Filmmaking Stuff Filmmaking Stuff provides resources for independent filmmakers. The website includes articles on how to take a story idea from script to screen, including articles on scriptwriting, producing, finance, shooting, editing, directing, marketing, distribution and how to build an audience. Filmmaking Stuff also has articles detailing how to make money making movies – including interviews with Hollywood Producers, Directors, writers and other filmmaking professionals.

Image via Wikipedia

A few weeks back I gave a talk and was surprised that many filmmakers in attendance had never heard of crowdfunding.

If you are one of those filmmakers, crowdfunding provides you with the ability to reach out to your social networks and solicit your contacts for financial sponsorship.

In this “many to one” funding model, in exchange for donations, you provide various incentives. $5 dollars might get your sponsor a DVD. $500 dollars might get your sponsor an all expenses paid trip to the premier.

The other reason why I like crowdfunding is, it allows you to test a concept and source an audience from day one. In this regard, if your movie has a really sharp hook, you have the possibility of building buzz before you make your movie.

I have provided the following resources to help speed up your crowdfunding research:

Popular Crowdfunding Sites

www.indiegogo.com – Indie GoGo allows filmmakers to raise money and take whatever they get. Indie GoGo also owns a movie distribution arm called distribber.

www.kickstarter.com – This an all or nothing deal. Filmmakers either hit their goal, or they get nothing.

Distribution Tools

Assuming you are successful in your funding campaign, you will want to start thinking about your distribution strategy. To help with this, check out the following, popular distribution solutions:

www.distribber.com (my affiliate) – Owned by Indie GoGo, with a one-time upfront fee, this company allows filmmakers to access the popular VOD marketplaces, in a non-exclusive deal. In other-words, with this company you can avoid locking yourself into some sort of crappy distribution deal. And since the company is owned by Indie GoGo, many filmmakers utilize crowdfunding to cover their distribber distribution costs. Pretty smart, right?

www.DynamoPlayer.com – in ways akin to YouTube, this company allows filmmakers to upload their movies and then embed anywhere on the net. The video is then linked to PayPal or Amazon payments, which enables filmmakers to easily receive payment. The challenge with Dynamo is sourcing an audience. Unless you have significant web traffic, making money can be a challenge.

Also, read this article from the Wall Street Journal – The SEC is considering lifting regulations on private offerings. In the very near future, filmmakers may be able to sell shares of ownership through crowdfunding. It’s still a long way away, but worth thinking about.

Hope these filmmaking resources help. While you’re here, sign up for my newsletter >>

Posted under FILM FINANCING

Dominant learning style of target audience - Image via Wikipedia

As a filmmaker, I think the idea of producing your own work is good. I don’t really believe in asking anyone for permission to make my movies – including traditional industry executives or other producers.

I see this in Hollywood all the time. People have an idea for a movie, but instead of trying to create their own movie business, they spend days, weeks, months, and (sometimes) entire lifetimes hoping to find someone else to do the heavy lifting.

While this may seem like an easy route, it can be a very difficult path. Why? Because you are relying on other people to do the producing for you. And in my opinion that takes way too long!

Imagine you are someone who desires to open your own business. Would you do it yourself? Or would you rely on someone else to do it for you?

Example: “Hey. I got this great idea for a hardware store. If I tell you my idea and show you my business plan, will you open my hardware store for me?”

Do you understand what I mean? Trying to create a business like this would be crazy talk.

Of course if you want to open YOUR own business, YOU would open it.

So if you happen to be one of those filmmakers with tons of ideas, but no feature credits, I highly suggest you focus less on finding someone to do the heavy lifting and instead, focus on testing the market to gain a realistic approach to your projects.

To get started, ask these questions:

1. What is my Hook?
2. Who is my intended target audience?
3. What is my budget?
4. Are there enough people within my target audience to justify the budget?
5. How do I intend to reach my target audience?
6. How much will my sales and marketing cost?
7. From this, what is my projected return on investment?

