With the upcoming nationwide release of their documentary feature MY OMAHA hitting over 100 cinemas on October 12 via the In Real Life (IRL) Movie Club, we asked director Nick Beaulieu and producer Doug Block how their collaboration came about, what happened on the festival circuit and taking charge of their own hybrid distribution.
Peter Baxter: First, what was the impetus behind making My Omaha?
Nick Beaulieu: I wanted to understand how two things could coexist at the same time in Omaha, which was: the extreme inequalities affecting Omaha’s Black community and the constant celebration of Omaha’s standing as one the “best” cities in America for the middle class. To me, that was the biggest story in our city. Later, when I met activists like Leo Louis II, who plays a big role in the film, I started to recognize the significance of my own role as both the filmmaker and as someone from the white suburbs of Omaha. So I took a personal angle from there and the story opened up in a lot of ways. As the political landscape in America became more and more polarized, the film explored not just racial division, but political and cultural division within a family. In my case, between me and my dad.
Peter Baxter: How did your collaboration come about?
Nick Beaulieu: I discovered Doug through the D-Word, which he founded. It’s an online community of documentary filmmakers. They had started doing a weekly zoom call during COVID, mostly as a way for people to stay connected during the lockdown and vent about the chaos of the moment. Those calls were a lifeline for me because at the time I really didn’t belong to a filmmaking community outside of a few friends. From there, I learned he was a personal filmmaker and he worked as a consultant. This is right around when I was discovering that the personal documentary genre was so rich. I watched Doug’s “51 Birch Street”, a film about his father, and that really spoke to me. It was like discovering the perfect addition to the team. And fortunately when I reached out Doug agreed to start consulting with me.
Doug Block: Nick’s first request was that I do a story consult, and the version he sent was over 3 hours long and very raw. But it had several components that stood right out to me. A very likeable protagonist in Nick, which is essential for any personal documentary. An extremely charismatic figure in Leo, who’s the moral center of the film. And then there was Nick’s Trump-loving dad Randy. There’s a fantastic scene right near the start of the film where Nick and his dad have a long debate about Trump that grows increasingly tense, and ends in silence. I knew right away this film had the potential to be a difference maker in terms of exploring the political divide in America. The challenge was how to interweave Leo, as well, and the explosive racial divide story thread. For years I continued consulting with Nick, alternating between sessions focusing on story and producing, and it was remarkable to see how much it improved over time. I resisted for quite a while but ultimately I knew I would have been upset if I didn’t officially take on a producer role.
Nick Beaulieu & Doug Block at Slamdance 2025
Peter Baxter: What was your original festival strategy?
Nick Beaulieu: It was not that sophisticated. Basically: start by only applying to top tier festivals and cross our fingers we get into one of them. We were thrilled to get into Slamdance. I had fallen in love with the festival as an attendee many years before. It was a perfect match because our film was so independently made. A lot of documentaries start on a track after getting large grants from ITVS or one of the Documentary Labs and they have an advantage in the industry. We didn’t have that, so I felt like we were fighting for attention in a very competitive landscape when we were submitting to festivals.
Doug Block: I’m not sure there’s any other festival strategy for a doc or indie filmmaker than to premiere at the most prestigious festival they possibly can, starting of course with Sundance, and take it from there. It’s easy to say this in retrospect, but getting accepted by Slamdance was actually better for us than Sundance in that a personal doc made on a shoestring like MY OMAHA could easily have gotten lost amidst the hullabaloo of Sundance. Slamdance is the ideal launchpad for first-time filmmakers, it supports them like no other festival that I know of. And it’s respected throughout the industry. So very clever of us to get selected by them, right?
Peter Baxter: How did your festival exhibition actually work out and shape your distribution strategy?
Nick Beaulieu: We did not get into nearly as many festivals after Slamdance as we thought we would. Which was disappointing, but it made the ones we did play feel extra sweet – like Ashland Independent Film Festival and Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival – I can’t say enough good things about both of those. I suppose how it shaped our strategy is it forced us to go local quicker and also to think outside the box for how we could get on the national radar when our festival expectations were not being met. I was nervous about losing momentum. I wanted people to feel like MY OMAHA was building towards something. We worked really hard to get the best possible premiere set up for Omaha, which is already paying off. And we are extraordinarily fortunate that the IRL Movie Club approached us.
