Independent film and TV distribution for Washington, DC filmmakers. 20 percent fee, two year exclusive term, quarterly payments, and you keep ownership.
Mann Robinson Distribution works with filmmakers in Washington, DC, licensing finished films and 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 the country, the District included. A director in Washington, DC does not need to relocate to get a finished feature, documentary, sitcom or reality series in front of a streaming audience. Submissions go through mannrobinsondistribution.com/submit.
Washington, DC is a documentary town with a working independent narrative community around it. The nonfiction industry in the District is established enough that the International Documentary Association has profiled it under the name Docuwood. National Geographic is headquartered near the White House, WETA has been a major producing station for PBS for more than five decades, and several of the institutions that fund American documentary work, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, are headquartered in the DC area. For a District filmmaker that means a working nonfiction community close at hand, along with the federal archives, institutions and subject matter experts that documentary projects so often depend on.
The festival calendar reflects that. DC/DOX, founded in 2023 by Sky Sitney and Jamie Shor, presented 113 films from 32 countries in June 2026 alongside its Reality Check Forum of panels, workshops and masterclasses, and has set its fifth edition for June 10 to 13, 2027. The DC Independent Film Festival has run since 1999, which makes it the oldest independent film festival in the city, and since 2022 it has operated as an annual Film Forum, including its On the Hill session hosted by the Congressional Entertainment Caucus. Filmfest DC marked its 40th anniversary in 2026. The DC Black History Month Film Festival programs films by local District filmmakers, and the American Black Film Festival pop up tour makes its Washington, DC debut with a three day event at the Angelika Pop Up at Union Market. Year round, Women in Film and Video, founded in 1979, produces close to 200 events annually for the DC metro region and co hosts a recurring documentary roundtable with Docs In Progress, which runs workshops, classes and works in progress screenings from downtown Silver Spring, Maryland.
The Office of Cable Television, Film, Music and Entertainment is the District's film office. It issues film permits, runs the DC Independent Filmmaker Program and the Creative Economy Career Access Program, supports the 202Creates creative economy initiative across all eight wards, and administers the DC Film, Television and Entertainment Rebate Fund. That rebate requires at least $250,000 in qualified District expenditures and an incentive agreement with the office, and it pays a higher rate on District resident cast and crew than on non residents. The $250,000 threshold places it beyond the reach of most first features made at micro budget level.
The second DC specific point is jurisdiction. The National Mall and the memorial parks are National Park Service ground, so filming there means a federal permit and not a District one, and the Park Service prohibits filming at certain locations, including the inner memorial at the Stone of Hope at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and the area within the outer columns of the Jefferson Memorial. Productions plan their locations around those rules.
It licenses finished independent film and television content to major streaming platforms and networks. In practice that means:
The terms are as follows.
Exclusive means the distribution rights covered by the agreement sit with Mann Robinson Distribution for the two year term.
Typically about 90 days from signing to going live. Getting your delivery materials and clearances in order before you submit is sensible preparation, and the checklist further down this page covers what to gather.
On ad supported platforms, earnings are impressions multiplied by CPM, not a flat rate per view. An impression is an ad served against your title, and CPM is the rate paid per thousand impressions. Two films with the same number of plays can earn different amounts, which is why a view count on its own says little about earnings.
Every filmmaker gets a portal login. The portal shows impressions, CPM and earnings broken out per platform, along with statements and payment history. Payments are quarterly, and the fee is 20 percent of gross.
Submit only when the film is genuinely finished, and have the supporting materials assembled before you make contact. A practical checklist:
Documentary filmmakers should pay particular attention to archival and interview clearances, since archive footage and interview access carry terms of their own. Rights that cannot be cleared cannot be licensed.
When the package is ready, 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 works with filmmakers in Washington, DC and elsewhere. Submissions and the filmmaker portal are online.
No. Mann Robinson Distribution licenses distribution rights for the term of the agreement, and ownership stays with the filmmaker.
Yes. Mann Robinson Distribution handles films, television shows, sitcoms and reality series.
No. A festival run and a distribution agreement are separate things, and a premiere at DC/DOX, the DC Independent Film Festival or Filmfest DC is useful context to include with a submission.
Washington, DC filmmakers finishing a feature, a documentary or a series can submit at mannrobinsondistribution.com/submit, or write to distribution@mannrobinsonstudios.com. The terms are the ones stated above: 20 percent of gross, a two year exclusive term, quarterly payments, ownership retained by the filmmaker, and typically about 90 days from signing to going live.