If you’re new to the modern moviemaking model, then you will either agree with me or you won’t. In the event you like what you’re reading, then you can become part of the modern moviemaking revolution by grabbing a copy of the official Filmmaking Stuff newsletter. To grab it, go here >>

Posted under FILMMAKING

As a feature filmmaker, one of the biggest problems YOU have is finding a traditional distribution deal (that actually makes sense) for your movie. With each passing day, we get closer and closer to a world where DVD sales channels are being replaced by video on demand. And while we are not there yet, after spending the greater part of last weekend watching streaming content on NetFlix and Hulu, I am now of the opinion that the days of DVD distribution are numbered.

As a result of this evolution, filmmakers need to quit relying on outside 3rd parties to source an audience and distribute independent movies. From now on, you need to start thinking about your movie business like any other small business. YOU will create a product, YOU will distribute your product, YOU will market your product and YOU will sell your product.

While this seems easy for some modern moviemakers, what I am suggesting represents a total paradigm shift for others. Not everyone reading this will agree with me. That is OK. But for those of you eager to embrace this brave new world of independent moviemaking, I have provided the same seven steps I use to promote my own movie business.

When applied, it is my hope that these steps serve as a nice foundation for your own VOD marketing strategy. To find out more, just   click:

Step 1 – Sharpen Your Hook

Step 2 – Target Your Target Audience

Step 3 – Get Into The VOD

Step 4 – Create Your Movie Sales Funnel

Step 5 – Refine Your Trailer (And Promote It)

Step 6 – Increase Targeted Web Traffic.

Step 7 – Leverage Your Following.

If you would like more detail on any of these steps, I have created a product that includes both an action guide and Mp3 Audio. You can learn more about it by going here: www.HowToSellYourMovie.com

Posted under DISTRIBUTION

Image via Wikipedia

Think back to a time in filmmaking history when your greatest challenge was actually making a movie. At least the idea seemed easier.

For those of you new to independent movie making, let’s review. In the past, many first time feature filmmakers were driven by something I call “The Sundance Model.” This is the idea where filmmakers went out, acquired or wrote a screenplay, got money, made the movie and then hoped like heck they would get into a major festival and garner a significant (and profitable deal.)

From a pure business perspective, this was a crazy way to make movies. I mean, can you name one other industry in the world that produces a product without having a solid distribution channel in place? Can you name another industry that, once the product is made, relies on other outside people for ALL of the marketing, sales and distribution of the product?

These days things are a bit different. These days DVD distribution is dying. And with this death, the days of relying on some outside distributor to validate your work and sell it are numbered. The upside to this modern moviemaking movement is, you can finally put all those years of creative accounting and bad deals behind you. The bad news is, as an independent filmmaker, you are going to have to add yet another hat to your overflowing rack. This time, the hat you wear will be sales and marketing.

[A side note: Before you leave a gazillion comments telling me that foreign DVD territory sales and (even) pre-sales are alive and well - I provide this disclaimer. Consider any deal that makes sense. But in the event the deal only pays you validation and a copy of your DVD, hopefully this series helps you create a more profitable plan. I also want to caution both new as well as veteran filmmakers of the following: The day is fast approaching when DVD retail will eventually join VHS, CDs, Cassette Tapes, 8-Tracks and the silly stores that used to sell them  in the great abyss of a bygone era. And rightfully so!]

So all of this said, if you’re just reading filmmaking stuff for the first time,welcome! In this community we don’t over complicate the filmmaking process. We make movies and we work to sell our movies without asking permission. And in this respect, you are reading article 5 of my 7 step process for selling your your movie on iTunes, Amazon and Netflix for Maximum profit.

So to recap, once you have sharpened your hook (pt. 1),  targeted your target audience (pt. 2),  set up shop (pt. 3) and created a movie sales funnel (pt. 4) you are ready to begin the process of driving traffic to your movie sales site.

Step 5. Refine Your Trailer (And Promote It)

Take a look at your trailer. Is your trailer congruent with your hook and the marketing elements we covered earlier? If not, I suggest you recut and refine your trailer to make sure your marketing message is consistent. In doing this you will have to find the balance between showing enough to sell your movie and giving away so much that you spoil the story. And since your movie trailer will be posted on various websites, you should also add a title card with a link to your movie website.

