Press Kit
Assuming you’re like most filmmakers with a movie, you have been building a bunch of relationships on your social networking sites. The next step in the process of filmmaking promotion is designing your press kit.
If you don’t hire a publicist, you’ll need to create your own press kit. It’s actually not that difficult. A press kit is basically a bunch of stuff shoved into a neat-o folder that tells people what the heck your movie is about.
OK. Maybe I’m over simplifying the process… But it’s not too difficult.
Here are some things you’ll want to include:
- Cover sheet: The cover sheet is basically the top sheet that grabs everyone’s attention and promotes the hook of the movie. In some ways, it’s sort of like a mini-poster that includes the title, contact info, some good quotes from previous reviews, the same cast and crew credits from the poster and mention of any film festival awards you have won.
- Synopsis: You should already have a pretty solid synopsis. If you do, just cut and paste it into the press kit. If not, you’ll need one. So write it. Some people add action photos from the movie to this page. This is fine, as long as the photos look good.
- Photos: Get some journalist friends to check out your production photos. Pick a few that seem incredibly interesting and do a good job of making people want to see the movie. Include them in the kit.
- Cast and Crew: This is pretty simple. Just put together some bios of the main cast and crew and include them on the page next to a miniature headshot.
- Anecdotes: This is the story of how the film got made. For this, you can write about memorable moments, such as when the camera broke 25 times after traffic delayed the first day of shooting for 13 hours and the lead actor caught fire.
- Reviews: If you have any good reviews, include them here.
- Credits: This is a page devoted to the full cast and crew credits.
Putting a press kit together is not overly complex. But if you would rather spend your time on higher level tasks, I suggest you go into your net work and post the following:
“Low-budget filmmaker seeks publicist to help make a press kit and get the word out about our movie. Will pay $500 upon completion of press kit or 1 percent of the gross profits. Your choice.”
Something like this should help you find someone.
About Jason Brubaker
Jason Brubaker is a Hollywood based Independent Motion Picture Producer and an expert in Video On Demand distribution. He is focused on helping YOU make, market and sell movies more easily by growing your fan base, building buzz and creating community around your title. He is also available for speaking engagements.