Distrify was one of the first direct distribution platforms for film and video. I founded the company in 2010 and it was active until 2014.
I invented the first shareable video trailer with built-in web-shop for digital rentals, downloads, movie tickets, DVDs and other merchandise. The Distrify Player allowed viewers to purchase movies wherever they were embedded and tracked affiliate revenue when anyone shared a film. My technology was the first to allow movie purchases directly within the Facebook platform.
With this invention, I founded Distrify, the pioneer in direct-distribution for independent films. As CEO, I was in charge of content acquisitions, project management, engineering, product development, customer support, user experience, sales, business development, marketing and publicity.
I raised more than half a million euros in grant funding from EU MEDIA, Nesta, Creative Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and the UK’s Technology Strategy Board.
With the help of Distrify's Chairman, David Nicholas Wilkinson, we struck an exclusive deal to launch Terry Gilliam's short film The Wholly Family and lined up The Guardian as a promotional partner.
I grew the company to 250,000 registered users with thousands of films available globally. Hundreds of distributors, filmmakers and affiliates earned revenue through the service. I secured content promotion partnerships with major publishers including The Guardian and Metro US, where we offered lucrative revenue-sharing opportunities in competition with CPM advertising media. I developed extensive networks with film production and distribution executives around the world and negotiated contracts with British Film Institute, Icon, Sigma Films, Curzon Artificial Eye, Kino Lorber, Drafthouse Films, Wolfe Video, Omniverse, Filmhouse, IDFA and many more.
I was interviewed in all major trades (Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Screen) and in the Wall Street Journal and The Observer. I wrote frequent case studies and blog posts and contributed guest columns to IndieWire, Screen and more. I spoke at dozens of film festivals, from Cannes to Sundance, and also tech conferences like the Edinburgh Turing festival.
I was awarded the British Council’s Creative Entrepreneur Award in 2013 and named in the Hospital Club’s h.Club100 list of the most innovative and influential people in the creative industries.
Some press cuttings:
Distrify founder Peter Gerard joins the online video arm of IAC, which is moving into original programming creation. Peter Gerard, founder and former CEO of Distrify, a video-on-demand service and online social cinema marketing banner with offices in the U.S. and U.K., has left the company to join Vimeo, the online video arm of Barry Diller's IAC.…
Indie festival partners with Distrify on new VoD platform. It takes just two minutes and you’ll immediately gain full access to ScreenDaily.com, PLUS Screen International monthly magazine delivered to your door. Not a Screen International…
So instead of battling the pirates, Noujaim and her producers have decided to make a high-resolution, Arabic-language version of The Square available in Egypt by streaming it online via Distrify on Feb. 14. “If the authorities stand behind this film,” she…
Sundance is in full swing, meaning now’s a good time to remember the number of films that once used to never escape it. Along with the big buys and breathlessly praised alleged masterworks, there will be many titles that won’t become the next big…
Edinburgh has been courting the spotlight this last year. In November, 49 years after Peter Higgs identified the Higgs boson particle, the Edinburgh physicist won the 2013 Nobel prize. Last month, the University of Edinburgh climbed to its…
For good and bad, movies rarely take up physical space these days. They live in a digital realm, shot and projected digitally. And rather than eat up real estate on shelves, the home versions are just clicks away. Starting today, Metro is teaming…
Both the direct-to-audience site and the film-discovery start-up want to provide legal online streaming. Distrify, the direct-to-audience video-on-demand service and online social cinema marketing banner, is partnering with film discovery start-up Tank T…
Drew Cullingham’s horror will be available to watch from Jan 17 via Distrify.…
At IDFA, Distrify and the Scottish Documentary Institute have announced today a new 'film gifting’ scheme called Pay-It-Forward. The new initiative kicks off with the online release of Maja Borg’s Future My Love (website here), about futurist…
Distrify co-founder Peter Gerard has been named as one of the most influential, innovative and interesting people in the creative and media industries as part of the h.Club100 award presented by The Hospital Club in association with Guardian…
Distrify and the Scottish Documentary Institute (SDI) are partnering a new film gifting scheme, Pay It Forward, which allows people to see films for free thanks to gifts from friends or strangers. Details of the initiative were announced by Ben Kempas, P…
