Something interesting is happening around the edges of the film industry, that is shaking up distribution in a good way.

Earlier this month, IndieWire reported on a three-film theatrical deal involving Creator Camp, an Austin-based collective of largely Gen Z, internet-era filmmakers and content creators, and Attend, a new theatrical marketplace built by cinema marketing solutions and insights company the Fithian Group. On paper the deal looks modest. Just three films, in limited markets, from creators with sizable online communities.

But it points to a bigger shift that I think deserves way more attention.

Since I started working in the film sector three years ago, I’ve been banging on about audience-first strategies, social media-led film marketing, and creator-led filmmaking, but these conversations - as far as I can tell - have mostly lived online, or in niche interest forums, with limited examples.

The chatter is all about YouTube, TikTok, Patreon. To date, conversations about creator-driven film have acknowledged, and perpetuated, the divide between creators (audience is online, remains within social media/niche streamer platforms), theatrical is for “serious filmmakers”, the final frontier that can only be unlocked with the help of distributors, festivals or major platform investment.

Creator Camp is trying something different. They are moving their community into physical cinemas, not through four-walling or fan events, but through an actual structured release. Their first rom-com, Two Sleepy People, has already been tested on tour (30 cinemas on opening night, with many sold out a week before that date), and sold tickets in the way that many studios wish their mid-budget titles still could.

@americanbaronMy first feature, @twosleepymovie is playing in 24 theaters on November 14th. Tickets are officially for sale at twosleepypeople.com (linked in my bio). You can also head to Fandago or google to find a showtime near you. If these first markets do well, we'll continue to expand across the u.s and internationally.

Tiktok failed to load.

Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser

The bit that stood out to me in all this, and that deeply satisfies my love for audience-led movie releases, is the order of operations. These filmmakers have already built an audience long before they have a release plan - something I preach about to filmmakers all the time.

They have nurtured these fans, built relationships and driven interest from weeks and months of sharing, engaging, and talking online with their community.

They know where their viewers are located, how they behave, and what mobilises them. Instead of building a film and then hoping someone will get it in cinemas, they are starting with the community and shaping the pathway outward. Basically, the reverse of the traditional pipeline.

As a social media manager who cut her teeth managing brand and hospitality launches, and marketing campaigns I’m used to everything beginning with audience and market proof, before you work on the product/offer. You identify the market, understand the behaviour, learn how best to go to market, then build outwards. This process feels entirely natural to marketers and digital creators.

What still baffles me is how alien this mindset remains in the independent film world, where so much still leans on outdated tactics, post-production scrambling, blind luck and the hope that the right buyer happens to be in the right room - after you’ve already made the movie (and run out of money).

Attend’s role ties everything together. Their whole proposition is matching films with cinemas using actual demand data. Not a distributor’s hunch or festival buzz. Not by adding up last year’s comps. If enough people in a given place want to see a film, Attend makes the route into that cinema easier. This sits comfortably alongside creators who already know how to activate their followers. The two sides complement each other in a way that the old model just doesn’t.

@twosleepymovie

Two Sleepy People on Instagram: "Add @twosleepymovie to your we…

None of this guarantees success, of course, but it does show promising signs of a modern, intelligence-driven shape for distribution that places the audience at the heart of all thinking and action.

One that doesn’t require filmmakers to wait for permission or rely on legacy structures built for a different era. Online creators have already proven they can build audiences at a scale through their own channels, by leveraging tools and platforms we all have access to, that independent filmmakers still too often seem to shy away from.

For people working in production, distribution or marketing, the Two Sleepy People tour is worth watching, as is the development and growth of Creator Camp and their ongoing theatrical deal. Not because it will replace the existing system, but because it adds a new roadmap, somewhere between that sits between totally scrappy DIY releases, and studio-backed and controlled distro.

It treats cinema releases as something that can be activated when a community wants it, when fans demand it, rather than some lucky final destination that only a handful of films can reach, which is pretty significant.

We’ve seen hints of this before in four-walled tours and creator-led screenings, but this deal feels more intentional. More structured, like a model being tested for repeatability. If it works, it will open up a space where the boundaries between creator and filmmaker become far more porous, and where the value lies not just the film itself but in the relationships and communities that surround it.

The Two Sleepy People tour is now continuing across the US, allowing fans to request a screening in their city, with sign-ups displayed on a leaderboard. When 100 fans have signed up, that screening is confirmed and tickets go on sale!

Find Two Sleepy People online and follow their socials on Insta and filmmaker Baron on TikTok