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.

- – -
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/
- – -

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.

OK. I’m kidding.

You don’t have to stop looking for a dream deal.

But you also don’t have to sit around waiting for the phone to ring. That’s outdated film distribution behavior and it’s lazy.

What are you waiting for?

Maybe you are afraid to start selling your movie on iTunes and Amazon and Hulu because this will somehow deter traditional distributors turned aggregators from acquiring your movie… So that they can get your movie onto Amazon, iTunes and Hulu? Please explain this to me.

I created a product to help you. It’s called the Indie Producer’s Guide To Digital Self Distribution. It provides you with a very robust strategy for getting your movie seen and selling.

Anyway, if you’re sick of waiting around and you’re ready to start selling your movie, grab a copy of The Indie Producer’s Guide To Digital Self-Distribution. You’ll be happy you did.

Distribber Screenshot Image via CrunchBase

If you are looking for film distribution, there are a lot of ways to enter the marketplace. If you have been reading Filmmaking Stuff for any length of time, you know that my my film distribution strategy emphasizes three factors:

1. Video on demand distribution is the future.
2. Internet marketing is now essential.
3. You do not need a Middle-Man.

If you are looking for an easy way to access the marketplaces, check out my friends at Distribber. My affiliate link is www.MovieSalesTool.com (Yes, I get paid to promote. And I like the company.)

For a one time, up-front investment, Distribber will help you to get your movie into iTunes. As part of the iTunes deal, Distribber will also handle your Amazon VOD submission for free.

Check out the Distribber FAQs – There is a lot of useful information on how modern VOD film distribution works.

Distribber also holds a weekly Q&A conference call. I am usually (but not always) on the call. And if you’re interested, it is held on Wednesdays at noon Pacific time.

The conference call is hosted by the Distribber CEO Adam Chapnick. Adam will be happy to answer any questions you may have. You may find some of the questions asked by the other filmmakers useful as well.

Here is the film distribution conference call info:

Distribber dedicated dial-in number
1 (605) 475-4333

Access code
785208

After you get your movie into the marketplace, you will also want information on how to market and sell your movie. For that, I reccomend checking out the indie producer’s guide to Film Distribution. In it, you will get a no-fluff strategy on how to get your movie seen and selling.

When it comes to marketing your movie, you need to become proficient at driving targeted traffic to your movie website. While old school filmmakers could rely on various video stores and retail outlets to sell their movies, these days the popular marketplaces are Amazon and iTunes.

Both of these markets are web based. And both are accessible through my partner distribber. But just because your movie gets into the market doesn’t mean people will find you. This means, you’ll have to drive traffic to your movie website. But before you start driving traffic, you must first figure out your filmmaker website strategy.

I suggest creating something my internet marketing friend, Fred Gleeck calls a conversion funnel. Basically it looks like this:

This simple movie marketing model demonstrates that  not everybody who visits your  movie website will buy your movie. But by working to get more and more targeted prospects into the top of your funnel, you will increase your chances of making more sales at the bottom. Additionally, in the event a prospect tries to leave your movie website prematurely (abandon the funnel), you will ask these folks to “opt-in” to your audience list.

Once these prospects opt-in, they will get to know you and know more your movie. Utilizing this “lead capture” strategy, your odds of converting a prospect into customer increases.

Filmmakers need to source their target audience. Image via Wikipedia

Given the erosion of traditional movie distribution sales channels, as a filmmaker you must now find your target audience wherever they hang out and then get them to know you, know your work, and hopefully pay money to watch your movie.

In the past, filmmakers never had to worry about sourcing an audience because the entire movie industry operated like a big factory. Filmmakers made the product and the distributors sold the product through theatrical and DVD distribution. But as a result of the internet and enhancements to video on demand technology, distribution has been disrupted and the old model has been forever screwed up.

So now, if you want to succeed as a filmmaker, it is not enough to simply get you movie into iTunes. I mean, anybody can do that. What you also need to do is have a killer website, attract your target audience, and then get them to take action.

While it’s nice to believe that all website visitors will automatically buy your movie, the truth is, most visitors will not buy your movie on the first visit. For starters, they don’t know you. And they probably don’t know anything about your movie. So your job is not necessary to focus on the sale, but rather, focus on opting them into your audience list.

There are many ways to create an audience list. But unfortunately, most of the methods are crap. In my career, to save money, I have tried forgoing using a reputable email marketing company, and opted instead for one of the popular social networks. For awhile, this was awesome – even thought it took years, I had 8000 “friends” and one one of the sites… But then that site went out of vogue. As a result, my sourced audience was useless.