The internet is full of places where you can upload and post your trailer. But out of all of them, YouTube is top-notch. Aside from being the second largest search engine on earth, the service also incorporates a built-in social networking component that allows people to comment and discuss your movie and create community around your title. This is important because word-of-mouth indicates what people like and dislike about your movie. And as you will soon learn, more
discussion (good or bad) equals more sales.

Since YouTube records the number of views, this is also a great indication of how well your trailer is being received. If viewership is low, refine your title, tags and description to complement your niche subject matter. Martial Arts Movie? One tag might be “Karate” or “Kung Fu.” After tweaking and re-tweaking your description, if viewership is still stagnant, consider cutting, tweaking and testing multiple versions of your trailer.

—

If you liked this filmmaking article, please tweet!

Posted under DISTRIBUTION

Image via Wikipedia

Filmmaking is changing. Like it or not, if you want to make a living making movies, you need to learn about the business side of independent movie making. And if this is your first time on filmmaking stuff, you are reading step 4 of a 7 part series on How To Sell Your Movie On iTunes, Amazon and Netflix For Maximum Profit.

So picking up where we left off, once you have sharpened your hook and targeted your target audience, and set up shop in the popular VOD marketplaces, your next step is to create a movie sales funnel.

Step 4 of 7 – Create Your Movie Sales Funnel

To set up an internet movie sales funnel, you will have to modify your website to funnel all traffic towards a sale. This can be achieved easily by removing all the potentially distracting content from your site including production photos, press kits and actor bios. Once removed, further emphasis should be placed on your trailer, your about page, and most importantly, your “buy now” buttons.

Most of your visitors will exit your website and never return. So to increase your odds of converting these visitors into paying customers, you will want to create ways to capture visitor contact information. One easy way is by creating a Facebook page for your movie and then placing a Facebook link on your site. This way, once your visitor joins your movie’s Facebook community, the added social proof of like-minded fans touting the joys of your movie may increase your sales. This goes for Twitter and other social networking communities too.

But because many social networking sites run the risk of going out of vogue, you will want to migrate your fans off the social networks and get them into your own mailing list. For this, I recommend using a third-party email marketing service such as Aweber.  Aweber provides ease of service. As soon as you sign up for one of their inexpensive accounts, you can easily create a way for your fans to connect with you. For example, if you would like over $100 dollars in useful filmmaking tools, FREE simply enter your info into my Awber opt in box below.

If you just signed up, you probably noticed how you were redirected to a “Thank You Page.” And on that page you were able to download all sorts of premium filmmaking tools, for free.

While I am obviously utilizing list-building to create a more meaningful relationship with filmmakers (and YOU), this model can be (and should be) applied to your own movie business. But instead of giving away filmmaking books and audio courses, you might consider allowing your prospective movie audience to download a free movie soundtrack.

The reason why I stress Audience List Building so much in my Filmmaking model is because no matter what happens in distribution, the size of your targeted audience list  (a community of people who know you and your work) – this will determine your rate of success over your long-term career. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.

Three Tips for building your Audience List:

1. From now on, as soon as you have a website, start buiding your list.
2. Put your website on your business card.
3. Collect names and email addresses at film festivals.

Companies like Aweber allow you to manage your email communication with thousands of fans. And since reputable email companies have good relationships with internet service providers, the odds of your movie newsletter ending up in spam folders is decreased.

If liked this Filmmaking article, could you kindly click one of those little buttons below?

Posted under DISTRIBUTION

Image via Wikipedia

Given all the changes in distribution, as a filmmaker, getting your movie seen and selling is no longer solely the responsibly of a 3rd party distributor. Once you have sharpened your hook and targeted your target audience, your next step is to set up shop in some of the many popular internet based marketplaces.

Step 3 of 7 – Get Into The VOD Marketplace.

Your next step is to determine the appropriate video on demand marketplace for your movie. There are many options for this, including setting up your own internet storefront, joining other filmmakers in a shared storefront or setting up shop in popular Video On Demand marketplaces. Since most VOD outlets do not require an exclusive deal, I recommend getting your movie selling in multiple markets, including iTunes and Amazon.

