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.

Independent Movie Distributors are great if they offer you a deal. The problem is, many filmmakers do not get a great deal. Instead, many filmmakers end up with a lot of empty promises.

Now, thanks in part to a shrinking DVD market, many traditional distributors have shifted focus to partner with, or become a  movie aggregator. For those of you new to the concept, a movie aggregator exists  to collect a whole bunch of movies, and then serves as a middle-man between YOU and the marketplace.

The result of this DVD to VOD distribution transition has created a new sales pitch for filmmakers:

“Give us your VOD rights for a gazillion years and we’ll get your title onto iTunes.”

If you’re like a lot of filmmakers, this pitch is all you need to hand over your VOD rights for many years. The result of which allows you to tell all your friends: “Our movie was picked up by [insert bottom feeding aggregator here] and now we are on iTunes.”

Any time I hear this, I want to PUKE.

Why? Because treating VOD distribution like DVD distribution is the difference between lighting and lighting bug (I think that is a quote from Mark Twain.) But you get my point. It can’t be treated the same.

WHY DO I SAY THIS?

I say this because many traditional DVD distributors will add NO VALUE to your VOD strategy.

They will simply get your movie into the marketplace and suck your profits for the extent of your contract. And since most traditional distributors can not monopolize the VOD marketplace (like retail DVD), they will grab any title they can and hope for the best.

Think about it. It doesn’t cost them anything. All they gotta do is get your movie encoded and uploaded into the market – and if it makes money, they make money. If it doesn’t make money – OH WELL!

Like I said. That makes me PUKE.

You see. The problem isn’t your ability to access a VOD marketplace. Your problem is SOURCING an audience.

In retail DVD distribution, it was different. Retail DVD was a predictable sales channel. In the old days, you licensed your retail DVD rights to a distributor. Then your distributor made a few phone calls and got your movie into video stores. People drove to video stores and walked around the store. So if your DVD was on the shelf, your odds of making money increased.

But with VOD? We are talking about people sitting in front of their computers. The marketplace changes at the click of a mouse.

So far, we know that iTunes, NetFlix and Amazon are popular. You should get your movie into those marketplaces. But that doesn’t mean you should give up your VOD rights to get there.

“In this modern era of moviemaking, YOU can get your movie into all the popular marketplaces without locking up your rights!”

Yesterday I sat in on a conference call hosted by Adam Chapnick over at distribber. Many of the modern moviemakers from filmmaking stuff were on the call. There were a lot of good questions.

For those of you who don’t know, distribber is a movie aggregator. But unlike the bottom feeding variety mentioned earlier, distribber works on an upfront payment model. This means YOU pay a little over a thousand bucks and you can access iTunes and many of the other popular marketplaces without locking up your rights!

Now I know what you’re thinking – why would any filmmaker pay to get a movie distributed? It’s a good question. But I think the better question is, do you think your movie will garner more than $1300 in VOD sales? If so, then you might consider distribber or a service like it. Otherwise, you’re going to end up paying a LOT MORE to a traditional bottom-feeder.

And if money is the only issue, you’re in luck there too. Since Distribber is part of indie gogo, filmmakers are encouraged to create a crowdfunding campaign to cover their distribber fee. Creating an indie gogo crowdfunding campaign will not only allow you to raise money, but you’ll also benefit from the social networking aspects of the site – Your contributors will tell their friends. And this inturn will will help you source your audience.

[IMPORTANT: If you do not think your movie will make more than $1300 dollars in VOD sales, distribber is NOT a good fit.]

In full disclosure, I have an affiliate relationship with distribber. They pay me to promote them. But I would still recommend them or any companies like them even if I wasn’t getting paid. The reason for my passion is this: I have watched too many of my friends get burned by crappy distribution deals. And I want to help you avoid this.

The secret that traditional DVD distributors don’t want you to know is this: Getting into the marketplace is easy.

The TOUGH part is getting people to watch (and buy) your movie. For that I recommend The Indie Producer’s Guide To Digitial Distribution or at the very least, read some of my other articles on movie marketing and distribution.

