The ‘You, Me & Her’ Filmmakers Found Some Pretty ‘Genius’ Ways to Fund Their Distribution

“You, Me & Her” is an indie rom-com about a couple exploring a threesome with the hope it will improve their marriage, and this Valentine’s Day, if you buy two tickets to the film through Fandango, you can bring a third person free. What you do after the movie is totally up to you.

Real-life married couple Selina Ringel, the film’s star, writer, and producer, and her director husband Dan Levy Dagerman hope the Fandango promotion helps improve their relationship with exhibitors. If not, they’ve got 19 other unique ways to get word out about their film — all brand partnerships, and all set up personally by Ringel and Dagerman.

“You, Me & Her” isn’t being released by a studio, it’s self-distributed via the married couple’s own production company, Two Hands Productions. Not only did they independently secure an opening in more 200 U.S. theaters, they also got the backing of brands like Lindt Chocolate, Lalo Tequila, the W Hotel Punta Mita in Mexico, and even a sex toy company called The Pleasure Chest (kind of a theme here), which sent some goodies out to influencers. The money raised will go to distribution costs and print and advertising. The unique nature of each brand deal, like the Fandango thruple pitch, is for the buzz.

“It’s not enough to have a good movie anymore; you have to have a good movie and find out how to get people’s attention,” Ringel told IndieWire.

Selina Ringel and Dan Levy DegermanGetty Images for Kash Hovey

Ringel and Dagerman had been touring “You, Me & Her,” their third film together, at festivals since 2023. It got strong reviews, but no legitimate distribution. The couple was offered day-and-date deals; a real theatrical release was an afterthought. So they took matters in to their own hands, kind of like their social-media influencer buds.

Ringel and Dagerman cold-emailed, DM-ed, and WhatsApp-ed thousands of various brands. No two pitches were the same.

For instance, the film should appeal to parents looking for a date night. The idea materialized into a brand partnership with Bumo, a Pasadena-based childcare service that has agreed to offer discounts on babysitting for couples that buy tickets to “You, Me & Her.”

Chocolate is an aphrodisiac, and tequila is probably singlehandedly responsible for half of threesomes: Lindt and Lalo each sponsored “You, Me & Her” screenings.

A Mexican resort where the film was shot is giving away weekend vacations to selected viewers who engage on social media. Ringel secured that one by messaging the local government and returning to their set location to personally pitch the hotel.

Of all the brand partnerships, exactly zero are product placement — the film was completed way before this time-intensive endeavor began. Ringel and Dagerman estimate they’ve amassed $100,000 in promotions for their film, which was made for significantly under $1 million.

But when you really need the attention of theater owners, you call John Fithian. Or rather, you message him on LinkedIn.

The former NATO (National Association of Theater Owners) chief now runs The Fithian Group, which is building an online marketplace called Attend that will pair independent movies directly with theaters. “You, Me & Her” will be the first film to test the viability of Attend — the “Alpha” test before its July Beta launch.

Ringel’s pitch to Fithian, the former king of CinemaCon, was basically: Pick us because we’re nobodies.

“If you choose someone more established, then people are gonna look back and go, ‘This worked because of that person. This works because it was Scarlett Johansson,” Ringel said. “But if you choose us and it works, then you’re proving your point, which is that people really want independent films.”

Fithian wasn’t just sold, he told IndieWire that the proposal “shook our worlds,” calling Ringel and Dagerman “genius business people.”

“They’re just hustling as independent filmmakers to raise the marketing budget they needed, to raise the promotional partners, and to partner with us,” Fithian said. “It’s this perfect little passionate test of the concept that an independent romantic comedy can make it in theaters today if you target it right and promote it right.”

Fithian is a good friend for a distributor (of any size) to have. He personally lobbied theater chains on behalf of Ringel and Dagerman. More screens — and brands — emerged.

John FithianPenske Media via Getty Images

Perhaps the true “genius” of Ringel and Dagerman is that they learn from mistakes. Their second film “Single Mother by Choice” they themselves sold directly to HBO Max (now Max), but the film received virtually no marketing and quickly got buried on the service.

“I was always trained to set a start date for your production, and then when you finish the film, put into festivals, and you’ll figure it out,” Dagerman said.

He now believes you need two dates: a production start date and when you want it to be released, and indie filmmakers need to personally shepherd it from Point A through Point B.

“You don’t design the car and then just hand it off for someone else to sell it,” Dagerman said. “That’s your company’s calling card; that’s your product. We view this as our product, and we really want to get it out there and maximize the impact.”