To do this quickly, research a company called Distribber. I first found the service when I was looking for an easy way to get my movies seen and selling. I liked the service so much that we have worked out an affiliate deal (so do your own due diligence prior to purchasing any services.) The reason I like the service is, for a one-time upfront fee, Distribber offers filmmakers the ability to get their movies into iTunes, Amazon and quite a few other popular video on demand marketplaces. Then once your title goes live, you will be able to monitor your sales across all platforms in one place.

Aside from the initial fee, Distribber will not take any of your future earnings. And unlike the creative accounting found in traditional deals, you will be able view and withdraw your funds at any time. In the event your title is not selected for iTunes, Distribber will refund your investment, minus $39 dollars. Additionally Distribber stays current with emerging VOD marketplaces. For example, if some new iTunes competitor emerges, you can rest assured that the Distribber folks are already out there, working to make the pipeline available to filmmakers.

Posted under DISTRIBUTION

Image via Wikipedia

Like many first time filmmakers, our first feature was met with empty distribution promises and crappy deals. So by necessity, we started selling our title on the internet as both a physical DVD and a video on demand download. At first, none of the producers liked that idea.

I mean, even if a traditional deal sucks, at least there is still validation in seeing your title on the shelves at the local video store. But then we made our first sale. We thought it was an anomaly. How could we possibly make money with our movie? We had no movie stars, our production value left a lot to be desired and most people on earth had never heard of our title (including you.) But then we made another sale… And the a third. And then a dozen…

That was 2006 and since that time, my enthusiasm for video on demand distribution has only increased. These days filmmakers have a gazillion options for reaching their audience, creating community and building buzz. As your own VOD distributor you can finally get your title seen and selling without waiting for some middle-man to give you permission. And assuming you have all the necessary legal documents, releases and (possibly) E&O insurance for your movie, the following seven secret steps will help you get started today!

Step 1 of 7 – Sharpen Your Hook

One of the first questions people ask is, what is your movie about? While this seems like a pretty easy question, if you find yourself rambling on about a complicated, character driven story, full of people reflecting on life’s moments of love and loss, STOP! A long description is confusing. And a confused mind doesn’t buy your movie. So in order to sell your title, you must communicate your movie in a distinct and memorable way.

To do this, ask some trusted friends to watch your movie and describe it to you in one concise log-line. For example, let’s say your movie is described as “A boxer fights for the title.” Obviously this is succinct, but lacking detail. So your next job is to incorporate some flavorful elements into your log-line. Here is the same example with added detail: “An impoverished boxer is given a once in a lifetime chance to fight for the world heavyweight title.” (Sound familiar?)

With this example you can see how the extra detail adds sizzle to the description. This will help you in two arenas. Firstly, with this description, your prospective audience will immediately understand how your movie differs from all the other boxer movies. And from a marketing perspective, the words “boxer,” “fights,” and “heavyweight title” will help you to target your core audience and later, these targeted keywords will help you jump-start your internet search engine optimization campaign.

- – -
In my next article, I will show you how to target your target audience.

Posted under DISTRIBUTION

As a filmmaker, once you have a great screenplay and an initial break down and budget, your next step is to take your proposed budget and put it into a business plan. The business plan will help you determine how the money will be spent and hopefully recouped.

Independent movie investors invest because (aside from having an appetite for risk) they want a return on their money. Creating a business plan provides your prospective investors with a road map on how the investment dollars will be spent and hopefully recouped.

In the past, trying to project returns was a pain in the butt, oftentimes based on speculative data. This is mainly because independent movie distribution was discriminatory. And as a result, after production, many independent feature filmmakers held their breath in hopes their movies would get into a film festivals, build buzz, and (hopefully) garner awesome distribution deals, complete with cash advances.

Unfortunately those old business plans, focused on what is commonly referred to as the “Sundance Dream,” were flawed – And thankfully, that dream (or nightmare) is over.

Given the birth of VOD distribution, filmmakers now have the ability to access and enter into a non-discriminatory marketplace as soon as your movie is ready. As a result, you can now create movie sales projections from day one.

To get started, answer these questions:

Modern MovieMaking Model

1. Who Is Your Target Audience?
2. How Large Is Your Target Audience?
3. How Will You Reach Your Audience?
4. What Is Your Marketing Strategy?
5. How Many VOD Sales To Break Even?

