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.

One of the toughest parts of getting business minded prospective investors to take you seriously is distribution. Like it or not, your film distribution strategy has a ripple effect on all other aspects of your movie production, including film finance.

If you can not create a marketing, sales and distribution plan for your movie (that you control), your project becomes very risky.

Fortunately there are two developments that have helped in this arena.

Firstly, through companies like distribber (Disclosure: They pay me to promote) you now have the ability to get your movie into the marketplace. This allows you to create a business plan and marketing strategy with a fully accessible sales channel. (This is huge!)

Secondly, sites like Kickstarter and Indie GoGo allow you to crowdfund. With crowdfunding, you can test your concept long before you get into the marketplace. This will help you determine if your movie has a market – long before you dive into your project both feet first.

When you have a sales channel and a proven concept, having conversations with prospective investors will be much easier.

If you would like more information on movie marketing, check out these filmmaking tools.

Posted under FILM FINANCING

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I love Kevin Smith’s attitude towards modern movie distribution. If you’re like most independent filmmakers, what Kevin was able to accomplish from his days of Clerks has been amazing. Back then, he not only dreamed the Sundance Dream, but he realized the dream.

The Sundance dream is the idea that you will make your movie, get into Sundance, sell your movie and live happily ever after. As I have been telling you all along, the demise of DVD sales channels, replaced by ever evolving VOD marketplaces are impacting Filmmakers everywhere.

These days, if you are going to make movies and profit, you must now view your independent movie business in ways akin to how any business owner handles their business. You must source and grow your own audience list.

In the following video Kevin Smith shares his perspective on modern movie distribution and how the brave new world is impacting indie filmmakers.

Please feel free to comment.

Posted under INTERVIEWS

I often promote the movie distribution solution called distribber. For those of you who are not familiar with distribber, it’s a company that allows you to access the popular video on demand marketplaces, like iTunes and Amazon without the middle-man.

And if you have submitted your movie to the company, odds are good you got a phone call from me. And the question you may have asked during the call is, why does distribber charge money up front?

The reason for this charge is because the folks at distribber have to go through all sorts of technical stuff to get your movie into the various marketplaces. Additionally, unlike other companies, distribber does not lock you into an exclusive distribution deal. And with the exception of an inexpensive yearly maintenance fee, distribber does not take ownership on the back end.

The thing to keep in mind is, in the world of modern VOD distribution, YOU must become your own distributor. And this means YOU will be in charge of sourcing the audience. But if you think about it, even with a traditional dvd distributor – when those folks lock you into a traditional deal, and then take your rights for VOD, you need to be careful.

A traditional DVD distributor may not do anything to help you source an audience. So you need to ask yourself, what is the value in the deal? I mean if you can get into iTunes yourself, why give your rights to someone else?

Distribber is owned by IndieGoGo.com – If the upfront distribber fee is an obstacle for your, I highly recommend creating a crowd funding campaign on Indie GoGo and raising your distribution money there. Then take the money and get your movie into distribber.

Come on. The world is waiting!

Also, most people ask me how to market and sell movies. I recommend checking out the independent producer’s guide to digital distribution.

Posted under DISTRIBUTION

If you’re like most filmmakers, you have a website for your movie. And odds are good you are trying to fit too much into it. So the first thing you need to do is remove all the distracting crap. Whenever I mention this at a talk, invariably someone asks me how to determine what’s distracting? It depends on your website objective.

When building a movie website, most filmmakers have two objectives:

1. Stage 1 – Raise awareness for your movie.
2. Stage 2 – Sell your movie directly.

If you’re still in Stage 1, chances are good you have press kits, actor bios, reviews of your movie, anecdotes from production and about a gazillion other items, including behind the scenes photo galleries. But once you finish the festival circuit, you may choose to enter Stage 2 and start funneling web traffic towards your DVDs and VOD in various marketplaces.

To do this, I suggest you install Google analytics and monitor your traffic. Here is an example from the first feature I worked on:

If you look closely, you’ll notice that many visitors ended up visiting pages that did not lead to a sale. This is like keeping money on the table. So to counter the confusion, I suggest simply removing the pages altogether.

When promoting your movie, the goal is to remove all the extra crap and keep what matters.

The end result is a very simple website that “funnels” people to your desired destination.

When visitors click on “Buy NOW” they are redirected to the point of sale.

Marketing a movie is initially a creative art – but unlike other arts,  the beauty of movie marketing is, with the right tracking tools, you can test and retest your ideas to determine effectiveness.

