How to DISTRIBUTE you movie!?!?

[Tuukka]

In another topic someone asked how it is possible to distribute your movie. I decided to share some thoughts on this, and I'm using my forthcoming movie as an example.

Nowadays INTERNET is the most effective way to market your movie. What I'm doing with my film is fairly simple.

On the first week of August we will open the net site for our movie, Guardian Of The Dark. At first it has only a teaser poster, biographies, general info, etc. At that point we will also contact IMDB in order to get our movie there.

On the second half of August we will put the first teaser trailer on the site, it runs around 100 seconds. This is the big step in the marketing and the trailer has been made with great care. I will contact Joblo, AICN, Dark Horizons, Corona's Coming Attractions and every other movie site available to give a link to our site. I will also write them a personal letter that they can show on their sites, if they want to make a small article of our movie. The trailer looks fairly expensive and the fact that the film has been made with $8000 should raise some curiosity. There are also sites like www.ifilm.com (http://www.ifilm.com) that are concentrated primarily on low-budget indie films, they are for certain going to give us some space on their site.

From September to January we will once a month put one video clip running from 1 to 3 minutes to our site. These are actual scenes from the film. We will always report about this on other sites as well.

In January the post-production of the film is finished. We will put out our second trailer and a 15-20 minute making-of documentary of the film. At this time we will also contact all the film studios and distribution companies to see if they are interested.

By then we will have on our site two trailers, one making-of documentary and 5 clips from the film.

All this work should make people interested in our film, and I think we should have fairly good changes to start negotiations with film studios. Traditional marketing is not even needed, thank to internet. It's very expensive to blow your flick to 35mm and then start travelling around film festivals in order to get your movie sold.

In case a studio is interested about the flick, I will either travel to them, or I will send them a DVD of our movie, so that they can watch it in it's entirety.

[Tuukka]

I'm doing a more precise marketing plan today, and I realized that I was taking a wrong way.

In order to mazimize the hype we should release all the five video clips at once, either in October or November. The behind-the-scenes documentary instead should be released as five small clips, one each month. Each clip would deal with a different aspect of the film.

That way we would have three instances, when we might manage to get movie sites like AICN to write about us. One time for each of the two trailers and one time for the five movie clips.

[Ronaldinho]

The best way to get distribution is to have your film accepted by major film festivals. If you play Toronto, Cannes, or Sundance, the people in charge of distribution will see and hear about your movie.

The studios do not spend a lot of time looking for trailers on the internet. They don't really care. They don't have the time. They will, for the most part, be interested if and only if there's a finished film--and a lot more people have trailers out there on the internet than have good, finished films.

There's no harm in applying to smaller festivals. Any good, medium-sized festival will be reasonably-well attended by the kind of people who can pass your film up the food chain.

If you think, however, that somebody is likely to see your trailer on ifilm.com and call you asking to see the whole film, chances are you'll be waiting for a long time.

These people are deluged by films to look at. They don't need more. They need less--which is why they let film fesitvals act like their first line of screening.

But if your film is that good, don't worry. A lot of films are picked up for distribution long before the film festival date. If you're accepted at Sundance, for example, you can bet that every studio VP of distribution in thecountry will have looked at a DVD of your film long before the festival starts.

[Tuukka]

You might be right, but I think we have fairly good changes of getting attention. I'm not really intending to get attention at Ifilm, more likely in places like AICN, which are rather commonly visited by the industry people.

But the thing is that we are putting a big effort to Internet marketing, marketing is just as important as the film itself. If the trailers are impressive enough, it SHOULD draw attention to the movie. We are doing a very action oriented sci-fi movie, so in that sense it should be a lot more easier to sell than a small scaled drama piece.

For example the australian "Undead" movie is right now getting quite a lot of attention and the filmmakers have been already contacted by film studios. Why? Because of a cool trailer and a well-crafted website. The film itself is not ready yet.

www.undeadmovie.com (http://www.undeadmovie.com)

But eventually if the internet marketing strategy fails we will try to get financing for a 35mm print and we will start travelling around the festival circuit.

[ak]

Tuukka - your e-mail doesn't work, btw.

