Producer Aeschylus Poulos spoke with Isoken Ogiemwonyi at CMF-FMC to share how his team created a dynamic and exciting theatrical run for Paying For It: Paying For It is rewriting the rules of Canadian film distribution
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Producer Aeschylus Poulos takes us through the steps his team took to ensure their indie film was seen.
A quiet revolution is reshaping the way independent films find their audiences. Faced with dwindling theatrical opportunities, tighter windows and cinema chains monopolizing much of the market, more filmmakers are bypassing traditional distributors in favour of community-driven, self-run release strategies.
Case in point, the team behind the Canadian feature Paying for It set out to test whether a model Indiewire dubbed “microdistribution” — event-based screenings, direct community outreach, building audiences one city at a time — could work here, considering our exhibition landscape is even more consolidated than in the U.S., with Cineplex controlling more than 70 percent of the box-office market share.
One of the movie’s producers, Hawkeye Pictures co-founder Aeschylus Poulos, takes us through his team’s coast-to-coast experiment in community-first distribution, offering key lessons about the future of Canadian film.
Grassroots By Design
Unlike many independent films that turn to self-distribution out of necessity, the team behind Paying for It — an adaptation of Chester Brown’s graphic novel based on his experiences with sex workers — had an intentional strategy from the outset.
Poulos, his Hawkeye co-founder Sonya Di Rienzo, producing partner at Wildling Pictures Matt Code and director Sook-Yin Lee, began building the plan while the film, which TIFF eventually named one of Canada’s Top 10 films of 2024, was still in post-production.
“We had some experience self-distributing in the past, sometimes because distributors went bankrupt or we simply had no choice,” says Poulos. “This time, we wanted to test whether a well-planned, grassroots rollout could connect with audiences on our own terms.”
They mapped out a slow platform-release model based on U.S. indie strategies, and reached out directly to cinemas, community groups and press in each target city.
“It was mostly our internal teams, Matt, Sonya and I doing the heavy lifting,” Poulos says. “We brought in our publicist Angie Power of Route 504 PR, our booker Chris Emery, and worked with a social media manager, behind-the-scenes content creators, merch designers and more to bring this to life. And Sook-Yin was amazing with audience engagement. We didn’t have a huge team, but we had a passionate one.”
A Coast-to-Coast Tour
Paying for It premiered at Cineplex’s Scotiabank Theatre in downtown Toronto where it was held over for four consecutive weeks. “That was our only Cineplex,” notes Poulos. “Everywhere else we relied on independent cinemas, art houses and festival venues. That required hustling. Old-school flyering, bookstore outreach, tattoo shops, weed shops, you name it.”
However, the film did get some support from other exhibitors. Landmark Cinemas, Canada’s second-largest theatre chain, reached out and added showings after tracking the film’s early success. The Carlton Cinema in Toronto, operated by Imagine Cinemas, and the Roxy Theatre in Saskatoon, part of the Magic Lantern Theatres group, also provided platforms. These venues, while part of larger chains, often have a degree of independence in programming, making them valuable allies for independent filmmakers.
The rest of the rollout stretched across the country, from major cities like Montreal and Vancouver to smaller markets including P.E.I. and the Yukon. Each event was carefully timed and locally supported. “One weekend in February we were screening in Victoria, P.E.I. and the Yukon,” says Poulos. “It was logistically challenging but ultimately rewarding.”
A key part of the team’s strategy was its partnership with NICE (Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors), which helped connect them with more than two dozen independent cinemas across the country. Through monthly pitch calls, email forums and targeted networking events NICE provided the infrastructure and relationships the team needed to navigate the national exhibition landscape.
“At their TIFF networking event we connected with over 25 theatre owners and exhibitors from across the country — Edmonton, Victoria, Montreal, Ottawa,” says Poulos. “NICE and our key contact there, Sonya Yokota Máté William, gave us the space to pitch our release strategy face to face and say, ‘We’re doing this, we want to bring Sook-Yin to your city.’
“They are a really responsive, receptive group,” Poulos adds. “But local theatres face huge challenges, especially in a media landscape where arts coverage is shrinking. When the local press disappears it’s harder to get the word out, even when there’s an appetite. Theatres that manage to create community and work smart with their marketing are doing something special.”
Reaching Beyond the Cinephile Bubble
The team’s outreach strategy focused on pushing past the typical film-festival crowd. “We wanted to reach people who might not normally go to Canadian cinema,” says Poulos. That meant promoting through local newsletters, community organizations, social media boosts and even film-club networks in smaller cities.
“We tapped into every network we had — CFC, funders, Telefilm,” says Poulos. “Personal emails made a big difference early on [in driving word of mouth]. Reaching people who already care about Canadian stories was crucial to building early momentum.”
In some cases, this approach brought new viewers into the fold. A significant portion of the audience at a Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts screening had never heard of Brown or Lee but was drawn in by the Q&A and local promotion.
“And there were a lot of older people there who normally probably wouldn’t have gone to see Paying for It,” says Poulos. “It was almost an all-new audience because the art centre does a Monday night screening and they invited us there. You’re opening up to new places, new audiences. It’s kind of exciting.”
The Economics of Self-Distribution
While the film’s theatrical rollout is ongoing and U.S. distribution was recently secured by Film Movement, Poulos emphasizes the goal wasn’t just revenue. “We’re not a Marvel movie. But we’re getting it seen in places it never would have reached otherwise. That visibility matters.”
Even smaller venues proved surprisingly powerful. “Some of these screenings sold out repeatedly, even in small venues with only 50 seats,” he says. “And that’s just as valuable to us as a bigger house with more empty seats.”
With marketing support from Telefilm Canada and Ontario Creates, the team was able to offset key promotional costs and focus on audience engagement.
Community-Driven Success
Poulos heard from viewers across Canada who were touched by the film, including recent immigrants seeking out Canadian content to understand their new home, and longtime fans of Lee or Brown encountering their work in new ways.
“We had people coming up after Q&As, buying books and merch, saying this was their first Canadian film in years. That’s the power of connecting directly.”
Director Lee sees the film’s unconventional rollout as part of its ethos. “I’m really so happy my producers have taken a wonderful approach that, to me, parallels the spirit of indie, independent musicians, who are very entrepreneurial,” she told the Edmonton Journal. “We continue to pack them in because people are hungry for this. I love that.”
Lessons for the Future
Poulos believes this model holds real potential for other Canadian films, particularly those rooted in community or cultural specificity. But it takes planning.
“We started mapping this out while we were still editing,” he says. “You need lead time, and you need to really know your audience.”
He believes this approach is especially relevant in English Canada, where the lack of a unified star system or language identity like that in Québec means filmmakers have to work harder to find their audiences.
A Model Worth Watching
As Paying for It continues its theatrical run the team is rolling out a long-tail release strategy that includes Blu-ray, TVOD/AVOD, a streaming window and even a potential airline deal. A second Toronto run is planned for June, timed to overlap with the Toronto Comic Arts Festival and its 30,000 visitors, with screenings at the nearby Carlton Cinema.
For a country as geographically vast and fragmented as Canada, Paying for It may offer a blueprint for the grassroots, audience-first distribution Canadian film desperately needs.
“There’s no perfect system,” says Poulos. “But in a time when community and connection matter more than ever, this kind of approach just makes sense.”
