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Making of The Point The Setting Characters and Actors The Story The Filmmakers Reviews Screenings Credits Mission of Site A Filmmaking Primer A Filmmaking Team Proposals and Pitches Script and Story Budget Camera Sound Directing Producing Editing Acting Marketing Glossary Where can I learn more?
Filmmaking is its own reward. No doubt. But having your film seen and getting reactions to it is an extra reward. And one of the biggest rewards of getting your film seen by many is that it increases the chances that you get to make more films. That's partly the way I see it. Marketing the film you're making now is part of getting your next film made, so don't treat it lightly. To me it's always been about the long run. I want to keep making films. That's it. So every film has to be great. That's the first bit of marketing you have full control over. Every film, no matter how small, should also lead to the next film. You have to build your credibility with each step. Doesn't matter how small you start. If your first film was seen by just a few friends and family, aim for a community screening the next time, and invite someone from the local press. Then try to get into festivals with your next film and talk it up to the big press in town when you get an acceptance. See every film as an investment in the future, especially since you'll have to work even harder on your earlier films - both to get them made and to get them seen. But you can't slack off or the whole dream of filmmaking can very easily come to an end.
So think of each film as part of a bigger picture. I always wanted to make big 35 mm films that would be seen in theatres, so even when I had a tiny budget I would ask favours, get paid nothing, and do anything I had to do to shoot on 35 mm. That way, the bigger festivals would be willing to play my work, and when it came time to ask for a bigger budget to shoot a big film on 35 mm, I already knew what I was talking about. I once calculated that for the first five years of my career, I got paid 14 cents an hour. That's not even minimum wage in China. But I had invested in myself and had a bunch of films that looked impressive and when I finally was looking to get into the bigger game of commercial filmmaking, I was ready. I had been there and walked the walk and earned the credibility. People will invest in you if you invest in yourself. Marketing each film and working towards your goals with each film is a big part of that process.
One last piece of advice about marketing: Some films are a big success all on there own and get seen by many without much effort. Other films can be just as good, but are much harder to get seen by everyone. No matter what kind of film you have on your hands, try to make sure your films always get seen by the right people. By this I mean, 1) All the people who helped you make this film - never forget anyone along the way who has helped you; 2) The people who you think might be instrumental to getting your next project made; and 3) At least some of the primary audience for which you intended your film - it's important to see if the film worked at this level. Do whatever you have to do to get these three audiences to see your film and I promise you'll have a better chance of having success and getting your next film made.
Marketing | Making a Marketing Plan | Sample Press Release | Marketing Resources for Filmmakers
Reaching the Audience
Courtesty Dave Cool, Director of "What is INDIE?" www.whatisindiemovie.com
Why Should I Care About Marketing?
You're an artist, right? A filmmaker. Or someone who wants to be a filmmaker. Well, art is great, but you also want to make sure people get to see your film - and that's where marketing comes in.
Don't wait until your film is finished to start thinking about marketing. An important part of marketing is knowing who your audience is. Will the film appeal to a particular cultural group, an audience with distinct political concerns, one with religious beliefs or special interests? What about the gender, age, or economic status of the intended viewers? Do you want the film shown in schools?
Part of the process is deciding how you want people to see your film. Will you be happy with a video on YouTube that family and friends can download? Are you hoping to get the film shown at prestigious film festivals? Is your goal to sell the film to a TV network?
Properly targeting a film to the right market is key to success, and these decisions might affect choices you make while you're producing the film. Define your primary audience, keep thinking about them while you make your film, and start trying to figure out how to reach other (secondary) audiences too.
Your film may be picked up by a distributor - a company who will handle selling it to its markets - or you may decide to go it alone. Either way, you should count on doing some marketing and promotion work yourself to help ensure the film's success.
A marketing plan is an excellent tool to help you organize the launch of your film. By filling it in, you're forced to think about your audience, markets, timelines, and so on. You will find a sample marketing plan here (link to Marketing plan outline).
Film Festivals
Getting your film shown in festivals is a great way to gain visibility and maybe even attract distributors and TV buyers.
There seem to be more and more film festivals every year. Browse through the listings at www.filmfestivals.com to find ones that might suit your film. There are documentary festivals, outdoor film festivals, Asian festivals, Jewish festivals, short film festivals, children's festivals, women's festivals, independent festivals, mental health festivals - and many, many more.
If you wind up personally attending a festival, be ready to promote your film at every opportunity. You should have stills, a one-sheet including a synopsis, photos, good quotes from any reviews, running time, credits, a short bio of the filmmaker, a full address and your URL. You'll be so busy distributing flyers, trying to garner the audience vote (because a People's Choice award sure looks good), soliciting media interviews and pitching distributors and buyers that you'll be lucky if you get to see any films.
Publicity
Journalists have countless story opportunities they could cover every day. If you want them to write about you and your film, try to make their life easy.
There are some good tips on how to do that in this blog posting from Toronto writer/director/producer Steve Schnier, who got great publicity for his low-budget movie before it was even released: http://ebay-movie.blogspot.com/2007/02/guerrilla-marketing-101.html
Think of every angle you can that will make your film interesting to media. Put together a website that media can turn to, complete with clips, information about you and your film, and any interesting background. Put a clip on YouTube and send them a link.
Every media outlet is different. Sending a mass e-mail to every editor whose name you can get ahold of is not going to work. Neither is "Would you be interested in a story about my film?" Instead, go for a good angle. Think about what will interest each publication. Are you a university student or grad? Your school has papers and magazines that can publicize your efforts. Do you come from a small community? Your local paper might be interested. How about timing? Is your film screening in an upcoming festival? Has the YouTube video pulled down half a million hits? These are "pegs" that news organization looks for.
Make personal contact if you can, then follow up with your materials (an e-mail with a link to your website, for instance). Also, try to make connections with people who can link to your website. Leave comments on appropriate blogs that link back to your own site. Get a MySpace page up and fill it with friends. Everything helps.
Sit back and watch the publicity roll in, then go out and get some more.
Television
The creation of so many cable channels (as well as satellite transmission) has opened up new possibilities for film. For independent filmmakers, a TV pre-sale can provide much-needed cash to help finance your project.
It is common for filmmakers to edit two versions of the film: a short one for television and a longer one for screenings, festivals and DVD release.
If the film is going to television, it must be edited to fit commercial TV timeslots and commercial breaks. Public broadcasters may require other formats.
TV broadcasters are subsidized to invest in Canadian programming, which is why many broadcasters invest in a production while it is being made-they can help shape the finished product. Otherwise, broadcasters purchase a film once it is finished. This is called an acquisition-the licence fees paid by the broadcasters are much lower than in a pre-sale situation, simply because the production will be less tailored to the broadcaster's needs.
Distribution
If the filmmaker does not find a distributor, he or she must promote and distribute the film. Not an easy task! The National Film Board is one of Canada's distributors, releasing films it produces as well as films it has acquired. The NFB has sales offices in Canada, the USA and Europe, as well as online sales. It has partnership agreements with public and school libraries, other distribution companies, theatre chains and cataloguers to get films to interested clients.
You could consider approaching the NFB to find out if they would be interested in distributing your film. You can find out what they are looking for here: www.nfb.ca/faireunfilm/faire_un_film_distribuer.php?v=h&lg=en
Distributing the film involves more than simply sending it out. It includes burning all those DVDs and packaging them.
Independent distribution has become more feasible (and potentially profitable) now that your audience can find you easily online. It's still a lot of work to go it alone, but you do get to keep more control.
Marketing | Making a Marketing Plan | Sample Press Release | Marketing Resources for Filmmakers