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Posted under DISTRIBUTION

Earlier this week, Sheri Candler was spreading word of mouth about a test screening of Gary King’s indie film musical:  How Do You Write A Joe Schermann Song. So I did something I haven’t done for awhile – I got out from behind my computer screen to meet and mingle with some new filmmakers face-to-face.

As the lights dimmed and Gary’s movie flickered across the screen, I was reminded of the year I lived in New York City. This was a time when I couch surfed between a sofa and an inflatable air mattress, all the while dreaming that I would someday make movies. Admittedly, maybe these memories were flooding back as a result of Gary’s movie. I mean, the story is based in Manhattan.

During the screening, and afterwards, I realized I have been missing something I haven’t felt for years.

I have forgotten the joy that comes from participating in activities with other folks from the indie filmmaking community. And I also realized that my world of indie filmmaking (once defined and limited by the following filmmaking mantra): save up all summer and buy an Arri BL, scrape together enough money to pay for film and processing, make the movie and PRAY for a distribution deal that makes sense – I’m pleased to say that era of filmmaking is over.

As a result of lower priced production equipment, coupled with new, non-discriminatory distribution, YOU can make, market and sell your movie this year and you don’t need to ask permission. Filmmakers like Gary King epitomize this movement – asking questions like “How do you write a Joe Schermann Song“ starring awesome actress Christina Rose (nice work Christina!)

Past that, there is something else. While the studios are excited about UltraViolet and a new attempt to control their piece of the world wide web, our thriving indie community could care less. Instead of worrying about traditional distribution, modern movie makers are more concerned with their YouTube following – and the size of their growing audience.

As a filmmaker, you are part of movie making history. And you probably don’t know it. But like all artistic and social movements that have come before, you are riding this wave. The question is, will you take advantage of this opportunity – or will you find yet another reason why you can’t make your movie this year?

ALSO:

At the screening, I met close to a dozen people who claimed to have heard of me or knew me from this website. Please give me some time to adjust socially – It’s not every day that people approach me and quote my ideas back to me… But I want you to know I am honored and grateful for your readership.

This is usually the part in the article where I ask you to sign up for my newsletter.

Posted under FILMMAKING

If you’ve been reading Filmmaking Stuff for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed I talk a lot about “sourcing an audience.” And after having a discussion on the topic with one of my clients, it occurred to me that most filmmakers have no idea what I’m talking about.

So let me break it down.

In the old days, making, marketing and selling your movies required that you knew someone in Hollywood and had a gazillion dollars. It also meant that you waited around forever for some traditional distributor to validate your existence and hopefully pick up your movie (with something other than a crappy deal.)

But that was then. These days, you don’t need to know anybody in Hollywood. You don’t need a gazillion dollars. And (thankfully) you no longer need some traditional movie distributor to give you permission to make, market and sell your movie. And while these changes make this an awesome time to make movies, the new challenge is finding people willing to pay money to watch your movie.

So how do you a source an audience? I’ll give you one word: Crowdfunding.

What is crowdfunding? According to Wikipedia, “crowdfunding describes the collective cooperation, attention and trust by people who network and pool their money and other resources together, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations.” In short, this means filmmakers finally have a new way to raise money.

Filmmakers can set up profiles at various crowdfunding websites and then easily promote their movie project via their social networks and ask for money. In exchange for money, filmmakers offer tiered incentives to prospective sponsors. For example, in exchange for ten bucks, you might offer a promotional t-shirt and and a DVD. For five-hundred bucks, you might offer a flight to the premiere.

Crowdfunding in this context is not the same as seeking equity investors. Which makes this a very uncomplicated way to find sponsors and raise money. But outside of this obvious use, the little known secret of crowdfunding is this – Let’s say you’re a filmmaker with an idea for a movie. And let’s suggest that you aren’t sure how many people would be interested in your movie… So you set up a crowdfunding campaign.

If successful, your crowdfunding campaign will allow you to raise money – but as an important ancillary benefit, your campaign will also allow you test your movie concept with a built in, responsive focus group. Assuming you reach your funding goal, you will not only generate your initial buzz – but you will also source the early adopters for your movie… And these early adopters will grow into a group of fans who will help you spread word of mouth about your movie.

Depending on the scope and scale of your movie, once you have successfully completed a crowdfunding campaign, you may choose to leverage this success to seek out traditional investors. But instead of having an untested movie idea, you have a little POC. What’s POC? Proof of concept. (I credit writer Craig Spector for teaching me about the importance of POC.)

Crowdfunding helps you prove your concept. In the unfortunate event your campaign is not successful, this knowledge will help you go back to the basics and refine your concept before you take the next steps in you movie making process.

Here are 3 crowdfunding sites that are worth investigating:

1. www.IndieGoGo.com
2. www.KickStarter.com
3. www.Invested.in

Happy filmmaking.