Doug Block: Film festivals have become extraordinarily competitive, but I was still surprised and extremely disappointed in the number of festival rejections. Especially since I can’t imagine a more timely and important (not to mention, well crafted) film that speaks to the issues that are dividing this country. And I felt terribly for Nick, being a first-timer. You won’t find bigger or more fully engaged audiences than festival goers, and it was a shame he couldn’t fully experience that. That said, we had many long discussions about distribution possibilities, and the old model of being discovered by distributors on the festival circuit is all but gone. In fact, even seeking out a traditional distributor was (and remains) not the goal for us. We agreed that community centers, faith-based institutions and other one-off events where after-screening discussion is prioritized is the way to go. MY OMAHA didn’t start out as an “impact” film, we just wanted to tell the best, most compelling story possible. But once we realized we had one on our hands, it’s been all about where and how it can make the biggest impact.
Peter Baxter: You were able to secure nationwide theatrical distribution from the In Real Life Movie Club. How will this release work and mobilize an audience?
Nick Beaulieu: The genius behind this format is that there is a great incentive for both the theater and the audience. The theater gets a generous stipend just to play the film, which is an easy sell for them. And the audience only pays $5, which is a price you can’t get anywhere at the movies now. It’s all possible because the founder, Annie Roney, is able to find philanthropic sponsors who believe in both the spirit of the program and in the movie. I would love to see this model grow because it’s really advantageous to everyone involved. The structure itself naturally leads to large-scale theater adoption and large attendance.
Doug Block: Ever since Covid, the film industry has been trying to figure out how to get butts back into theater seats, and it’s especially been an issue for documentaries. It’s also been near impossible for them to get media attention or make even a blip in the cultural landscape. So getting selected for the In Real Life Movie Club has been a godsend on both fronts. I mean, to be able to say we’re showing in over 70 U.S. cinemas on October 12th is a dream, no matter what else happens. But it’s now just our launchpad. It will be followed two nights later with a huge premiere screening at Film Streams in Omaha, followed by a week-long run. And then we’ll go from there.
Peter Baxter: You’ve set an ambitious plan to continue the theatrical experience independently. How will you leverage the first phase of your theatrical release and make the second successful?
Nick Beaulieu: We’re hopeful that the IRL release will generate some press that we can use to our benefit. Most of the IRL locations, which we’re up to 70 theaters at the time I’m saying this, are in small markets. We think that if we can show this film has the kind of resonance that can get people to the theater in smaller cities, it will also have an audience in major markets like New York, LA and Chicago.
Doug Block: We’ve hired Jim Browne and Argot Films as a service deal distributor to book the film into cinemas throughout the country. He’s very experienced, widely respected and extremely selective, so we’re proud of the company we’re keeping. We understand that live events are the best way to lure audiences to see films in theaters, so most of our bookings will be for one-off screenings that we can make special with Q&As, panels and special guest appearances. One of the attractions of the In Real Life Movie Club is its goal of facilitating discussion among audience members via a series of on-screen prompts in place of the usual filmmaker Q&A.
Still from MY OMAHA
Peter Baxter: From here, what have you set-up for the rest of your distribution windows and what strategies are you planning to use to make them profitable?
Nick Beaulieu: I received a small grant for Impact, which I used to hire a company called Carrot Impact to help us create an Impact and Outreach campaign. They’re helping us do many things, and one of those is helping us onboard Gathr, which is a platform that allows people to request and organize their own screening. You can build in all sorts of layers to it, like pricing based on organization type or size and additional fees if the filmmakers participate in the screening. We’re hoping that all of the buzz that comes from IRL and our Omaha premiere will lead to people making more requests for the film.
Peter Baxter: Can you break down your distribution and marketing costs and the work hours you have spent on your release, to date?