While I won’t get into the actual mechanics of marketing and selling your movie here (My Action Guide How To Sell Your Movie provides you with an actual step-by-step plan for getting your movie seen and sold), I will simply note that a marketing plan must now be included with your business plan. And in that marketing plan, you’re going to add some marketing math.

Truth be told, math is a weak subject for me (and I dare say, most of the filmmakers I know) – but luckily there are many spreadsheet templates that allow you to project the marketing return on investment for your movie. One of the early formulas I use is related to pay per visit advertising.  With pay per visit advertising, you simply pay for targeted traffic to your movie website. This works well if you have a movie with a dose of controversy and a strong hook.

Let’s assume only 1% of the targeted folks who actually visit your website, buy. Then how many visits will you need to sell 100 units?

100 units = Our goal for this ad campaign.
$.05 = Amount you may pay advertiser per visit.
X = Number of Visitors Needed to buy 100 units if only 1% buy.

(X).01 = 100 units
EQUATES TO: X= 10,000
THEN 10,000($.05) = $500 paid for targeted traffic.

So in other words, if you were lucky enough to get a 1% return, you just paid $500 dollars in pay per visit advertising to sell 100 units of your movie. But let’s go one step further. Let’s assume you’re like me – and you hate order fulfillment and shipping. So you decide to let a company like Amazon’s Create Space or iTunes (or some other popular marketplace) handle your order.

Video On Demand For Rent
100 units ($3) = $300 – 50% paid to marketplace = $150
minus $500 paid for advertising = -$350 NEGATIVE

In this VOD rental scenario, the Pay Per Visit Ad numbers don’t work, unless you like losing money.

—
Video On Demand For Download
100 units ($10) = $1000 – 50% paid to marketplace = $500
minus $500 paid for advertising = BREAK EVEN

In this VOD download to own scenario, the numbers work a little bit better. Assuming you’re lucky enough to get 1% of your money returned, at least the advertising pays for itself. But unless you can increase profits, pay per visit advertising is going to be very difficult method for returning money to your investors.

—
Physical DVD Sales
100 units ($20) = $2000 – 50% paid to marketplace = $1000
minus $500 paid for advertising = $500 in profit.

Ah ha! If you’re fortunate enough to get 1% return on your pay per visit advertising, you can see how physical DVD’s sold at $20 dollars may offer a slight profit margin. In other words, in this scenario, for every $.50 cents you spend, you get $1 dollar back.

So let’s tackle the bigger problem. Let’s try to get a return on our 1Million dollar movie, selling physical DVD sales and using pay per visit advertising alone:

Movie Budget = 1 Million dollars
Physical DVD Sales using Pay Per Visit Advertising

$1,000,000 divided by $20 per unit = 50,000 Units

Since we will give 50% to the marketplace for all sales, we will need to project for double our budget.

100,000 units = Our goal for this ad campaign.
$.05 = Amount you may pay advertiser per visit.
X = Number of Visitors Needed to buy 100,000 units if only 1% buy.

(X).01 = 100,000 units
EQUATES TO: X= 10,000,000 (Yes, TEN MILLION people.)
THEN 10,000,000($.05) = $500,000 paid for targeted traffic.

100,000 units ($20) = $2,000,000 – 50% paid to marketplace = $1,000,000
minus $500,000 paid for advertising = $500,000 in profit.

So to break even, you would need to sell 100,000 units and make $2,000,000.

Filmmaking Conclusions

Based on this scenario, as a filmmaker you will (obviously) need to expand your promotion beyond pay-per-visit advertising!

But importantly – and most AWESOMELY -  for the first time in independent moviemaking history, you can now treat your movie business like any other small business. Find the marketing formula that works for your movie and crunch your numbers until they work. Once you have a plan, then simply include your marketing costs in your budget.

While there are no guarantees in any business, having a plan for marketing, sales and distribution sure beats the old days when your only plan for ROI involved crossing your fingers in the hopes someone will offer you a profitable, traditional deal. Treating your movie business like any small business simply means you don’t have to ask permission. You can make your movie NOW!

