Film distribution for New York filmmakers. Mann Robinson Distribution places films, series and reality shows on streaming platforms. 20 percent fee, quarterly pay.
Mann Robinson Distribution works with New York filmmakers who have a finished film, series or reality show and need it placed with streaming platforms and networks. The company is an independent film and television distribution company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with a presence in Detroit and Los Angeles, and it takes on projects from filmmakers across New York. A director in Bed Stuy, an editor finishing in Long Island City and a producer wrapping in the Bronx all go through the same process: submit the film, agree the terms, then follow performance through a portal login.
Mann Robinson Distribution distributes films, TV shows, sitcoms and reality series to major streaming platforms and networks, including Tubi. Submissions go through mannrobinsondistribution.com/submit, and questions can go to distribution@mannrobinsonstudios.com.
New York supports a film at every stage, from stage space and locations through post production and a premiere. Getting the finished film in front of an audience on a platform is a separate step from making it.
Most of the region's stage capacity sits in Brooklyn and Queens. Steiner Studios opened at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 2004 and grew into a campus of roughly 30 soundstages, including the largest on the East Coast at about 27,000 square feet. Silvercup Studios runs two campuses in Long Island City plus one in the Bronx, with 23 stages between them. Kaufman Astoria Studios has operated in Queens for decades, and Wildflower Studios opened in Astoria with 11 stages.
Location shooting is permitted through the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, which absorbed the old Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting. The office issues city film permits and provides free police assistance, free parking privileges and access to most exterior locations at no charge. The permit fee is $500 for each consecutive 14 day period, and the office offers hardship waivers aimed at independent and student filmmakers.
Empire State Development administers the New York State Film Production Tax Credit, a refundable credit of 30 percent of qualified production costs, allocated at $700 million a year. There is also a separate New York State Independent Film Production Tax Credit Program, funded at $100 million per calendar year, that pays 30 percent of qualified costs to companies that are independently owned and operated with no more than 50 percent public ownership. Roughly $20 million of that pool is set aside for budgets under $10 million, and $80 million for larger budgets. Minimum budgets start at $250,000 in most counties and $1 million in the New York City area, applications open in scheduled windows, and productions must begin principal photography within 180 days of applying. A post production credit covers 30 percent of qualified post costs at a qualified New York facility, with $45 million a year carved out for it.
Credit recipients are also required to file diversity plans and to relinquish a small share of the earned credit to the Empire State Entertainment Diversity Job Training Development Fund. The city runs training pipelines into the same industry, including the Made in NY Post Production Training Program with the Department of Small Business Services and Brooklyn Workforce Innovations, a five week intensive covering entry level animation, editing, motion graphics and visual effects.
The festival calendar is dense and it runs most of the year. The Tribeca Festival takes over lower Manhattan every June. The New York Film Festival, presented by Film at Lincoln Center, has run since 1963 and stages its 64th edition from September 25 to October 12, 2026. DOC NYC, based at the IFC Center in Greenwich Village since 2010, is the largest documentary festival in the country with more than 300 films and events. The Brooklyn Film Festival has run every June since 1998. Urbanworld, founded in 1997 by Stacy Spikes, is an Academy Award qualifying festival for Black and multicultural work. The Harlem International Film Festival has run since 2005, and the Festival of Cinema NYC programs ten days in Forest Hills, Queens, starting the first Friday in August. On the market side, Gotham Week from the Gotham Film & Media Institute runs September 27 to October 3, 2026, and its Project Market takes documentaries, U.S. features in development and shorts moving to features.
A festival premiere and a platform release are two different things, and a film can come to the end of its festival run with the second step still ahead of it. That step is what distribution covers.
The terms are as follows. The distribution fee is 20 percent of gross. The term is two years, exclusive. The filmmaker keeps ownership of the film, because Mann Robinson Distribution licenses distribution rights only. Payment is quarterly. A film typically goes live about 90 days from signing.
Typically about 90 days from signing to go live. A New York filmmaker who signs at the end of a summer festival run is generally looking at a live title in the fall. Payments are made quarterly from there.
On ad supported platforms, earnings are impressions multiplied by CPM, not a payment per view. An impression is an ad served against your title, and CPM is the rate paid per thousand impressions, so two films with similar view counts can earn differently if their CPMs differ.
Every filmmaker gets a portal login showing impressions, CPM and earnings broken out per platform, along with statements and payment history. Payments are made quarterly, and the 20 percent fee is calculated on gross.
Have the film and its paperwork together before you submit. A practical checklist:
When that is together, submit at mannrobinsondistribution.com/submit or write to distribution@mannrobinsonstudios.com.
No. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with a presence in Detroit and Los Angeles, and it works with filmmakers across New York remotely.
No. The filmmaker keeps ownership. Mann Robinson Distribution licenses distribution rights for a two year exclusive term.
The distribution fee is 20 percent of gross.
Films, TV shows, sitcoms and reality series.
The portal shows impressions, CPM and earnings per platform along with statements and payment history, and payments are made quarterly.
Submit at mannrobinsondistribution.com/submit, or contact distribution@mannrobinsonstudios.com.