Nick Beaulieu: From getting into Slamdance until now, we’ve spent more than $50,000 on publicity, marketing, distribution and impact. I had a fantasy that all of the major expenses, which had been haunting me, were going to be over when we finished post-production. But there are so many little things that add up once you’re in the distribution phase. I just paid $450 to have a bunch of posters printed, which wasn’t something I had thought about a year ago. I’m fortunate to have received some grants to help pay for some of this, particularly from the Weitz Family Foundation in Omaha who generously helped get our whole team to Los Angeles for Slamdance. But about half of this expenditure has come out of my pocket. A lot of my time is spent staying caught up on emails across many different fronts. The hours are uncountable, there’s always something you could be doing. I’ve had to learn when to draw the line.
Doug Block: Alas, when I went from consultant to producer my workload increased tenfold and I stopped getting paid per hour. Brilliant decision, eh? However, it’s hardly full time work, so I can forgo pay for now. And I have an agreement with Nick similar to one I started using about 15 years ago when producing with another brilliant first timer (Jon Foy, RESURRECT DEAD). It’s cognizant of the fact that the film is being made on a shoestring and being funded, in part, out of pocket by the filmmaker. Once the film begins bringing in sales income I get a flat 10%, much like a sales agent would get. It’s very clean and it’s worked out well for everyone. If the film doesn’t sell at all, I get nothing (which happened once and I have no regrets – it’s a terrific film). And if revenue does come in, it’s very clear when and how much I get paid. There’s no nonsense or confusion over profit share.
Peter Baxter: What has been the toughest part of your filmmaking journey so far and how have you overcome it?
Nick Beaulieu: Maintaining my confidence in crunch time was the hardest part for me. In a film like this that’s so personal, with subject matter that’s so delicate, and when you’re finding the story in the edit…there was so much pressure. It was a battle to trust my instincts while also knowing when to trust other people who had more experience than me. I think that’s normal for most people’s first feature, but it’s intense when you’re in the thick of it and the self-doubt creeps in. The creative process had a lot of highs and lows with countless lessons baked in. Before this movie, I was a writer who worked very independently. I learned through trial and error how to collaborate making MY OMAHA. Now I’m really excited to work with other people from the get go on the next project.
Doug Block: To be honest, there’s been nothing tough about the MY OMAHA journey. From the beginning it’s been a pure pleasure working with Nick, who’s become a great friend. And I couldn’t be prouder of the film. Even the distribution part isn’t tough because I have no problem being shameless in talking up a film I love so much, and fighting to get it recognition.
Peter Baxter: What inspired you to undertake this hybrid distribution journey?
Nick Beaulieu: It was dictated by the state of the industry. I would have loved to sell the rights to our film to a streaming service after Slamdance and let them take care of everything. But that’s just not the reality for most independent films. If you want people to see your movie outside of the festival circuit, you have to own the process and understand that the way you distribute has to be just as scrappy as the way you direct and produce it. You have to sort of will your way towards reaching your audience.
Doug Block: Each film’s distribution journey is dictated by timing and circumstances. I was a producer on SILVERLAKE LIFE, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance back in the early ‘90s. We had many distribution offers, went with Zeitgeist Films for theatrical and P.O.V, made it their season premiere. Nowadays, winning Sundance is no guarantee of getting any distribution offers at all. So, now more than ever, it’s critical to have clear distribution goals. Who is your target audience, and what’s the best way of reaching them? Is it more important to make money or to get it seen widely? What’s the best way of getting the film on the industry radar so that the filmmaker can get a career boost? One doesn’t preclude the other, but goal setting should be part of your thinking from the beginning.
Stay tuned as our case study continues in Part 2 with What Happened Next. Meanwhile, thank you to Nick and Doug for their clarity of fact and sharing their great filmmaking experience to date. To find keep up with MY OMAHA, check out the trailer, website, and social media links below!
Watch the MY OMAHA Trailer:
Website: https://www.myomahafilm.com/
Instagram/ Social media: @myomahafilm