And your prospective investors might take notice…

- -

Can you do me a favor? If you liked this filmmaking article, could you kindly retweet or share it with your friends?

Posted under FILM FINANCING

CLICK HERE to download the 25 part, how to sell your movie checklist - Image via Wikipedia

If you’ve made a feature film, congratulations! As an independent filmmaker, you’ve just accomplished a feat that many find impossible. You’ve put together a cast and crew, refined your script, found some financing and in the process, you’ve even figured out how to ignore all your significant other’s not-so-subtle hints that a career selling life insurance wouldn’t be that bad.

But behind all the excitement, you and I both know there is one nagging question on your mind. And it is the same question asked by every independent feature filmmaker. You’re wondering: “How am I going to sell this thing?”

That is a good question. And if you’re crossing your fingers for a huge paycheck and a three-picture Hollywood deal, what I’m about to tell you is going to be very different than what you had hoped for.

Thanks to technology, any person with a thousand dollars can grab an HD camera and create a backyard indie. And while this does not guarantee quality, it does create a market flooded with cheaply produced movies. Couple this with a decline in traditional sales channels and your odds of finding a profitable deal have become increasingly challenging.

For most filmmakers, this revelation comes as a shock. After all the work you put into making your movie project a reality, the prospect of putting a no-deal DVD onto a bookshelf and failing to get a return on investment is discouraging. And if it wasn’t for the internet, I’d probably tell you that a career selling life insurance wouldn’t be too bad.

But I have good news! Like you, our first feature was met with empty distribution promises and crappy deals. So by necessity, we started selling our title on Amazon as both a physical DVD and a video on demand download. At first, none of the producers liked that idea. I mean, even if a traditional deal sucks, at least there is still validation of seeing your title on the shelves at the local video store…

Then we made our first sale. We thought it was an anomaly. How could we possibly make money with our movie? We had no stars. We had no formal distribution. And most people on earth had never heard of our title (including you.) But then we made another sale… And then a third… And then a dozen…

That was 2006. Since that time, our movie has sold in ways we never imagined. As a result, every four months I get a nice check. And while it’s not enough money to buy my retirement, I can’t complain.

This success was enough to convince me that making money as an indie filmmaker is no longer about the BIG pay day. These days filmmakers need to create good work, find their target audience and focus on selling movies consistently over time. As a result, I now believe the modern moviemaking model is to eventually create multiple streams of movie income.

For many filmmakers, this sort of talk might be crazy.

Think about it. In years past, filmmakers only self distributed their movies when they had to. It wasn’t a choice! But these days, filmmakers can choose to self-distribute, because 9 times out of 10, making your title available on Amazon and iTunes and other popular VOD marketplaces can potentially pay more than a traditional deal. Because a deal that pays zero is not a deal. (Of course I’m expressing my opinion.)

The following “How To Sell Your Movie” checklist will provide you with a broad overview of how to market and sell your movie without the middle-man.

This checklist should be considered a good start – but many of you will want further information. For that, check out: www.HowToSellYourMovie.com

Wherever I thought it would help, I’ve mentioned partner companies and affiliates. This means, if you follow my suggestions and use one of these services, I’ll get a commission. The folks I mention are good people. And you can ignore my links at will. I won’t be upset. But if you like this checklist, tell your filmmaking friends to check it out!

That said, let’s get started!

How To Sell Your Movie – Check list

1. Create a website specific to your movie. Go to www.MovieSiteHost.com and grab hosting for your site and reserve your domain name there. When you purchase your hosting, a domain name is usually included in the purchase price.

2. Branding is the marketing equivalent of matching your belt with your shoes. Don’t make your marketing complicated. Make sure your colors, logos, posters and fonts are consistent.

3. Most filmmakers make a crazy website with all sorts of bells and whistles. Your website should be simple. You should have a trailer, an about page, a buy now button, links to your social networks and an audience list.

4. Out of everything I mention, getting people onto your audience list is most important. An audience list will allow you to collect a name and email address of your visitor. To build an opt-in list, which is FREE for the first 500 subscribers, check out: www.AudienceList.com

5. Take a moment to think about your target audience. Hopefully you have a marketable hook for your movie, and a plan for reaching your target demographic. If not, figure it out!