To avoid the same fate, I HIGHLY recommend that you use a reputable 3rd party email marketing company to manage your audience list. While there are some great companies out there, over the past three years, I have utilized a service called Aweber. This is a reputable email marketing company… [and yes, they DO pay me to promote - so conduct your own due-diligence.]

But the reason I promote this service over other services is this: Aweber adheres to Spam Laws and requires “double-opt-in.”  This means, after your visitor opts-in, they get an email asking if they’re sure they really want to hear from you.  And because of their business practices, Aweber is respected by email service provides – like Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo Mail- which helps avoid spam filters. Additionally, as part of the service, you are able to set up something called a sequential email auto-responder. An auto-responder allows you to pre-write and create multiple emails for your audience.

So let’s say you were trying to sell your Zombie movie. After the opt-in, your first email could tell your audience more about your movie. And over the following weeks, your subsequent emails could then provide more and more value to your prospective customer – the result of which compels your fan to BUY NOW.

Once your prospect makes a purchase, you could automatically migrate this person to your customer list. And once this fan is in your customer list, you could then promote another zombie movie (from another friendly filmmaker). And because you “sourced a zombie audience member,” the odds of getting a second sale are greater.

Most filmmakers don’t get excited about the wonders of sourcing an audience. But again, most filmmakers do not realize we are in a new era of independent filmmaking. The good news is for you is, with a website, some creativity and an email marketing mechanism, you can start sourcing your audience TODAY.

If you would like to find out more about email marketing and how this can help you with your own independent movie business, you can get some FREE information below:

Happy Filmmaking!

Image via CrunchBase

The new paradigm of independent filmmaking requires that filmmakers learn how to market on the internet.

Why?

Because in order to make non-discriminatory distribution channels, such as iTunes and Amazon profitable – it is required that YOU work on sourcing your target audience and then drive those folks to your point of sale – From DAY 1.

So unlike years past, where you made movies solely for “the love,” these days you must first answer these filmmaking questions:

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?

Since both iTunes and Amazon are internet marketplaces, it makes sense that most of your sales will come via the internet. And as a result, you will need to make sure people actually know your movie exists.

Most filmmakers know they need a website for their movies. The problem is, most filmmakers put way too much crap on their site. My suggestion is to modify your movie website accordingly.

Goals

It’s essential to have goals for your movie website. When people come to your website, what action do you want your visitors to take? Do you want them to Tweet about the site? Join you on facebook? Get into your audience list?

Distractions

Once you know your website goals, you need to determine if your website architecture and design is inline with your goals. To do this, install Google Analytics and monitor your traffic. If you find people are getting lost in a bunch of silly pages, remove those pages. Keep what matters.

- – -

If you like these tips, you’ll love the Independent Producer’s Guide To Digitial Distribution

DVDs are going the way of the 8-Track Image via Wikipedia

With video on demand distribution and the emergence of several new VOD aggregators, independent movie distribution has become non-discriminatory. This means ALL filmmakers can access the marketplace without asking permission.

While this is exciting, it now means the market is flooded with content. Couple this paradigm shift with the demise of DVD sales channels, and you’ll find many traditional distributors are now offering VOD deals to unsuspecting filmmakers, in the hopes something sticks. While these deals hardly every include any upfront cash advances, filmmakers are usually attracted to the silly promise that these distributors will get their titles into iTunes.

But you don’t need those people. With companies like distribber YOU can get your movie onto iTunes without the middel-man.

And as my friend Jared says, anybody with a HDSRL camera can make a back yard barbeque look cinematic. Granted, this technology doesn’t automatically create good cinema – but it does flood the market with competing product.

What this shift represents to filmmakers is in ways akin to what happens when widget factory owners suddenly find themselves in the market, competing with sweat shop labor and cheaply produced goods of a comparable quality.

As a result, the widget that once sold for $100 dollars can no longer compete. And taking this a step further, if your widget company cannot make enough sales to be profitable – my question is:

What happens to the widget factory workers? Do they get pay raises or do they get laid off?

The good news is competition, technological innovations and change has impacted most every other industry since the beginning of capitalism. And despite these challenges, history is full of entrepreneurial innovation – stories of people who have rode the waves of change and prospered.

I believe independent filmmakers can do the same.

What we are facing as filmmakers is no different than any other business. In fact, I would say that we have just stepped into the era of the mini-studio. Filmmaking has become the next small business.

So how do we compete?

I get excited about Video On Demand and the various popular internet marketplaces like iTunes and Amazon because movie distribution is no longer discriminatory. This means that you can actually control your own business and marketing plan.

