How Two First-Time Filmmakers Built an 800K-Person Audience and Sparked Policy Change | Brandon Cawood and Whitney Cawood (Filmmakers)

Lessons in hybrid distribution from "To Dye For."

May 14, 2025

Watch now on YouTube.

Brandon Cawood and Whitney Cawood are the husband-and-wife filmmaking duo behind To Dye For, a documentary about synthetic food dyes and their link to children’s behavioral issues. With no prior experience in feature filmmaking, they self-financed, produced, directed, and distributed the film—all while raising a family. Whitney is a former teacher turned marketer; Brandon is a commercial photographer and video producer (which you can immediately tell from their impeccable video podcast setup in this convo with

Christie Marchese

In our conversation, we discuss:

How their Facebook group turned into an 800K-strong community and pre-launch test audience
The lead magnet that grew their email list to 167,000+ before their trailer even dropped
Why they chose to skip the festival circuit
How they chose their distributors while retaining public screening and educational rights
How they used Kinema to screen their film for lawmakers and lobbyists—and why it mattered
And so much more!

Key Takeaways:

Anchor your film’s purpose in a specific, measurable goal: “We definitely wanted to make an impact. More specifically, we felt like before impact had to come education.”
1. Prioritized education as the first step to policy change.
2. Shaped structure, tone, and distribution strategy around education.
Build your audience before your film release: “We created a group on Facebook... within two years we have over 800,000 people, almost 900,000.”
1. Created Dye Free Family Facebook group during pre-pre-production (two years before their film release).
2. They identified mothers as their primary demographic since they typically make household food decisions.
3. Their actual audience turned out to be 98% female between ages 24-44, confirming their targeting strategy.
4. Their Facebook group grew to nearly 900,000 members, providing a ready audience for their film.
5. They spent time educating and building trust with their audience before the film launched.
Use email gating and lead magnets to build your email list: “Before you enter the group...I have in there if you want to opt into our email list and get a Free Dyes List.”
1. They offered value (free dye lists) in exchange for email sign-ups.
2. Grew 167,000+ email subscribers using opt-in giveaways.
3. Focused on long-term relationship building by preparing and educating, not advertising.
Provide free resources 90% of the time; promote your film 10%: “We only talked about the film maybe 10% of the time... we were giving resources and information.”
1. In addition to the Facebook Group, they created a FB and IG page specifically for the film.
2. Created free resources to keep people engaged: shared checklists, advocacy tools, food guides.
3. Earned audience trust before promoting anything.
Use your existing skillset to keep costs low: “Every aspect of it... even the B-roll in our kitchen.”
1. Created professional-looking graphics and countdown materials that were visually compelling.
2. Used their existing skills (Brandon's background in commercial photography) to create high-quality assets.
3. Shot their own B-roll at home rather than purchasing expensive stock footage.
4. Completed the film on a micro-budget of approximately $60,000.
Seek out early monetization opportunities: “I create Christmas lists [with affiliate links]... that has generated close to $1,000 most months.”
1. Used affiliate marketing to generate early income.
2. Reinvested earnings into education efforts.
3. Music licensing can be extremely expensive, especially for pre-existing music. They composed some music from scratch using Brandon's musical background.
  1. Used Splice, a subscription-based service that provides loops and sounds to build original music.
  2. Registered songs through BMI to create an additional revenue stream through streaming royalties.
4. Offered paid speaking engagements through their website.
Consider hiring a distribution consultant, even on a limited budget:
1. They worked with distribution expert Peter Broderick, breaking their consultation into affordable segments.
2. Peter provided valuable strategic advice on hybrid distribution approaches and how to push the release strategy of their film to make the most revenue.
3. Even when they didn't follow all recommendations (like extended festival runs), Peter’s guidance helped them make informed decisions about which rights to keep and which to license.
Use test screenings to improve your film: “We had at least 10 focus groups. Our film completely transformed.”
1. Used surveys and feedback to edit film.
2. Audience insights helped clarify messaging.
3. This process served as both film improvement and early grassroots impact.
Negotiate for rights and retain flexibility: “We kept our public screening rights and our education rights.”
1. Had offers from five distributors. Went with Virgil because they had a more personal approach. The others just sent contracts.
2. Used Journeyman as a second distributor specifically for educational markets.
3. Created a "co-exclusive" arrangement with Journeyman allowing the filmmakers to still sell educational rights themselves.
4. They also retained their rights to sell the film on their website.
Use platforms like Kinema to run safe, flexible screenings: “Kinema was exactly what we needed...”
1. Used Kinema to facilitate private screenings rather than sending Vimeo links.
2. Preferred the security and quality of Kinema over Zoom or other screen-sharing options.
3. Successfully hosted hybrid events with both in-person and virtual components simultaneously.
4. Used the platform to collect email addresses even for free screenings.
Your audience can become your street team: “We were sharing countdowns and getting thousands of shares.”
1. Built hype with visual content and participation
2. Followers became amplifiers at launch
Because To Dye For is timely, they decided against film festivals: “We felt like if we wait...our film may not be relevant.”
1. They recognized their topic was gaining momentum and chose to release sooner rather than following the traditional festival route.
2. Prioritized public impact over potential financial gains from a lengthy festival strategy.
3. Their timing worked in their favor with major policy announcements coinciding with their release. “The day after [our film released], they banned Red No. 3 nationwide.”
4. This timeliness led to major media opportunities, including podcasts and national news appearances.
Leverage podcasts and influencers for low-cost reach: “One podcast gave us over a thousand transactions the day it came out.”
1. Prioritized earned media over paid ads.
2. Timing created headlines and drove thousands of VOD sales.
3. Used their story to access high-trust audiences.
Define impact by outcomes, not impressions: “West Virginia became the first state to ban synthetic dyes statewide… and gave us a lot of credit.”
1. Their primary goal was impact and education, not financial returns (though they have already made triple their production budget).
2. The film directly influenced legislation in multiple states, with West Virginia becoming the first state to ban synthetic dyes statewide.
3. Legislators publicly credited their film as inspiration for policy changes.
4. The filmmakers participated in legislative efforts in multiple states.
Maintain a comprehensive resource-rich website: “we've had a lot of compliments about how we've created our website because we actually have quite a bit of traffic generated to it because we have so many free resources at the top.”
1. Created a central hub at https://www.todyeforthedocumentary.com/resources.
2. Included resources, letters for legislators, blogs, and booking information.
3. Added a clear "watch" page with links to all available platforms.