6. Get your movie selling as a Video on Demand rental and download. To do this, upload your movie to the many VOD marketplaces, such as iTunes, Amazon and NetFlix. For an easy way to accomplish this, try www.MovieSalesTool.com

7. You can sell DVDs too. Amazon’s Create Space makes this easy. And even though it’s more expensive, I advise you to stay out of the shipping business. Let CS manufacture your DVDs and fulfill your orders on demand. This way, you can focus on increasing your sales, as well as your next movie projects. Not shipping.

8. Your trailer is your sales tool. Upload your trailer to YouTube as well as other, popular video sites. Make sure your trailer mentions your website. Put your focus on optimizing YouTube. Why? Because YouTube is both a social network and the second largest search engine on earth (also owned by Google.) It’s worth it!

9. Write press releases related to the availability of your movie. Include back links to your site. Send the release out via one of the online press release submission sites. In addition to this, don’t be afraid to call magazine editors and journalists who write for your target audience. As they say, if you don’t ask – you don’t get!

10. Join online forums related to your target market. Create a profile, complete with a signature link to your website. Now, whenever you join a conversation, you’ll spread your links.

11. Just because you’re in a forum doesn’t mean people care about you or your movie. If you join conversations without adding value – or if you become one of those spam happy people who talk about your movie and fail to add value to the discussion, you will be seen as a spammer.

12. If the idea of contributing to forum conversations annoys you, then just pay for advertising on the site. The whole point is to increase awareness of your movie and get prospective audience members to your site.

13. Create a facebook page, a Twitter account and join the popular social networking sites. Again, you’ll want to build a fan base for your movie. And to manage it, try www.Ping.Fm This tool allows you to update all your social networking sites at once, which is cool!

14. The purpose of using social networks is to connect with your target market, spread word about your movie and once again, lead people off the networks and onto your Audience list.

15. The reason you can not rely solely on social networking for your audience list, is because many of those sites have gone out of vogue. I lost 10K “friends” on one of them. As a result, I estimate this tip is worth $100,000.00.

16. Additionally, have your webmaster put a button on your website so people can tweet, bookmark, and share your movie website with friends on their social networking sites. (Can you please click the tweet button at the top of this article?)

17. If you have the budget, purchase some offline advertising in publications related to your movie. To find related publications, go to a book store and look for magazines. Also, try Google.

18. All of these methods are intended to get people back to your website. The purpose of your site is to get people to watch your movie trailer and click the BUY NOW button. Anything that distracts these visitors must go!

19. You’ll soon realize that most people will not buy your movie on their first visit to your website. If they don’t click, then at least try to get them to opt into your audience list. Then you have a chance of getting them to buy later.

22. Out of all the people who click the BUY NOW button, many won’t buy. But some will!

23. Consider using that money to purchase more advertising and then repeat the cycle. The goal is to keep investing and reinvesting the money until you produce a self sustaining machine.

24. Sales will tend to level off after a few years. This is the normal. When this happens, find some other filmmakers with a movie geared towards the same target audience. Offer to promote their movie to your audience list. If these other filmmakers have an audience list too, ask them to promote your movie. Be willing to pay them a cut of your profits.

25. Time for your next project. But unlike before, you’ll have a strong mailing list at your disposal. And as a result, you can now ask yourself the following magical questions: “How many VOD downloads do I have to sell to recoup my investment? And how am I going to sell them?” Answer those questions, and you’ll also be talking the talk with your investors.

Once again, if you liked this check list, you’ll love my latest action guide:

>>> www.HowToSellYourMovie.com <<<

Happy Filmmaking! (And tell your friends!)

Posted under DISTRIBUTION

Image via Wikipedia

Last week I published a new filmmaking podcast called the Modern Moviemaking Manifesto. I published these ideas in response to all my veteran independent filmmaking friends who are currently having difficulty raising movie financing, and later, getting a return on that money.