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Posted under FILM FINANCING

The other week I went on a minor rant about filmmakers hellbent on streaming movies from their movie website. And after some very thoughtful feedback, the truth is (as much as I hate admitting this) I realized I may have made an error.

In my article, I mentioned that most customers will feel more comfortable watching movies on established platforms, such as Hulu, iTunes, Amazon and NetFlix. At the same time, I totally discounted filmmakers presently testing ways to stream from their sites. And as any great marketer knows, ALL marketing decisions (assuming they make financial sense) have to be tested.

What works with one movie, may not work with every movie.

With that said, a lot of filmmakers (who do not have website traffic) are being fed the idea that “content enablers” will magically source an audience. They will not. So if your website does not have a lot of visitors, before you worry about where to stream your movie, I suggest you work on increasing your traffic as well as building your audience list. Then later, when you reach mass, you can focus on directing folks into your sales funnel.

The other tip is this: DO NOT stream a movie from your own hosting company server. That is silly. Let someone else handle the bandwidth and content delivery issues. Here are two resources for selling your movie (both of which are affiliates and pay me to promote – so research each before you make any purchase):

1. Movie Sales Tool – www.MovieSalesTool.com it’s my special link for distribber. They help you get your movie onto iTunes and other popular marketplaces.
2. Dynamoplayer -  www.dynamoplayer.com – OK. This is not actually an affiliate of Filmmaking Stuff (yet), but maybe by the time you read this, the CEO Rob Millis will finally return my call and I will be promoting this one a lot more. UPDATE: Rob just got back to me and we will chat next week. (Looking forward to it Rob.)

Again – while both of these companies provide great services for filmmakers, it is important that you remember the major, key aspect of the brave new world of modern moviemaking – Regardless of platform – YOU are responsible for sourcing your own audience. Don’t forget that!

To help you out, I have created a step-by-step guide called the independent producer’s guide to digital distribution. If you need help driving targeted traffic to your website and selling your movie through VOD marketplaces, the guide offers some tips.

Posted under DISTRIBUTION

Because of an eroding DVD market, the modern moviemaking model dictates that you (as a filmmaker) must treat your independent movie business just like any other small business.

YOU have a product (your movie) and YOU must sell your product. In order to sell your product, you must find a customer and convince them that your movie is worth more than their money. Obvious right?

But most filmmakers have no idea how to find a customer.  It’s not your fault. I blame the STUPID notion that filmmakers should concentrate solely on making movies without considering how to source their target audience.  Think about it. Filmmakers traditionally depended on some sort of middle-man distributor to come in deus ex machina style to provide a big fat cash advance. But that was then…

Now, as a result of DSLR technology, you have a whole world of filmmakers flooding the market with awesomely good-looking backyard indies.  It’s an example of supply and demand. There are too many movies! And there are too few traditional deals. And sadly, most filmmakers have no idea how to get their movies seen and selling. As a result, the entire world of indie filmmaking is belly-up.

The only way modern moviemakers can compete and succeed is to learn from traditional small businesses. Filmmakers must focus on finding creative ways to produce movies inexpensively and spend tremendous effort (and little money) sourcing an audience. Which, when you compare the filmmaker’s need for customer acquisition to other businesses, it’s really the same thing.

Welcome to the new movie business!

So who wins? Filmmakers who can source an audience for their movies are in better shape than those who can not. Period.

How do your source an audience: In two words – Internet marketing.

I got news for you. Selling a movie online is no different than selling an eBook! But not everybody knows how to sell things online. That is OK. I explain this in my book. And for those of you not ready to get my book (so you can discover my mad movie marketing methods) – here is a tip as well as an actionable item: Crowdfunding.

By now you’ve heard of crowdfunding. But the little secret that nobody is talking about is this – Not all movie projects will get fully funded by the crowd. BUT, by creating a campaign, you essentially get the word out about your movie. You increase your YouTube hits (because you presumably embed your trailer into your campaign)… And even if your campaign is not successfully funded, anybody who did donate is now part of your future audience. Hmmm.

I know I’m on a bit of a rant today. So I’m going to slow-my-roll. If you like this filmmaking stuff, make sure you click here   >>

And if you want to see me speak or attend any of my workshops, telephone your local film festival and leave this message on their answering machines –> I WANT TO SEE Jason Brubaker LIVE.

Feel free to comment below.

Posted under DISTRIBUTION

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Some of my independent filmmaker friends consider independent film to be sacred and they avoid the studios like the devil. Other friends think studio movies are the ONLY movies that count. And they discount indies as a passing fad or a calling card to simply get noticed by the studios. But for me, I don’t care if my movie is produced by my team of indie producers or a studio – as long as my movie gets made.