[Ronaldinho]

posted 07-21-2002 08:13 PM *** **** ** **
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For example the australian "Undead" movie is right now getting quite a lot of attention and the filmmakers have been already contacted by film studios. Why? Because of a cool trailer and a well-crafted website. The film itself is not ready yet.
----


Oooh...I can't tell you how dangerous this is. You don't want attention until your film is ready.

Because let's say you have a great teaser, and, lo and behold, Harvey Weinstein loves it. He wants to see the film. You have to tell him, "Sorry, wait six months." And because these things always take longer than planned, well, it probably takes nine months. Then you call up Harvey and his secretary says, "Tuukka who?" and nobody remembers or cares that they liked your trailer nine months ago. They've forgotten.

I also wouldn' t base yourmarketting strategy on what somebody who hasn't finished their film has done.

Certainly, with low-budget, exploitation type films where the primary market is video (if there's a theatrical release at all) this might be the way to go. But don't put the cart in front of the horse. Have the film finished, first.

When somebody asks you about it, you want to be able to say, "I will fed ex the DVD to you tomorrow." You do not want to say, "Can I get back to you in six months."

[ak]

"When somebody asks you about it, you want to be able to say, "I will fed ex the DVD to you tomorrow." You do not want to say, "Can I get back to you in six months..."

But surely they'd realise that the film is still in production. Most films are still in production when the studio release a trailer or any other promotional items.
There's no point having a finished film and waiting a few months to advertise it, and market it. Marketing has got to happen as it's in production. It's all about building up the hype factor.


[This message has been edited by ak (edited 07-21-2002).]

[Tuukka]

Yes, it will be a genre exploitation movie meant for video and TV market. I find it very unlikely that it would ever get anywhere even very minor theatrical distribution.

You are obviously better informed about film industry than I am, so here is a quote from my other post in a another topic. Please share your thoughts about it.

- - -

I'm intending to get a DVD and VHS release in english-speaking markets. USA is of course the primary target. If we don't get it distributed by DVD and VHS, I intend to sell it to TV market.

Studios sell movies to TV market as packages. There is always the one good movie that the TV channel wants, and 4-5 poorer movies come along with it. The good movie can't be bought alone. So if our film fails as a whole, I intend to sell it to some distribution company that can include it as one of the 4-5 poor movies they sell along with the good movie. There is a HUGE market in there, and while the money you get from your film is very small by the film industry standards, it's still quite a lot to low-budget filmmaker like me.

I'm just making a guess, but if I manage to sell my movie to some distribution company as "one of the poor movies", I can get around 20.000 dollars for it in the worldwide market, at minimum.

20.000 dollars is enough to pay my rent for six months and to do a new film during those six months. I do normal, daily work on a finnish TV station right now, but I would like to leave my work in the beginning of 2003.

- - -

So tell me, am I entirely wrong about this? I have understood that this is a common practice in film industry.

I don't expect any studio to be interested before I have a finished product, but I think it's sensible to hype the film even before it's finished. When I have my film ready, it has already been recognized in the internet. I think it's better than to refuse to hype it at all.

I have already edited 40% of the film. We will have a few shooting days in the first half of August, but after that we have everything in the can. I can say for sure that if the shooting goes well, the flick is ready by January (it might be ready already in November). I won't be letting the teaser trailer out before I know I can trust my schedules.

[This message has been edited by Tuukka (edited 07-21-2002).]

[Ronaldinho]

One thing at a time.

AK, the first thing is that there's a world of difference between Universal showing you a trailer for the movie they're going to release next summer, and one of us doing the same thing. Because they're Universal. They will have the money to do it. It will get done and distributed, because they're Universal.

It's very different for an independent low-budget filmmaker to say they'll be done some time in the future. That doesn't impress anyone--because there are hundreds, if not thousands, of low-budget features "that will be done in six months." Except that they were saying the same thing six months ago.

(Tangential, but true story: friend of a friend wins student academy award. Lots of phone calls from agents, etc. He doesn't have a feature script ready. Six months later, he does. But they've fogotten him already. Don't return his phone calls. I think he's now a lawyer.)

