Independent film distribution for Memphis filmmakers. Mann Robinson Distribution licenses films, TV and reality series to Tubi and other streaming platforms.
Mann Robinson Distribution works with filmmakers in Memphis to license finished films, television shows, sitcoms and reality series to major streaming platforms and networks, including Tubi. It is an independent film and television distribution company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with a presence in Detroit and Los Angeles, and it accepts submissions from filmmakers across Memphis and the wider Mid South. You submit a finished film, and if it is accepted, the company licenses the distribution rights, delivers the title to platforms, and gives you a portal login where you can watch how it performs.
Memphis is a working production city with a long independent track record, a film commission that dates back to 1985, and a local cash incentive written specifically for low budget filmmakers who live inside the city limits, built for the scale of film a Memphis director is likely to finish.
The city's reputation was set in January 2005, when two films made in Memphis took the top two prizes at Sundance. Craig Brewer's Hustle & Flow, written and shot in Memphis, won the Audience Award, and Forty Shades of Blue, directed by Memphis native Ira Sachs and shot on location in the city, won the Grand Jury Prize. Brewer had made his first feature, The Poor & Hungry, in Memphis on digital video in 2000. Studio productions including The Firm and Walk the Line also shot heavily in the city.
Indie Memphis began in 1998 when a group of University of Memphis film students projected their work on a coffee shop wall. It now runs the city's film festival, along with year round programs that include IndieGrants for Memphis based filmmakers, the Black Creators Forum, Shoot & Splice and Microcinema Club with Crosstown Arts, and Filmmaker Speed Meetings. After the 2025 edition was canceled following cuts to federal and state arts funding, the 28th annual Indie Memphis Film Festival is set for November 5 to 8, 2026, moving from Midtown into the South Main Arts District downtown, with screenings at Malco's Powerhouse Cinema and the Orpheum's Halloran Centre. It returns under Co-Executive Directors Alicia George and Joseph Carr, with Brandon Harris as Artistic Director.
Around that sit the University of Memphis Department of Communication and Film, which offers degrees in film and video production, and Crosstown Arts at Crosstown Concourse, which hosts artist residencies and film screenings and co-runs Shoot & Splice and Microcinema Club. Local features still premiere in the city. Hoop Street, from Memphis filmmaker Princeton James, played Malco's Studio on the Square in December 2025 after a European festival premiere, and The Last Story of David Allen wrapped downtown in November 2025 after shooting entirely in Memphis.
The Memphis and Shelby County Film and Television Commission, created in 1985 by a joint city and county resolution, handles permitting, keeps a Reel-Scout location database, and charges no location fees on city and county owned property. Its Local Production Incentive is aimed at resident filmmakers: a 30 percent cash refund on documented spending inside the city limits, requiring at least 20,000 dollars spent in Memphis, capped at 15,000 dollars back, for projects whose total budget is no greater than 150,000 dollars. The applicant has to prove Memphis residency, and 70 percent of cast, 70 percent of crew, 70 percent of vendors and 70 percent of locations must be inside the city.
Above that level, the Tennessee Entertainment Commission offers a 25 percent cash rebate on qualified Tennessee spend of more than 500,000 dollars per project or per episode, with the grant contract signed before production begins. The practical result is a city with a real independent tier: shorts, documentaries, features and pilots made for well under half a million dollars, shot against the Mississippi riverfront, Midtown's period neighborhoods, Shelby Farms, the 14,000 acres of Shelby Forest, and the music landmarks around Beale Street, Sun Studio and Stax. Memphis makes films and premieres them well. The question that follows a local premiere is where the film goes next.
The terms are as follows. The distribution fee is 20 percent of gross. The term is two years, exclusive. Payment is quarterly. Titles typically go live about 90 days from signing. The filmmaker keeps ownership of the film, because the agreement licenses distribution rights only and does not transfer the copyright.
Go live is typically about 90 days from signing. That window covers delivery and platform onboarding. Having the master, artwork, captions and clearance paperwork ready before you submit keeps delivery moving.
On ad supported platforms, earnings are impressions multiplied by CPM, not a flat rate per view. An impression is an ad shown against your title, and CPM is the rate paid per thousand impressions. Earnings therefore follow how many impressions a title delivers and the CPM applied to them.
Every filmmaker gets a portal login that shows impressions, CPM and earnings for each platform the film is on, plus statements and payment history. Payments are made quarterly, and the 20 percent fee is taken from gross. You can check your own numbers in the portal whenever you want.
No. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with a presence in Detroit and Los Angeles, and it works with filmmakers in Memphis remotely, from submission through licensing, delivery and reporting.
No. The filmmaker keeps ownership. The agreement licenses distribution rights for a two year exclusive term.
Films, television shows, sitcoms and reality series, submitted by filmmakers across Memphis and the wider Mid South.
A premiere at a festival such as Indie Memphis is useful context to include with a submission, alongside the film's title, runtime and a link to a screener.
Payment is quarterly. Titles typically go live about 90 days from signing.
Submit the film at mannrobinsondistribution.com/submit or contact distribution@mannrobinsonstudios.com.