Tulsa Company Specializes In Film Distribution

By Rick Wells, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- In real estate, the experts say it's all about location. In the movie business, it's all about distribution.

A couple of guys have figured out how to bypass Hollywood and get movies on the market from Oklahoma.

The Hiding is a movie that was shot mostly in Hollywood, but released earlier this month by The Central Film Company of Tulsa.

"The Hiding is almost a $2 million movie. They had no idea how they were gonna put it out," said Jeremy Isbell, Central Film Company.

Like the producers of many independent films, the folks who made The Hiding didn't know how to sell it. Jeremy Isbell and his partner, William Hill, have been in that boat themselves.

"We didn't know that distribution was such a hard nut to crack," said William Hill, Central Film Company.

They've turned what they've learned from their own experience into a business and have several titles under contract and a schedule of releases into next year.

Part of the distribution plan is making the movie attractive enough on the shelf that customers will pick it up and although they thought the cover ought to be more striking, the producer insisted on white.

"Our people at Walmart liked it. Our people at Blockbuster liked it," said Jeremy Isbell.

Early indications are the pre-Halloween release of The Hiding has been a success.

Thousands of movies like that one are made every year, but most of them will never be sold or seen because they are not properly marketed and distributed.

The guys believe they have a formula to solve that problem.

This isn't the first time we've met Jeremy Isbell. It was his Tulsa apartment that was damaged by a training rocket accidently dropped from an Air National Guard jet last March.

He even made a movie about that and distributed it.

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Learn more about Central Film Company.