The Challenge

In July 2023, D+P was asked by the producer of a new documentary called “Free Exercise: America’s Story of Religious Liberty,” if we could find a national distributor for the film. The first challenge was the length of the film. At just over 120 minutes, the film was originally produced for a theatrical release. However, after speaking with several theatrical distributors, D+P quickly realized that the film was better suited for a television and steaming distribution.

The Approach

D+P developed a comprehensive marketing plan for the film, detailing the potential audience segments, how to leverage experts in the film, the social and digital opportunities and the educational possibilities. In addition, D+P designed and launched the film’s website, its key art and all its social media platforms. Using the marketing plan, we conducted outreach to numerous potential distributors including Angel Studios and Fathom among others.

And, while the film was not selected by Angel’s underwriters, we received excellent feedback pointing us to PBS as the best potential distributor. Using this feedback and relationship marketing, D+P was able to secure distribution through WETA in Washington, D.C. and NETA on the PBS system. This package included a station relations program to market the film to PBS stations as well as an educational component to develop a parallel curriculum. The film was then released to PBS stations in October 2024. To build awareness before and after the release date, D+P also organized six screenings around the U.S. to show the film and host an expert discussion.

The Results 

Despite the challenge of a longer than usual documentary, the film has aired 695 times in almost every major U.S. market and numerous second and third tier markets. In addition, the curriculum and video segments have been downloaded 284 times from the PBS Learning Media website.

Following the PBS airings, D+P also helped identify and negotiate a streaming contract through Virgil Films. Starting on December 10, five steaming services (Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Vimeo on Demand and Fandango at Home.) are now offering the film. To date, there have been a total of 1,300 downloads of the film from the PBS website and the streaming networks.