The downside to this is, as a modern moviemaker, if you want to prosper, you need to develop some marketing and sales skills – or at least know enough about this stuff to hire the appropriate team member.

When you click the picture below, you will have the opportunity to grab some great filmmaking tools, FREE of charge. You’ll get valuable tips on how you can make, market and sell your independent movies more easily.

If you like all the free stuff, make sure you tell your filmmaking friends!

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.

Image via Wikipedia

As a filmmaker, you probably know that most prospective investors are business savvy and inevitability, one of their pressing questions will be: “How do you plan to sell this movie and return my investment?”

In the old model of filmmaking, traditional distribution was a lottery. So to answer that question, most filmmakers, especially first time filmmakers said something like this: “Filmmaking is risky. If we are lucky, we will get into Sundance and get a distribution deal.”

Investor: “What? That’s not a business – that’s gambling!”

THE NEW MODEL FILMMAKING (EXAMPLE)

Disclaimer: What I’m about to share is total FICTION and should NOT be used in any business plans you create because I am neither a lawyer or an accountant. And I express my right to free speech as I share this imaginary scenario. 

Filmmaker: Well, in our business, we hold the rights to an outstanding screenplay that taps into a well targeted, genre specific audience. We have budgeted the movie for $100,000 dollars. And given the genre, we do not need star talent. We are keeping the budget low – most folks have agreed to work for a salary, and all have agreed to residual compensation in the back end.

At present, our crowdfunding campaign has allowed us to test the concept. And with sixty days left in the campaign, we have already sourced several hundred donations, giving us $8,000 dollars to pay for our website, marketing and PR.

Upon completion of our movie, the title will available in all the popular marketplaces, including Amazon and iTunes. And as we speak, in addition to crowfunding, we have already contacted our audience list of 20,000 people (from our last movie in a similar genre) who have expressed interest in this upcoming title. Combine this with several partner filmmakers which will roughly expand our audience footprint to well over 250,000 targeted viewers.

So at the time of release, if we project sales at 2% of 250,000 people. This means that 5000 people will download the movie at 9.99… which will be close to 50K minus a 40%  marketplace fee and a 10% commission to our partners – and we should be able to immediately return $25,000.

Each subsequent quarter, we would like to continually re-invest 10% of the revenue into further list building efforts. And we would like to keep 30% for the producer and crew compensation. Which should leave you with a 60% cash dividend, to be paid quarterly. Assuming we can bring in $30,000 per year, in 7 years we will have more than $200,000 in revenue for this title. At that time, $20,000 would have been paid to marketing, $60,000 would have been paid to cast and producers and $120,000 would have been paid to investors.

As soon as we pay back the initial investment, we would like to split our revenue 60/40. In other words, the producers and crew would get 60% and you would continue to get 40%.

Prospective Investor: I see…

Filmmaker: Of course, there is always the small chance that we could get lucky – if we got a 5% return on our initial campaign, and 12,500 people immediately downloaded the movie at $9.99, our revenue will be close to $125,000 – minus expenses. But I need to remind you that this is not likely. And we would still have to pay a commission.

Prospective Investor: Oh. This makes sense.

Fimmaker: Great. Would you like to invest?
- – -

While I have provided a FICTIONAL example of how some filmmakers may decide to navigate this new movie business, my whole point here is this:

It is important to realize that success of a movie is no longer based solely on handing off the movie to some 3rd party distribution company. If you want to make it in this new world of filmmaking, you need to stop waiting for someone else to manage the business aspects of your movie and your career. Instead you now need to take a vested interest in the success of your project.

If you’re helming your movie project, nobody cares about it more than you. But if you aren’t afraid to provide everybody on your team with a bit of ownership too – you’ll soon be surprised to learn that word of mouth spreads a lot quicker when your entire cast and crew has a vested financial interest in the project.

In this regard, when you win, everybody wins!

- – -
Three resources you can grab right now:

1. Fat-free Movie Making ideas for those of you who hate asking permission:
www.FreeFilmmakingBook.com

2. Follow me on Twitter to get cool micro-ideas on how to make your movie now:
www.twitter.com/filmmakingstuff

3. Connect with me on FaceBook so you can tap into my 2000+ Movie Maker connections:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Filmmaking-Stuff

- – -
DISCLAIMER (again) – I’m a filmmaker – not a lawyer or accountant. I’m expressing my freedom of speech for your entertainment. If you’re still reading this, I want to make it very clear that I made most of those figures up as a fictional EXAMPLE. You’ll have to figure out your own numbers and crunch your own data and make your own relationships with prospective investors. And always speak with a qualified professional before you do anything.