And if you’re just getting to know me, make sure you grab a FREE copy of my filmmaking book. Click Here   >>

In a future article, I’m going to show you how to leverage VOD distribution for your business plans. Stay tuned.

Posted under Uncategorized

If you’re already a seasoned feature filmmaker, take a moment and think back: Do you remember when the idea of making movies seemed like a far away dream?

Do you remember when you first got the idea for your movie? Do you remember Your first day of production? Do you remember your first screening and how well everyone loved your work?

That happened to me with my first feature. Like you, I thought our movie would get into Sundance, play well, build buzz and if we were really lucky, we had hoped the movie would garner us a 3 picture deal. But that didn’t happen.

Sure, we got some offers, but they were not “deals.” (A deal actually pays money!)

So instead of exchanging our movie for an empty promise, we decided to try selling our movie on the internet. Little did I know, this one decision has changed the course of my movie making life. That was five years ago…

And since that time, the internet as evolved. If you’re a filmmaker with a movie, you need to get it selling in all the popular internet marketplaces, including Amazon and iTunes.

You don’t need a middle-man to make this profitable. I am going to show you my internet marketing secrets…

You can check out my “How To Sell Your Movie” system by visiting the website here.

Posted under DISTRIBUTION

As a filmmakers, getting your movie seen and selling  has become incredibly challenging. If you’ve been following filmmaking stuff over the last year, you know that one of the major issues we are trying to solve is this question: In a world where DVD sales are non-existent (because there are no more DVD sales outlets), then how can filmmakers make enough VOD sales to justify a budget?

In an effort to solve this filmmaking problem, today we will cover step 6 of this 7 part series on how to sell your movie on iTunes, Amazon and Netflix for Maximum Profit.

Step 6 – Increase Targeted Web Traffic

To increase your website traffic, you might decide to work out Search Engine Optimization tactics with your web marketer, pay for online or off-line advertising, or incorporate a bit of everything. Unpaid traffic is called organic. Organic traffic is the best kind because whenever you pay for a customer, you diminish your profit margin from the outset. So obviously, the goal for all movie marketers is to acquire a customer for the very lowest price possible.

One secret I utilize is frequent press release submissions. Years ago, it was advised that you only wrote and submitted press releases when you had something newsworthy to say. But these days, in addition to targeting traditional news outlets, most press releases are included in search engine results. Without getting overly technical, this means for a very small amount of money, submitting one press release complete with links to your website can increase your web footprint.

Over time these releases are picked up by blogs and other websites hungry for related content. And the resulting benefit is more awareness of your movie, for a minimal cost.

If both your traffic and your budget are low, search out other filmmakers who have successfully sold their movies to a similar market and find out if they would be interested in promoting your movie to their mailing list. Assuming your movie is congruent with what their audience enjoys, these other filmmakers may gladly help you out for a cut of the profits. I have found that giving affiliates a good return for effective marketing creates long term win-win business relationships. These other filmmakers are able to create a stream of revenue between their movie projects. And you benefit by expanding your movie’s reach quickly.

This is also a good time to revisit those sites from your initial research. Compile a list of one-hundred target websites, then reach out to site owners and kindly ask if they would be interested in reviewing your movie. Regardless of whether or not these folks like your movie, what is secondarily valuable to you are links back to your website. Over time, these back-links, combined with your trailer and social networking profiles will serve to funnel more and more prospective viewers back to your website. And the cycle continues…

Posted under DISTRIBUTION

Jason Brubaker Got Punched-Out!! (Wii)

When I published my article on leveraging VOD sales to finance your movie, I had no idea that a simple internet marketing formula for filmmakers would be such a polarizing issue. I can’t tell you how many Los Angeles based movie producers responded negatively through email.

One guy even told me my grammar sucked.

So to clarify, I was not trying to ruffle any feathers. I was simply applying a standard internet marketing ROI formula to a product available through video on demand. Nothing more.

All of this was based on the premise that selling movies on the internet is no different than selling any other downloadable product (where you are lucky if you convert 1%)

This is based on experience. I learned how to market and sell movies on the internet when our first feature did not garner a traditional distribution deal and we ended up selling on Amazon. Back then I personally knew a bunch of filmmakers in a similar situation – all had titles but no deal. Since that time, even more filmmakers have flooded the market with titles. Couple this with the decline of various DVD sales channels, and suddenly a crappy $25 backyard indie can now share virtual self space with $25M movies.