Let me tell you a story: A few years back, long before I lived in LA and before I produced my first feature – I had written a screenplay with my friend Jared Tweedie. It was this coming of age comedy about bowling called Seven-Ten-Split. I was still living back east at the time. Anyway, after writing the script, I sent it to my actor buddy Jimmi in Los Angeles.

Weeks went by and I didn’t hear anything.

Then one day I got this call. It was Jimmi. He read the script. Loved it. Jimmi offered to get a bunch of his actor friends together for a reading. Asked if I would like to visit Los Angeles. (Twist my arm.)

So the next thing you know I was flying across the country. At the time, it was only my 2nd time in LA and I was super excited. And on the day of the reading, Jared and I walked into a room full of “known” actors we had only formerly seen on TV. (Jimmi is one of the most talented actors I know – and he’s in a lot of movies and TV shows.) Anyway, to say it was a surreal moment would be an understatement.

As these actors read the script and acted out the characters who had (up until this point) only existed in my and Jared’s imaginations – Well, during that time I was transported to a world full of possibilities… A world where my work meant something and had merit with people I respected. I envisioned myself flying all around the world to watch screenings of our movie. I envisioned flashbulbs and fame and fortune… (Come on, you’ve had these thoughts too. Admit it!)

Having someone appreciate your work is a drug. Having some “known” Hollywood players appreciate your work is a better drug, offering a higher high. And when this happens, intense idealized imaginings of success can be your biggest addiction. That was 2003. And I was hooked on getting my movie made.

So what happened to the project?

Nothing.

The truth is, I was too inexperienced. I had a business plan and a private placement memorandum. I had an initial breakdown and a budget… I was even good enough to cold call rich people and get meetings. At the time, I was trying to raise a mere 250K – and my prospective investors kept asking me the same question:

“How do you plan to recoup our money?”

I didn’t have an answer. Back then, the only distribution strategy I could offer was something like this: “My friends are actors on well known TV shows. When we make this movie, we will take it to festivals and because we have name actors, our probability of garnering a distribution deal is pretty good. If we get into festivals and create buzz and get noticed by a distributor, we might have a chance at recouping the investment.”

So why have I decided to share both the good and the not-so-good?

Because, unlike 2003, thanks in part to companies like iTunes and Amazon, you can now incorporate both a marketing plan and a solid VOD distribution plan into your movie business planning. You do not need festivals, name talent or some 3rd party distributor to give you permission.  You can make your movie now! And just as importantly, you can sell your movie now, too.

Does this mean your movie is guaranteed to sell? NO WAY! But it does mean you can finally have a solid business conversation with a prospective investor – in his or her language.

Does this new era of filmmaking mean filmmakers are now responsible for their own marketing, distribution and sales? Yes it does. And while this extra responsibility adds another heavy hat for most of us, it is also extremely liberating to the entrepreneurial filmmaker inside of you.

Think about it – if you can create a plan and answer the “how are you going to recoup my money” without depending on traditional distribution, then talking the talk just got easier. And that should be super inspiring. Because under all the glamor and promise of fame and fortune, the most important part of this process for all of us is the work. And speaking from experience, making movies is a lot more fun than talking about making movies.

And just in case you’re wondering – every-so-often I pick up Seven Ten Split, read a few words and once again experience the “high.” And that is all the motivation I need to pick up the phone, make another call, get another meeting and cultivate another relationship.

- – -

Jason Brubaker is a Los Angeles based indie producer and an expert in Video On Demand Distribution. If you like his articles, you’ll love his book – which you can grab for free by going to www.FreeFilmmakingBook.com

Posted under FILMMAKING

If you want to sell your movie on iTunes, quit waiting for some sort of middle-man sales agent to give you permission. Seriously, most producers still base their ROI on traditional distribution deals and I think that is really OLD SCHOOL thinking.

If you are a producer trying to raise money – why wouldn’t you plan a worst case scenario?  What if VOD is the only distribution deal you get? Then I ask you – how many VOD downloads will it take to recoup the initial investment? How do you plan to do this? And if you happen to be a feature producer, with a few titles collecting dust – here is how you sell your movie on iTunes:

1. Visit my friends at www.moviesalestool.com and enter your movie information. (They pay me to promote them. But I would promote them, even if they didn’t pay me.)
2. Grab a copy of the Indie Guide to Distribution.
3. Then follow each step of the guide.

If you need me to help you market and sell your movie, contact me. Depending on the scope and scale of your movie, I’m sure we can work out a deal.

Posted under DISTRIBUTION