Mario Niccolò Messina on Distributing a $10,000 Spaghetti Western

Digital distribution and manufacturing pioneer Mario Niccolò Messina arrange store in Los Angeles 4 years in the past, after launching an modern micro funds motion pictures enterprise mannequin in his native Italy. He now has a greater ambition: “I’d like to be the Roger Corman of the third millennium,” he says.

Since establishing his L.A. operation called Insurgence (previously V Channels Media) in 2021 Messina has been on a roll. Building on the YouTube distribution network he set as much as monetize low-budget indie motion pictures globally, his company has financed more than 200 titles with budgets under $200,000 that it first licenses to streamers, and then drops on its genre-specific YouTube channels.

A few examples: Insurgence’s Spaghetti Western “The Dutchman,” directed by Italy’s Emiliano Ferrara [not to be confused with the thriller by the same title directed by Andre Gaines] and shot for $10,000, scored more than 5 million views in under a month in 2024. Its horror/thriller “Stranger,” directed by Emanuele Pica, has notched up 20 million streams on YouTube as of late 2025. 

Messina entered the leisure business from the tech sector. He was working for telcos, including Vodafone, for which he analysed data which gave him an understanding of “how people search and consume videos,” he says.

That’s how Messina realized that on Google there have been multiple-million searches for key phrases like “action movie,” or “thriller movie.” “What I understood ten years ago is that people didn’t really know what to watch,” he says. He also seen that every time somebody looked for “action movie” on Google, “Google tends to suggest a YouTube video.” So Messina began distributing ready-made low-budget motion pictures on YouTube at a time when virtually no one else was. And, in the course of, began getting “free, organic marketing from Google itself,” he notes.

His L.A.-based Insurgence Studios, that selects tasks utilizing a data-driven method, has now bankrolled the bows of more than 100 filmmakers.

Messina speaks to Variety about why, at a time of mega studio mergers, combining micro funds motion pictures and digital distribution is the approach ahead in the indie sphere.

What does Insurgence provide younger administrators?

To join, filmmakers ship us an unique pitch telling us how a lot cash we should always finance the project for, and what the best platform for his or her motion pictures could be. Their project will get checked out quickly and given a score based on the plot, on the script, and so on. Or they ship me a film for distribution and we signal the deal instantly on-line. We negotiate instantly. No intermediary, no sales agent. Once we get the film, we preserve the filmmakers informed about the journey of their film, which implies: the place it has been been pitched and if it’s been accepted or rejected by the platforms. Also how a lot cash they’re making, paid on-line. Up to now, we’ve financed more than 250 younger filmmakers.

What is your current enterprise mannequin?

In this part, we’re focusing on growing motion pictures for the digital ecosystem. Movies respect a sure form of new digital window, which is TVOD for 90 to 150 days, relying on how the feature does. Then we go SVOD and we provide our motion pictures solely for 3 to 6 months on an SVOD platform. Then we go a AVOD, and by AVOD I exclude YouTube. I imply premium AVOD, which might be Pluto, Tubi, Roku, Xumo, Canela.TV and so on. Then we go on our network of YouTube channels, and then we go to other YouTube networks. So this is the course of.

What are your financials and development prospects?

We just broke $5 million in revenues last yr. We are now in discussions with some buyers about the risk of rising. Our aim is to build a digital indie studio. We are launching our on-line horror journal called “Fearce.” We are getting ready to launch our app for TiVo and then AVOD. And we’re getting ready for a more stable theatrical facet.

Some of your movies have launched at festivals and been launched theatrically. Are you also lively in that area?

We’ve had motion pictures at Fantastic Fest and more just lately at London’s Fright Fest. Do I consider in the energy of festivals today? Less than I used to, to be trustworthy. I believe festivals are for a lot greater motion pictures, besides in some very uncommon circumstances. But we’re growing a method to reinvent theatrical releases. We’ve had some motion pictures going theatrical, with releases that went from 50 to 250 theaters. However, on the whole, our main path ahead is pure digital distribution supported by our YouTube Network, which reaches 250 million views every month. Basically, every time you see a film on one in all my YouTube channels, it begins with a trailer of one in all our other motion pictures. So we’re self-serving adverts for our motion pictures.

What are the Insurgence titles that you’re significantly pleased with?

I made a cope with XYZ Films to supply 10 horror motion pictures. And there are two or three that are actually artworks. One is called “House of Ashes,” directed by Izzy Lee. Another is “It Needs Eyes,” directed by Zack Ogle e Aaron Pagniano. It’s received prizes at pageant after pageant [including at the Portland Horror Festival] and we’re launching it in March. Then there may be an action film made by a group of Italians that is called “Day Off.” It’s a pure quaint action film, directed by Marco Ristori and Luca Boni.

Ristori and Boni are style film veterans. How did you intersect with them?

I met them them two years in the past by likelihood. They had been working with Germany’s Uwe Boll, and so they told me they have been out of labor. I said to them: “O.K. guys, don’t worry. Build your team.” And I financed 10 of their motion pictures. They made 10 motion pictures in 18 months, one proper after the other. And now these titles are doing spectacularly. “Day Off” was one in all the most watched action motion pictures on Tubi for 3 weeks. The Spanish version is definitely featured on the Canela.TV homepage. On YouTube it’s garnered 35 million streams across English, Spanish and Portuguese.

This interview has been edited and condensed for readability.