I have to confess that I'm not very familiar with the direct-to-video market. It's not an area where I work. However, I would strongly encourage you to contact distributors now, and ask what they look for in terms of video distribution. They'll give you a long list of things--they want it shot on 35mm, they want some nudity, etc, etc, etc. I don't know the details that I do know that these guys have a long list of exactly what they want before they'll take the film, and the time to find out what those requirements are is now--while you're still in production and can add some breast shots if you need to.

Okay, I apologize if that sounds crass, but that's part of the direct-to-video market which you need to be up on. It's not about Citizen Kane.

If it's a more serious movie you're talking about, really, your best bet is to get exposure through film festivals. For example, if you play at Sundance, the Sundance channel will want to show your film. Do well at Toronto or Cannes and you may well get IFC very interested.

As for internet hype, well, I don't konw. I'm sure somebody will berak out with this. It certainly played a role in the Blair Witch Project (which played Sundance, though, didn't it?) but I think that the audience you have in mind--distributors--is much less hype-sensitive than the audience at large.

[Tuukka]

Actually it seems that we are shooting a scene with nudity in it... I have a couple of good looking strippers willing to show some skin. I'm not sure if it will make the final cut, thought. The whole scene feels kind of tacked on, but it's good to have that material if we need it.

But anyway, the 85-90 minute film will have five major action sequences in it, 250-300 SFX shots and a nice amount of gore. So it should be an easier sell than a low budget drama film.

I would like to point out, that the final trailer will be released AFTER we have finished the film. So we are not running out of promotional material six months before the film is ready. If there are already people anticipating the film when it is finished, it should be easier to sell. If there is already hype, it should be easier to sell. That way the studio can think that they have a sure thing in their hands. It might also give us a better change to get decent money out of the film.

[DeaditeDerik]

So if you put your film on the net at a place like IFILM, do u get cash out of it? And how can you contact film distribution companies?

[Ronaldinho]

You don't want to put a feature on iFilm, and no, don't expect to get anymoney out of it.

You need to be careful what you do with your feature, because nobody's going to pay for TV rights for something that's available for free on the internet. You have to control access to your film. Put trailers out, sure.

[DeaditeDerik]

Is it legal to distribute over eBay???

[Tuukka]

Ronaldinho, you might be a bit too pro to enjoy your stay in here very long, but it would be nice if you can check out the board on the second half of August, when I have my teaser trailer ready.

[James Logan]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Tuukka:
Ronaldinho, you might be a bit too pro to enjoy your stay in here very long...</font>

Oh yeah, and what's THAT supposed to mean? http://www.joblo.com/ubb/wink.gif There's only the best of the best of the best around here, word. http://www.joblo.com/ubb/tongue.gif

[Tuukka]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by James Logan:
Oh yeah, and what's THAT supposed to mean? http://www.joblo.com/ubb/wink.gif There's only the best of the best of the best around here, word. http://www.joblo.com/ubb/tongue.gif

</font>

Well, I think he is the only one who is working on the actual film industry, so he might not be getting much from this forum. This is after all mainly for people who are aiming to work in the industry, but are not working there yet.

[Ronaldinho]

I understand and apreciate what your point, is, Tukka. In fact, I discovered this board because somebody referred me to a therad here where a lot of bad advice was being given--as a joke, basically.

I figured someone who's a little more of an insider could offer some useful pointers. I'm still not quite sure what the slant of most of the people on this board is--I think it's great that people are writing and posting their work and talking about it with each other, but I'm concerned if some of the posters here view their work as anything more than a hobby, because they're making some classic mistakes that will prevent their work from ever being taken seriously.

I like helping people. I think this sort of forum is, generally, a good thing, and if by dropping in occasionally I can help make it better, I'm happy to do so,when I have time.

[Tuukka]

Most of the people on the board are between 13 and 23, so filmmaking and screenwriting are certainly just a hobby to most. But hobbies have often the tendency to become occupations later on. That's how it has been for me personally. I started doing short movies when I was 17. I'm now 26 and I have done professional TV work for four years and I'm now making my first full lenght feature film.