CHAPTER 12
DISTRIBUTING YOUR WORK
Few people outside of the film industry know that an average Hollywood film costs about $50 million to produce and that each movie is treated as a unique brand. Worldwide marketing campaigns are planned, launched, and measured in the matter of weeks, and all of these efforts often cost as much, or even more, than producing the movie itself.
Many artists, including photographers and filmmakers, believe that if they just create great content, clients will find it. I’m not so sure. Perhaps that was the case before we were constantly bombarded with blog posts, RSS feeds, likes, tweets, pings, hashtags, chats, and pervasive emails.
The reality is that there’s too much noise and too many options, and the “Fear of Missing Out” is a real and widespread syndrome. Expecting our dream client to randomly find our Vimeo page, click on the most relevant video, watch it, immediately understand how our style fits her marketing content needs, and contact us with an awesome proposal is, in my opinion, extremely far-fetched.
THE DIY APPROACH
The good news is that I strongly believe we have more ways to share our stories than ever before. When it comes to marketing, my team and I prefer to rely more on creativity and less on spending lots of money to see what works. We also enjoy doing the heavy lifting ourselves, handcrafting our marketing efforts and having the freedom to test different approaches quickly and inexpensively (Figure 12.1.1).
Figure 12.1.1 We produced a promotional video for a crowdfunding campaign to raise the funds for the post-production of a short film. We reached our goal!
A very simple way to attract viewers is by word of mouth. Sharing a short and engaging film within your network of friends and colleagues is a wonderful way to receive honest feedback and reach other contacts who might be interested in similar work.
Other inexpensive (and sometimes even profitable) ways to generate buzz are interviews at local radio stations, interviews with bloggers and podcast producers, webinars, panel discussions, and written or video reviews (Figures 12.1.2–12.1.5).
Figure 12.1.2 I’ve written a number of articles to promote upcoming films.
Figure 12.1.3 Webinars are a great way to increase brand awareness and spread the message about upcoming projects.
Many online forums are very active and full of helpful people who are willing to provide valuable feedback and resources and even give you a hand promoting your film. The key to this approach is to first provide value to the forum, either with good questions or by sharing information; then establish conversations and gain the trust of others; and lastly, share your work and ask for help. I’ve developed great friendships this way.
Social media platforms like Facebook can be helpful in identifying groups of people with interests in line with your project. There are also multiple companies and online communities that score projects and provide statistical analysis of scripts, people, financials, and other related topics.
Figure 12.1.4 I like to share projects I’m working on in my workshops. This is helpful for both me and my workshop attendees because I’m able to provide them with real-world examples and they share valuable feedback with me.
Figure 12.1.5 Interviews allow you to spread the word about your projects and give you an opportunity to share your excitement.
Another clever strategy that can reap excellent marketing dividends is partnering with for-profit or nonprofit organizations whose mission is aligned with the message of your story.
If you have a more sizable budget you might consider hiring a PR agency to craft a marketing package and help you create buzz. I personally have found this option too expensive and ineffective.
Building a website or just a landing page to promote your movie is increasingly easy and affordable. Keep in mind that you don’t need to wait until the end of a project to build a website. By sharing the project’s milestones and challenges all along, you can receive feedback from friends and complete strangers who offer ideas on where to find locations, props, local restaurants, and even extras. Usually the people who get involved with the process of producing a film are eager to watch and share the finished piece.
At The Digital Distillery and with my own projects, we’ve tried all of these strategies for distributing our work. The approach we choose depends on many different factors and the success rates vary widely from one project to another. Yet I believe the requirements for any successful marketing campaign are usually the same: an engaging story delivered as a high-quality product that is easy to share and makes the person sharing it look good.
The main takeaway of this chapter is that just because we believe our video is worth watching, it doesn’t necessarily mean that other people will find it or enjoy it. We need to actively put it in front of the viewers who would be most inclined to appreciate the message and help us push it forward.