Fox Star Studios India has acquired the Hindi-language remake rights to Pawan Kumar’s Kannada-language hit “Lucia”. Kumar will again direct. The groundbreaking deal was concluded at the Film Bazaar organized by India’s National Film Development Corporati…
The Guardian Culture Professionals Network has teamed up with the Hospital Club on this year’s h.Club100 – an annual campaign to identify the 100 most influential and innovative people working across arts, culture and the creative industries in t…
New Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason characterised Video-on-Demand as pivotal to the future of distributing films globally, pointing to digital distributors such as Distrify…
Innovators, Visionaries, Pioneers! We’ve announced the ten up-and-coming UK creative entrepreneurs we’re showcasing in the h club100 list! An event with over 100 top creatives in the room was always going to make for a very lively evening and…
Multi-award winning film producer and director Peter Gerard is CEO of Distrify, a film marketing and distribution toolset to help filmmakers grow their audiences and create sustainable long-term careers. Why is the UK a great place to be an…
Future Artists Founder Mark Ashmore spent 3 years directing and producing his first feature film 'The Lost Generation’ - released globally online via Distrify.…
Distrify is launching movies from the UK Jewish Film Festival on its on-demand service. The festival is currently underway, is screening 81 Jewish films at venues throughout the UK. “Distrify was created as a distribution platform to help…
Variety covers Distrify’s first foray into Crowdfunding with “Lucia”…
Led Zeppelin Celebration Day - the event cinema release supported by Distrify Showtimes Player won two Event Cinema Awards.…
FindAnyFilm said it has added titles to its website from Distrify, which works with more than 100 distributors worldwide in distribution direct to consumers online. The Industry Trust’s platform,…
FindAnyFilm.com, the easy-to-use gateway to legitimate film, TV and video services, has announced the addition of Distrify titles to its website. This comes as Distrify, which has been at the forefront of the industry in offering…
Viramundo follows world-renowned Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil as he meets indigenous peoples from many nations to learn how they preserve their musical culture in the modern world. The HD stream of the movie is available to watch on a pay-per-view bas…
‘Lucia’ Director Pawan Kumar’s Kannada-language film Lucia has won the coveted Audience Award at the 4th London Indian Film Festival. The inventive crowd-funded film, powered by UK-based online outfit Distrify, delighted sold out audiences across the cit…
LUCIA first caught my attention when I had the opportunity to watch its rough uncut edit with the main- programmer of the London Indian Film Festival. Even in that premature state, it was clear this was going to be a milestone for Indian cinema,…
For many filmmakers, dance is a constant lure. Capturing rhythmic movement presents the double-sided challenge of doing justice to dance artists, and creating a wholly new work within a different medium. But an even tougher task emerges when a film is com…
Eleven creative and digital businesses in Glasgow have won £620,000 between them to help develop innovative new products and services. They are winners in a funding competition, The Digital and Creative Clyde Launchpad, launched in January by…
The Scottish Documentary Institute (SDI) has partnered with UK VoD service Distrify to boost viewing and fundraising around documentary I Am Breathing. The film follows the last months of Neil Platt, a young father with terminal and debilitating…
The U.K. online movie distribution and marketing platform partners with the Scottish Documentary Institute to mount a “portable fundraiser” campaign for the feature-length documentary.…
Today’s panel on “The Business of VOD” was typical fare. The panelists, Vimeo’s UK-based Senior Curator Jordan McGarry, Daily Motion’s Head of Content Marc Eychenne, Syndicado Inc. President Greg Rubidge, and Distrify’s Peter Gerard, were joined with mod…
The online distributor will be able to target facebook users with relevant films via Butterly Media’s 300 million strong network.…
D-Word to oversee documentary collection for new Distrify VoD platform Muvies.com. Online film distributor Distrify has expanded its partnership with documentary professionals community The D-Word. The pair have worked together since June 2011, with the…
The European Union is to pledge $5.6m (€4.2m) to VoD platforms and digital cinema distribution (DCD). France’s UniversCiné, Germany’s Europe’s Finest and Austria’s flimmit.com are among 13 European VoD platforms and DCD initiatives to benefit from the EU…
Series of British cult classics streaming in partnership with Distrify, The Guardian and BFI.…
