Specifically, I enjoy showing filmmakers how to leverage the internet to source an audience – so that you can get movies seen and selling.

Inline with this passion, I was invited to participate on a crowdfunding and distribution panel with some folks.

John Rustin (BnY), Jerad Anderson (Watchbox Media, Inc.), Jason Brubaker (Filmmaking Stuff), Danae Ringelmann (IndieGoGo), Moderated by John Corser

This panel was interesting. I was impressed by Danae Ringelmann (of IndieGoGo) and some of the tips she shared on successful crowdfunding. Such as: Start early. Know why you want to make your movie. Have some idea of how to reach your target audience.

After that the conversation moved over to distribution and sourcing an audience… During this time, I shared a few of my usual tips on how to market and sell your movie. And this led us to the topic of streaming platforms. I was totally excited about Jerad Anderson of Watchbox and what he shared about his new streaming platform for filmmakers.

Later in the talk, Adam Chapnick from distribber walked into the room. Distribber allows you to get your movie seen and selling on all the popular video on demand marketplaces without the creative accounting usually found in traditional distribution deals. (Disclosure – Distribber pays me to promote. So do your own diligence.) With that said, check out distribber.

And finally… If you missed Sudance but you want to get the good stuff, check out www.HowToSellYourMovie.com

So picture this. My bags are packed, I’m loading my car – and then I get a call from the airline. My flight has been canceled! UGH. Thanks United Airlines…

Never one to let obstacles get in my way, I pretended I didn’t know my flight was canceled and I drove the airport. I parked my car in one of the many airport parking lots, boarded the shuttle and proceeded to the United terminal.

Turns out whenever you have fog in San Francisco, (and San Francisco is your connecting flight to Utah) it becomes very difficult for airplanes to land. It also turns out that whenever San Francisco is shut down, you will have an airport with more than fifty displaced passengers presently looking for alternate flights.

At this point, you realize there is nothing special about you. And even though you may think of a gazillion reasons why you should get more of a privilege over the forty-nine other passengers in line (like wanting to attend some cool Sundance parties), you also realize that nobody cares. It is at this point when you fantasize about things you can say to get some leverage. For example, I thought about telling the ticket agent I was friends with the CEO of United Airlines – I didn’t actually tell her this. But you get my point…

While waiting for your chance to chat with ticket judge, the only real asset you have is kindness and the unyielding hope that the ticketing agent is in a good mood. When I got to the agent, she seemed to be OK with me… But she also told me that all alternate United flights were booked. So she suggested that I stay in LA for the night and come back the following day.

Had I agreed, I would have missed the Filmmaking panel at Sundance. Heck, I would have missed Sundance.

If this happens to you, I suggest you act as though you don’t hear the word no. Because sometimes persistence pays off and the universe really does provide. Ask the following question: “Are you sure you can’t do anything?” Then SHUT UP! Don’t say another word. Let the pressure of the silence build tension… Until…

“Well, we could try to get you on another Airline. What if we put you on a Delta flight to Salt Lake City?”

Bingo! Thank you United for the rare customer service!

After a two minute flight from LA to San Diego (not kidding. It really was like two minutes) and a short lay over and two White Russians – I hopped on my final flight and arrived in Utah – instantly blasted with a cold air I haven’t felt since my days living in New York City.

I’m pretty sure the airport was filled with a gazillion other filmmaker types wandering around. Maybe it was my imagination. But in some strange way, I felt at home. This feeling was further amplified when an attractive young woman smiled at me and asked if my name was Jason. I thought she was hitting on me. Turns out…

“Yes. Do I know you?”
“No. But I read your newsletter.”

And as I would soon learn, she wasn’t the only one at Sundance who reads these words. Which is surreal. I mean who are you people? Really?

Anyway, I really wish I could have stayed at Sundance for like all week. But the short notice prevented me from really planning a proper trip. So let’s focus on making a successful Sundance plan for next year.  And in this regard, in your next filmmaking article, I’m going to share the top 10 tips you need to know about a successful trip to Sundance film Festival.

In the meantime, if you feel like introducing yourself – please feel free to drop a comment below…

If you are promoting your movie online, you need to create a simple website. You should have a trailer, an about page, a buy now button, links to your social networks and an easy way for someone to sign up for your audience list. Additionally, adding a few dozen relevant blog articles will help you pick up organic traffic.

Anything else is egotistical movie marketing and bad business.

Two rules of internet marketing for filmmakers:

1. Have more time than money? Create content to get search ranking.
2. Have more money than time? ADVERTISE!

It is always more fun to get free traffic. But if you gotta pay for traffic, there is nothing wrong with that either (assuming you have the money). And in case you don’t know, with movie distribution all messed up, you will have to become your own distributor.

Best to find out everything you can!

In my next filmmaking article, I’ll talk about some simple marketing tips all filmmaker’s need to know.

With the demise of traditional DVD distribution, you as a filmmaker are responsible for your audience. Why? Because your audience is your business – and without an audience you will have no movie business.

Having an audience database for your movie is essential.

