Dalthnock: <snip>
Remember, region-free DVDs are a thing. They didn't appear out of thin air, out of kindness from the big studios or because everyone was buying indie films.
There is a way to make distributors notice what you want. But you have to hurt them where they care.
You bring up a very good point that I had thoughts of as well but hadn't turned into words, which is that when you want to convince someone to do something you want to have happen, and which they may at least start out in opposition to, you get further by showing them how their own goals are achieved in ways that matter
to them if they work towards doing things that you want. This is how to win any negotiation, show the opponent that your solution will lead to their end goal in a way that they can see themselves as viable and get what they want.
If we ignore what the other party wants and just tell them what we want and how we want it and don't seem to show any concern over their own needs/goals, then we fail to convey a useful argument to convince them to change what we see as the err in their ways, and any expectations we have to see them change to do what we want are unrealistic and unlikely to happen.
So the way to make distributors notice what you want, is to first know what it is that they actually want (not just random assumptions), and to let them know how they can get what they want an alternative way that allows you to also get what you want. Threatening them wont hurt them and is a false/bogus threat unless you are a massive force they can't ignore, especially if they hold all the cards. Fighting them wont likely hurt them either if you are a fly and they have a fly swatter. One has to go about it more intellectually than brute force to win against such an enemy. Again, Sun Tzu is fitting here.