SUBMITTING MOVIES TO FILM FESTIVALS
Another way to promote your film projects is to submit them to film festivals (Figure 12.2). My guess is that most people reading this book won’t feel ready to submit their projects just yet, and that’s perfectly fine. Still, I encourage you to attend film festivals not only to watch movies, but most importantly to start building relationships that might come in handy in the future. No other networking experience can replace being surrounded by like-minded people for a few days, watching great stories, and getting lots of information. Among my favorite “in the field” questions are: Who’s financing what? Recently, which interesting projects have been unsuccessful and why do you think they failed? Are there any technical, content, or marketing trends that that you find promising? Take the information you get and find ways to apply it to your next project.
You can find information about film festivals, submit your films to festivals, and promote your work on websites such as withoutabox.com, filmfreeway.com, and filmfestivals.com.
Figure 12.2 You can find information about film festivals and submit your projects online at withoutabox.com.
Once you have a film that is worthy of bigger screens, consider the following:
First, the not-so-great news is that there are approximately 3,500 active films festivals worldwide. That sounds like plenty of great opportunities to show your work. But out of almost 12,000 films submitted to Sundance in 2012, only 181 were accepted. From those accepted, only 73 got distribution deals. So not even 1 percent of all the films submitted found distribution.
Now for the good news. Things are changing fast with the explosion of video on demand platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, iTunes, and others. In the past couple of years, a much higher percentage of the films accepted got some kind of theatrical distribution deal.
EDUARDO’S RECOMMENDATIONS
Do your research. Submitting your sci-fi short film to a festival that specializes in documentaries will be a waste of everybody’s time.
Smaller and niche film festivals might not be as fancy as the bigger ones, but your odds of being able to enter are greatly increased. Review and, if possible, watch some of the films they have screened in the past to get a better sense of what each festival is after. It doesn’t hurt to read reviews from, and even get in touch with, past attendees to get their feedback on their experience.
Many smaller festivals are known for the quality, not the quantity, of their programs, so having a good reception there is an excellent way to gain entrance into larger festivals in the future. Also, smaller and niche film festivals usually offer more attainable awards, as well as cash prizes.
Don’t wait until the very last minute to submit your film. For obvious reasons, many things can go wrong when hundreds of people try to simultaneously upload large files to a single website.
Most festivals offer discounted fees for people who apply early. The entry fee might be just $50, but once you add airfare, hotels, and meals, along with the cost of making DVDs, designing and hosting a website, printing posters, and creating other promotional material, costs quickly add up.
Submitting early has the additional advantage that many festival programmers start watching and choosing films well before the end of the submission period, so your chances of being picked earlier in the process might be higher.
Carefully follow the rules. This might sound pretty obvious, but trust me, when you are researching dozens of festivals with different deadlines, each with slightly different rules and requirements, it is extremely easy to make small but critical mistakes. Send only what is requested and name the material the way they ask. If they want password-protected online submissions, don’t send a DVD.
And lastly, the shorter, the better. Is this the very best version you can make? Can you say more with less? If so, go back to your editing suite and do it.
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
Imagine you are finishing a short film that you would like to submit to a film festival. Try to explain the story in three different ways: in one sentence, in one paragraph, and in one page. This simple system will be extremely helpful.
The one-sentence version is your elevator pitch. It’s what you answer when someone at a cocktail party asks, “What have you been working on lately?” This ultrashort version is also ideal to share your project on social media platforms like Twitter.
The second version, the paragraph, can be used on other platforms like Facebook, and it’s the ideal length for emails as well as short intros for interviews, podcasts, webinars, panel discussions, and so forth. It is also a natural follow-up if after your one-sentence pitch someone wants to know more about the project.
The third version, about a page or approximately 500 words, is perfect for blog posts and press releases, and can also be recycled into multiple one-paragraph versions for marketing purposes.
It is perfectly fine if you don’t have a clear idea in mind. Find a short story to read or watch a short film and borrow those plots for this exercise. You can thank me later.