Whenever I give talks, I make people repeat this aloud. This gets a few chuckles, but kidding aside – this is important stuff for any filmmaker.

Building Your Audience Database

As a professional filmmaker, you need to build a database of people who know you and know your work. But don’t let the word “database” throw you off. A database doesn’t have to be complex. At the miminum, it is simply a list of the names and emails of your subscribers.

Once you have this info, you can easily generate personalized email, letters and phone calls to your audience. And having a list allows you to directly promote your current movie project or an upcoming movie project.

Tools For Building Your List

Most of your list building efforts will happen online. So you need hosting for your website. And I suggest you go with a company that allows you to easily set up a WordPress powered website. That way, you’ll be able to grab a copy of the fully optimized WordPress Template for Filmmakers.

But let’s face it… Even with the greatest movie website on earth – The truth is, most of your movie website visitors will NOT buy your movie on the first visit to your site. Think about it. Most people are busy.

So in addition to marketing your current movie (and all of your future movies), you will need an easy way to capture and collect visitor email addresses. I recommend Aweber as an easy way to build your audience list.  And after you grab Aweber, I suggest utilizing this tool to increase subscriber opt-ins.

If you are going to succeed as a filmmaker, you will need a new strategy. What can YOU do today to build your audience?

Over the past year, I have worked with some of the worlds most awesome internet marketers and software developers to create a solution.

I am pleased to announce the launch of the “Filmmaker Theme” for WordPress. Check it out by going here: www.FilmmakerTheme.com

This theme is designed for filmmakers who are looking to market and sell their movies. Called the “Filmmaker Theme,” it is optimized to drive audience traffic to a VOD or DVD marketplace such as Amazon, Hulu or iTunes or anywhere else.

The following video shows you how quickly you can create websites optimized for your movie.

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If you would like to become an affiliate, this product is managed through clickbank and pays 50%.

1. Sign Up to become a clickbank affiliate by going here: http://www.clickbank.com/promote_products.html

2. Once you have you account “nickname” replace the word affiliate in the link structure below.

Here is the link structure: http://affiliate.FILMTHEME.hop.clickbank.net/
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This literally took me over a year of development. My goal was to find a way to help filmmakers create movie websites optimized to funnel traffic to the popular points of sale.

I would be honored if you would take a look at the Filmmaker Theme site and perhaps tweet about it, or share it with your list.

But if you have gone through the process, you probably also know that finding the CreateSpace Phone number and reaching someone in the customer service department can be frustrating…

Not anymore. CreateSpace has established a Member Support to help you with you film distribution needs. They offer phone and e-mail support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

You can call CreateSpace directly at (843) 760-8199. Keep in mind that charges may apply.

Additionally, if you are in the US or Canada – you can simply log into your member area and click “Contact Support.” From there, choose “Call Me!” to speak to a representative.

For those of you outside the US, you can send a Support Request with your international phone number. From there, CreateSpace will phone you.

Nice work CreateSpace! This was necessary and useful to the filmmaking community!

The tip sheet contains questions you need to answer when planning your movie. And if you cannot answer the Film Distribution questions, you need to evaluate your movie – are you making a movie “for the love?” Or do you hope to create a movie with some potential for profitability?

You can download your free Film Distribution Tip Sheet HERE.

Happy Filmmaking!

Image via Wikipedia

When you’re in the middle of the filmmaking process, you probably aren’t thinking about ways to advertise your movie online.

I want to provide you with a little secret: 

Advertise your movie on StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is a social bookmarking tool that allows people to share interesting websites with their StumbleUpon  networks as well as Facebook, Twitter and email contacts. And if someone happens to “stumble upon” your movie website, you have the potential to garner significant traffic!

(Case study: Our zombie movie got over 100,000 visitors from the service.)

But did you know you can actually pay for someone to “stumble” your site?

It’s true. And it’s awesome. The StumbleUpon paid discovery service allows you to choose from three advertising service tiers. Each tier provides a different level of audience targeting. The first tier starts at a nickle per stumble.

But here is where it gets interesting. Unlike other paid advertising solutions, StumbleUpon allows for exponential, unpaid traffic. Let me explain:

Let’s say you want to target someone into horror movies. So you invest a nickle to get that person to “stumble” your website. But then that person shares your site with four of his friends. Guess what?

Because your paid stumble resulted in four additional free stumbles,  you really only invested one penny per visit (five cents for five visits). Taking this further, let’s say these five stumblers each share your site with one friend – Now you got ten visits for a nickle.  That is an investment of merely a half-cent per visit!

And if these people tell ten of their friends… I’m sayin’ if you are lucky, then you could possibly get exponential traffic onto your site!

Not bad for a nickle.

Before you get too excited, you should know something. I have tested this service with various movie titles and websites, but so far, only a small handful of my test sites resulted in significant traffic. The rest just were not interesting enough to warrant exponential stumbles.

But for five cents a visit, StumbleUpon Paid Discovery  may be worth a test.

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If you liked this tip, you’ll love my “Film Distribution Action Pack”