For those of us who produce features without any sort of pre-sales, instead of telling prospective investors “If we are lucky, we might get into festivals and garner a distribution deal.” We can finally reach our audience without asking permission. And to me, this makes the indie movie business like any other small business… Produce a product and then market, sell and distribute your product.

This said, I totally agree with one of the readers who said my equation for returning a 1M dollar budget was preposterous. He was right. Anybody who thinks you can magically generate the mass amount of sales needed to recoup even a 1M dollar investment without a substantial outlay of cash towards advertising is mis-guided. Which is what those formulas reveal.

I wasn’t trying to present an indie movie panacea. We are all trying to find profit in business competing with (what I think is the indie movie equivalent) of sweat shop labor produced goods. So in terms of the person who said I’m trying to seduce “starry eyed producers,” I would say that finally having non-discriminatory VOD sales channels like Amazon, and especially iTunes finally gives us producers something to get excited about.

Whether or not we can find the marketing formula to justify our budgets remains the ongoing challenge. I for one am working my butt off to find the balance between budget and the amount of marketing needed to recoup the money – and hopefully create an ongoing stream of revenue.

My model of moviemaking isn’t for everyone. In fact, many of you have great relationships with distributors and are still making money in DVD and theatrical. Awesome! But if you are a filmmaker still relying on the “Sundance Dream” to recoup your budget – or if you are a filmmaker with a title collecting dust in your bedroom closet, I hope my article offered a little optimism.

At the same time, feel free to share your own thoughts on VOD distribution.

And spelling an grammatical tips are welcome from filmmakers too.

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

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Reviews: If you have any good reviews, include them here.
7. 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.

Posted under DISTRIBUTION

Over the past year, I have been invited to various filmmaking workshops and panel discussions to share my internet movie distribution system. My goal in doing these events is to show indie filmmakers how to leverage the internet, build an audience and get paid for their work. My other purpose is to help you (and other filmmakers) avoid my marketing mistakes.

Let me explain. . .

A few years back, my first feature failed to garner a tradition distribution deal. Admittedly the movie was a silly zombie flick with a very controversial story and a totally rough production value (understatement!). Upon completion, (like you), we cut the movie, rented a theater, held a premiere, got the feedback, refined the movie and then entered the festival circuit.

How our marketing mistakes cost us $100K in lost profits. . .

Movie Maker Marketing Mistake #1 – Our Movie Website
On our last day of production, a photographer for (the now defunct) Premier Magazine came to set and snapped a few pictures. One of the photos appeared in the magazine – And on the day of publication, we had about 10,000 unique visitors to our website. We were not ready. The traffic crashed the servers. Oops.

What we learned about movie websites:
We should have spent the money and got a Hosting Company with a solid track record. These days I prefer www.bluehost.com because for very little money, you can get a domain name and year’s worth of hosting. Since utilizing Bluehost, I have experienced very little downtime – And they have great indie film friendly customer service.

Movie Maker Marketing Mistake #2 – Our Initial Trailer
Once we fixed the website, we added a trailer that we self hosted. This was a mistake. Firstly, the load time sucked. Secondly, the trailer burnt bandwidth. And third, there was no option for zombie movie enthusiasts to re-embed the trailer on their fan sites (which is very inexpensive advertising). Oops.

What we learned about hosting a movie trailer:
Don’t host your movie trailer yourself. Upload it to one of the many video sites, like YouTube. Aside from saving you the bandwidth and providing re-embedding opportunities, each video hosting site allows your fanbase to build community around your movie. This in-turn spreads word of mouth and offers you the opportunity to keep your finger on the pulse of your marketing. The more views, the more your movie gains popularity.

Movie Maker Marketing Mistake #3 – Capture Visitor Information:
Despite our mistakes, the one thing we had going for us was a very controversial hook. Word of mouth spread quickly. And our website had thousands of visitors each week. This was great right? Sort of. . .

