? Do they send detailed and itemized reports in regard to the film’s finances, in accordance with the terms of the contract?
5. PERFORMANCE: Did the distributor put forth a best effort to keep up their end of the bargain (we are not talking about guaranteed success, but did they put forth their best effort to fulfill their contractual end of the requirements and expectations? 

CRITIC CRITERIA EXPLAINED

Movie critic criteria is based on a number of different factors. When we do an “expert” review we are evaluating a body of work from these writers and giving our opinion about their level of expertise and professionalism as a critic. Expert evaluations are done by experienced and trained filmmakers and journalists.

1. QUALITY OF WRITING: Does the “critic” show an understanding of language, proper use of grammar and mechanics, etc? In other words, we take into consideration whether the person has the actual skill and ability to write.
2. JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY: As taken from Wikipedia “the principles of truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, and public accountability, as these apply to the acquisition of newsworthy information and its subsequent dissemination to the public.”
3. EDUCATION, EXPERTISE, EXPERIENCE: Whether a person is a trained journalist, a historian in the field, an expert in the field or has significant experience of the field, a true critic should present something more than fanaticism or fandom of a topic.
4. PROFESSIONALISM: Does the critic present themselves or their organization in a professional manner. Do they work for a professional publication or is this a self-started blog, YouTube channel, podcast or social media outlet.
5. FAIRNESS: A critic can be positive, negative or impartial, but are they fair in the approach. Do they present a thoughtful evaluation, maintain journalistic integrity, demonstrate their own education/experience/expertise in the field, and maintain professionalism in the approach? And do they show support of the claims and arguments made?