What Your Distributor Should Be Giving You in 2026

Where is it licensed? Which channels are earning? When will you see that money, and how much of it will be left after fees? Too often, the answer arrives months later as a one-page statement with a single number at the bottom.

It doesn't have to work this way. Distribution technology has changed what a distributor can deliver, and producers should expect more.

Whether you’re planning your next release or your current deal is coming up for renewal, here are six standards to hold any distribution partner to in 2026, and how Filmhub meets each one.

The six standards:

1. See where your title is and what it earns, as it happens
2. Know what each channel owes you, and get paid when it pays
3. No hidden fees
4. Get to market with the right strategy, fast
5. Reach that matches your title's potential
6. Keep control of your title

1. See where your title is and what it earns, as it happens

Many producers only find out where their title is licensed when a payment arrives, sometimes months or even years after the deal was done. Until then, they can't tell which channels are working, which markets are responding, or where to focus their marketing.

You should know when your film is pitched, when a buyer screens it, when a license is secured and when a report or payment comes in. And you should be able to break down your revenue by title, channel, country and genre whenever you want, without waiting for a statement or sending an email.

Filmhub posts licensing updates and distribution activity to your dashboard in real time, from each pitch and buyer screening to every new license, report and payment. Producers can filter performance across all four dimensions and see how each title ranks against the other titles Filmhub distributes. A clear view of what's working is the starting point for every decision on your next release.

2. Know what each channel owes you, and get paid when it pays

Every channel reports and pays on its own schedule. Some report monthly, others quarterly, and payments follow weeks or months later. That complexity is real, but it shouldn't be your problem to untangle, and it shouldn't be a reason to hold your money.

Many distributors pay producers quarterly or less often. The holding period gives them time to reconcile channel reports and payments by hand. Your revenue sits in their account while they catch up.

You should be able to open any month and see what each channel reported, which channels have paid, how much they paid, and which are still outstanding. And once a channel pays, the money should be yours to withdraw.

Filmhub ingests channel reports and payments at scale and reconciles them automatically. Producers see a month-by-month audit of every channel's estimate and payment, a schedule of when each channel reports and pays, and statements that update daily. Funds are available to transfer as soon as Filmhub receives them, with no holding period.

3. No hidden fees

The revenue share on page one of a distribution agreement is rarely the whole story. Many deals add delivery fees, marketing expenses, storage, accounting and servicing charges, often described in terms broad enough to cover almost anything. Some distributors bill each of their producers for representing titles at markets like AFM, MIPCOM, or EFM. Others charge back the cost of a dinner or event where a title came up in conversation with a buyer.

This is a well-documented pattern. The Gotham's guidance on creative accounting describes overhead and legal fees deducted despite contract language barring them, and summary statements that hide the detail until an audit.

You should know exactly what you'll keep before you sign, and every deduction should be one you agreed to.

At Filmhub, our standard non-exclusive deal gives producers 80% of what we receive from channels, with no hidden fees. It isn't the only option. Depending on the title, we also structure exclusive deals, minimum guarantees, P&A commitments, co-productions and financing. Whatever the structure, the terms are clear before you sign. We attend markets and festivals on behalf of the titles we represent without charging those costs back to producers. If you want extra help, such as new artwork, captions or a trailer, you choose it from a public rate card, and only when you ask for it.

4. Get to market with the right strategy, fast

Every title needs a plan before it goes out. Does it warrant a theatrical run or a transactional premiere first? Is a fixed fee license the right move, or will it earn more on revenue share across ad-supported and subscription channels? In what order, and in which territories? A good distribution partner helps you answer those questions for your specific title.

Once the strategy is set, speed matters. For revenue share deals, a license only starts paying once your title is live. Between the signed license and the first view sits a long chain of work: storing your masters, checking them against each channel's specifications, encoding them into the right formats, and delivering the package.

Most distributors hand that work to third-party encoding and delivery vendors. Every handoff adds time, and it can take weeks or even months for a licensed title to reach the channel.

You should expect a clear distribution strategy for your title, and for it to reach each channel as soon as the license is secured. The sooner it arrives, the sooner it is programmed, listed and earning.

Our acquisitions team works with producers on release planning and deal structure, from transactional premieres to fixed fee and revenue share licensing. And Filmhub handles storage, quality control, encoding and delivery in-house. Your assets are checked against channel requirements before any pitch, so when a channel licenses your title, delivery of the full asset package starts immediately. If your assets need adjustments to meet a channel's specs, our Deliverables team explains exactly what's required and can make many technical fixes for you.

5. Reach that matches your title's potential

A distributor's value is its buyer relationships. Where they lack reach or bandwidth, many distributors sub-distribute through other distributors (like Filmhub). Each layer costs you. The sub-distributor takes its fee before passing revenue to your distributor, who takes another fee before anything reaches you. That means less money for you, less visibility into where your film is playing, and a much longer wait for reporting and payment.

Ask any partner where your title will actually be pitched, and whether they have a direct deal with each buyer.

You should expect your film to be pitched across ad-supported, subscription and transactional channels, in every territory where your rights allow it, and to know who is selling it to each buyer.

Filmhub distributes to 130+ channels across 200+ territories and has direct relationships with major streaming channels, including a direct deal with YouTube Movies & TV (AVOD/SVOD) and YouTube/Google Play (TVOD), where Filmhub is one of a select few content providers. Filmhub is also an Apple approved encoding partner. Our licensing team pitches each title to the channels whose programming fits it, and you can follow every pitch and license as it happens.

6. Keep control of your title

Your title is your company's asset. Long exclusive terms, broad rights grants and unclear reversion clauses can tie it up for years, even when the partnership isn't performing.

You should decide which rights you grant, in which territories, and for how long. And your production company should get the credit it has earned.

Filmhub's standard distribution agreement is non-exclusive. You choose the rights types (ad-supported, subscription and transactional), the territories, and the start and end dates. You can keep specific channels off your title's pitch list. With Custom Studio Name, your production company appears as the studio on channels like Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV, so you build your own brand with every release.

For select titles, Filmhub also offers custom deals, including exclusive terms, minimum guarantees, P&A and co-production financing.

Questions to ask before you sign

Whether you're weighing offers for a new title or reviewing a renewal, these are the questions worth asking any distributor. Get the answers in writing, and check that the contract says the same thing.

1. What exactly am I granting? Which rights, media and territories are included, is the deal exclusive, and for how long? Broad grants can tie up rights the distributor never uses.
2. When and how do my rights come back? Ask what triggers reversion, whether you can terminate if statements or payments stop, and what happens to your title if the company is sold or closes.
3. What comes off the top before my share? Get a list of every fee and recoupable expense, ask whether expenses are capped, and confirm they can't be cross-collateralized against other titles.
4. Who are you actually selling to? Ask which buyers they deal with directly and which go through sub-distributors or sales agents, and how those additional fees are handled.
5. How often will I get statements, and what will they show? A useful statement breaks revenue down by buyer, territory and period, not just a total.
6. How long after you're paid will I be paid? Ask about payment timing, minimum payout thresholds and any reserves held back from your earnings.
7. Can I audit the books? Confirm your audit rights, how often you can exercise them, and who pays if an audit finds an underpayment.
8. What will delivery cost me? Ask which deliverables are required, who pays to create or fix them, and whether those costs are recouped from your earnings.

A good partner will answer every one of these clearly. If an answer is vague, that tells you something too.

Planning your next release?

Tell us about your next title. Our acquisitions team will get in touch to talk through where it can be distributed, how it will reach buyers, and how you'll see every result along the way.

Contact Our Acquisitions Team