Why we should have captured visitor information:
Garnering high organic (unpaid) traffic on your movie website is euphoric. However if you allow people to visit and leave your website without attempting to build a long term relationship, then you just lost a fan. To prevent this, set up an automatic newsletter opt in on your website. For this job, I prefer www.aweber.com. For a minimal amount of money, the service provides you with a opt-in form and also manages your email list.

This goes almost without saying, but you should immediatly set up a facebook fan page. You can find ours by clicking here:

The Filmmaking Stuff Fan Page

Movie Maker Marketing Mistake #4 – Marketing VS Sales:
Your initial website will allow you to spread word about your movie and provide contact information for anybody who wants it. Additionally, your initial website will probably include production photos, silly stuff and a press kit. All of this is fine if you are seeking a traditional distribution deal. BUT. . .

The difference between Movie Marketing and Movie Sales:
When you’re marketing your movie, it is OK to have all the extra web pages. But when you make the shift from movie marketer to movie seller, you will need to change a few things. Firstly, you need to remove anything that doesn’t progress the sale of your movie. For example, if your intention is to sell a DVD, and your prospective fan gets distracted by your behind the scenes photos – and leaves your site – you have accomplished nothing.

Movie Maker Marketing Mistake #5 – Getting Bootlegged:
When it happens, it is both disheartening and validating at the same time. At first we went all over the internet and found a bunch of weird, cryptic streaming websites. We sent threatening, attorney drafted emails to the violators. Surprisingly, many complied and our movie was removed. . .

What we learned:
Within a week of removing the bootleggers both our web traffic and subsequent movie sales flat-lined. While I don’t have the evidence to prove correlation between bootlegs and sales – I have since come to the conclusion that people will buy your movie or not. Those that want to steal, will.

As a result, I have stopped policing the internet for bootleg providers. Let’s face it, paid advertising is expensive. Independent movie bootlegging is just another form of advertising.
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If you are already a member of my newsletter, you know how passionate I am about helping you make movies without asking permission. You also know that I’m passionate about sharing the “how to aspects” of making movies and making money. In no other area can this be achieved than the distribution of your movie.

As a result of my digital self distribution experience, I was hired to coach a rather well known indie filmmaker through his own digital self distribution campaign. Additionally, I have put all of this knowledge into a product called The Indie Producer’s Guide To Digital Self Distribution.

Comments and questions related to digital self movie distribution are welcome below:

Posted under DISTRIBUTION

A few years ago, I got myself involved in a Zombie movie. It was my first feature. And right out of the can, the movie garnered a lot of buzz and attention. In fact, it even made it’s way into one of the popular movie magazines. Agents, producers and distributors called. For awhile, it seemed like everyone in town had heard of our movie. But then… nothing. The Hollywood buzz had fizzled. There was no deal.

Yet, because the movie was specifically targeted to a zombie loving audience, demand for the movie increased. Eventually the demand grew so great that the producers decided they would self distribute. To many of you new filmmakers, you probably don’t know this. But long before the internet and Amazon Video on Demand, self distribution was for losers. Of course, if you have to travel the route of self distribution – these days, reaching a global audience is as easy as the click of a mouse.

My suggestions (based on profitable experience):
1. Put your trailer on Youtube, with a link to your movie website.
2. Also, post your trailer on your movie website. How is your traffic? If it’s good –
3. Upload your movie to CreateSpace (which opens you up to the Amazon marketplace.)
4. Then take everything off your movie website that could potentially distract your customer from buying the movie. (Pictures, behind the scenes stuff, stupid IMDB links that nobody cares about, etc…)
5. Replace that old stuff with “BUY NOW” links to your site. These links should re-direct your site visitor to Amazon.

The good part about VOD through CreateSpace is, you don’t have to keep any inventory. It’s like iTunes for indie movies. But the bad part is, they take a huge chunk of your profits. And you have to wait 60 days for your sales reports. You can sort of tell if you’re selling or not based on your movie’s popularity. For example, if you’re in the top 100, you’re probably doing pretty well. If your movie is not selling, consider re-working your poster, art and website to emphasize the best selling points.

Posted under DISTRIBUTION