The deal will see documentaries such as “The Black Power Mixtape 1967 – 1975” and Californian jail documentary “At Night I Fly” online to rent or buy.…
Our season of British cult classics gets off to an arty start with a duo of films about Francis Bacon and Caravaggio. Partnership with Distrify, The Guardian and BFI.…
Two of Scotland’s leading independent theaters have teamed up to offer a pioneering online viewing platform showcasing curated films, including new releases. The partnership is a first for U.K. exhibitors. The move sees Glasgow Film Theater and Edinburgh…
Two of Scotland’s premiere independent movie venues, the Glasgow Film Theater (GFT) and Edinburgh’s Filmhouse, have teamed with online movie distribution and marketing platform Distrify to push movies out on a curated streaming service. The independent c…
Omniverse Vision release made more than $2m on its opening night. Online marketing and distribution platform Distrify is working on the release of Led Zeppelin: Celebration Day, a concert film shot in 2007 that is being released by Omniverse Vision. The…
The concert film “Led Zeppelin: Celebration Day” grossed $2 million from a single night’s showing on 1,500 screens across 40 countries. The movie, which captures the rock band’s reunion performance at London’s O2 Arena in 2007, was released Oct. 17 for s…
Online movie distribution and marketing platform Distrify is being inundated with more than 100,000 web hits a day from Led Zeppelin fans across the globe looking for movie theaters showing the film of the band’s historic concert in 2007 at London’s O2 ar…
Fans will get their chance to pick where Zam Salim’s comedy premieres and where it screens in the UK. A digital initiative, powered by Distrify, will give fans the chance to dictate where Zam Salim’s award-winning comedy Up There will premiere…
Holy Motors, the wildest, weirdest hit from Cannes, is available to watch here (via Distrify) from 28 September, when it's also in UK cinemas…
The Alamo Drafthouse’s distribution arm Drafthouse Films is partnering with digital distribution platform Distrify, which allows viewers to share content via a direct purchase link. Drafthouse’s canoe comedy “Klown,” from Danish director Mikkel…
Several U.K.-related stories broke Monday, including a licensing deal between BSkyB and Miramax and a new partnership between Distrify and the BFI Production Board Collection. The upshot is that the Brits will have access to many more American…
The company has struck a deal with the British Film Institute to make up to 300 titles available to rent or buy. Movies from filmmakers including Alfred Hitchcock, Peter Greenaway, Derek Jarman, Terence Davies and Bill Douglas made between 1950 and 2000…
Representatives from the three companies will present their projects at upcoming CineEurope. The International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) have announced the three finalists for their inaugural Cinema: Digital Innovation Award. WeWantCinema, Gruvi…
Scottish companies receive funding injection for digital R&D; second round of funding in autumn.…
Six pioneering Scottish projects that will harness digital technologies for the benefit of the arts and cultural sector have been selected to receive funding from the Scottish Digital Research and Development Fund for Arts and Culture run by…
EXCLUSIVE: The Film Collaborative has launched a new distribution initiative for LGBT films, FestSelects. Distributors on board are Peccadillo (UK), Outplay (France), Pro-Fun (Germany), ABC/Cinemien (Benelux). They will aim to share resources and…
Edinburgh based boutique distributor CinéFile has teamed up with Scottish film promotion and distribution service Distrify, to allow its content to become more accessible on the internet. Announcing the partnership in Cannes, Allison Gardner, one…
Film promotion and distribution service Distrify is teaming with Creative Scotland on a website dedicated to Scottish films. Film promotion and distribution service Distrify is teaming with Creative Scotland on a website dedicated to watching and…
The Guardian is screening Terry Gilliam’s new short film – a surreal comedy-adventure about a couple’s disastrous romantic break in Naples with their son – followed by a Q&A with the director.…
Scottish VOD specialist Distrify has signed an agreement with Toronto-based Syndicado Inc. to power its new documentary sales site from the beginning of 2012. Under the partnership, Distrify’s new video player will deliver Syndicado’s documentary…
Films Transit International has announced it is set to start making its documentaries available for public viewing on the web through a new strategic partnership with Scottish VOD specialist Distrify. “A new partnership will make the Films…
Live stream the classic Krzysztof Kieślowski trilogy and get involved in a conversation around the films with our critics. Partnership with Distrify, The Guardian and Curzon Artificial Eye.…