Since posting, I have gotten a lot of feedback. Most of it has been positive. But there have been some questions. The most glaring involves how to create a production team for the long term. And the other feedback has something to do with my pragmatic approach to the movie business. I’m told that the modern movie making model, relying heavily on VOD distribution, is not as sexy as what most filmmakers expect (because I don’t talk about Hollywood fame and fortune and going to cool parties, et al.) One woman screamed at me, telling me that she doesn’t care about business and just wants to make movies. Other folks have simply told me my modern moviemaker ideas suck. And others have quit our filmmaking community.

This was to be expected. Not everybody is willing to explore or embrace new filmmaking ideas. And when I listen to my own recording, I can see how my enthusiasm for the modern moviemaking model could potentially sound pompous. This was not my intention. So I promise to get back to Toastmasters and refine my speech. But all of this aside, I believe the demise of traditional movie distribution creates a serious problem as filmmakers – and also a great opportunity. As a result, we have two options as filmmakers. We can choose to ignore this, or we can choose to be part of the modern moviemaking solution.

If you read Ted Hope’s blog – Truly Free Film, you may have seen my conversational responses to Sheri Candler’s well written guest post: How To Make Money With The New Independent Film Distributors’ Business Model. If not, it’s worth a read. And I have added one of my responses, on how to make Independent Filmmaking a viable business, here.

Just like you, I’m looking for a way that us fillmmakers can actually make a living making movies in this brave new world of VOD distribution. So in terms of empirical data, so far in my own business, I can tell you that at least one of our titles generates a nice stream of passive income without the middle-man, and without much marketing. As a result, many of the acquisition folks who formerally rejected our title have circled back with offers. While the new deals are OK (cash advances for foreign territories, complete with performance bumps), after crunching some numbers, the headache of locking up rights prompted us to respond in way familiar to most gate keepers: “Unfortunately we have to pass at this time.”

In this new era of filmmaking, our growing ability to make our movies, find our audience and make money without the middle-man has forever changed my life. And as a result, I firmly believe this process can be repeated for all subsequent titles. I mean, sure, we can still entertain traditional theatrical and retail DVD distribution both in North America and abroad (while these channels still exist, and if we are so fortunate) – but from now on, it is my intention to base my business plans on projected returns from our direct DVD rights as well as our VOD rights – because these are the two sales channels that filmmakers can access and control without asking some middle-man for permission.

For those of you who are adding your own thoughts to the Modern Moviemaking Manifesto, what I’m proposing is easier said than done. It is easy for me to talk about the success of our first feature. It is much more difficult to admit that our second feature bombed miserably. With that project, we did the complete opposite of everything that made our first title successful. The movie was a character driven drama, without any name talent. And while the production value was great, and the acting was good, we had no definable hook. Nothing about the movie separated it from the sea of other, similar character driven movies. Had it been 1995, we may have had a chance.

So my team and I learned some valuable lessons. Most modern moviemakers agree that it behooves us independents to create movies with a strong marketing hook, peppered with a bit of controversy, aimed at a very specific target audience. But when you crunch the numbers, to make this work, our niche audience must have mass enough to justify our movie budget.

While I have spent considerable effort to jam-pack these ideas into the Modern Moviemaking Manifesto, anybody who has studied Rodger Corman and read his book, “How I Made A Hundred Movies In Hollywood And Never Lost A Dime” will quickly realize that the Modern Moviemaking Manifesto is not so “modern.” Corman has been utilizing it for years. Known for his type of down and dirty movie making, complete with fans who got to know him and know his work, Corman created a model where movies were made fast, cheaply, and each movie had a controversial hook.  The result of which allowed Roger Corman to create multiple streams of movie income.

But the one thing Roger did not have was a non-discriminatory sales channel. And thanks to VOD and companies like Adam Chapnick’s distribber, we really have nothing holding us back from creating a similar empire. This is why I’m so full of enthusiasm for modern moviemaking. Nothing is holding us back from raising money, making movies and reaching our audience. And instead of simply blowing investor money on up-front compensation, we just have to adjust the model ever-so-slightly.

The Modern Moviemaking Manifesto is about creating movies fast, cheap and repeating the process, while at the same time creating awesome profit sharing deals on the back end. Over time, you will add more and more titles to your library. And this will create diversification, with the thought that dividends from dozens of titles can really add up.

Posted under DISTRIBUTION