Part 1 in the series is located HERE, and Part 2 is HERE.

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Creating an initial campaign for your film has become a critical step during Pre-Production. With the advent of Social Media and the general growth of the world wide web over the last few years, instead of waiting till a film is completed to create marketing materials for your film, the process has been pushed forward to beginning this process during pre-production.

So what exactly do you need to be concerned about creating during this stage? Primarily I want you to think about getting your key art or concept art done and establishing a preliminary web presence.

• Artwork: you will need this to design an initial one-sheet and/or for your main web site and social media pages. Remember this doesn’t have to be the final artwork as it will probably change a few times between now and when your film is distributed. BUT, that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be professionally done and I actually recommend looking at other movie artwork (for example DVD covers of studio films) and adapting something like that for your film. You can even reference these other films’ artwork to your designer to give them direction on what you want yours to look like.

• Web Presence: you should design a website for your film that integrates all the necessary elements – concept art, sign-in box. synopsis, bios of you and your team, and a teaser trailer or sizzle reel if you have one. You also want to have your social media buttons so people can connect to you on places like Facebook. Speaking of Facebook, you should have both a personal Facebook page and a page specifically for your film where you can start building a fan base. If often hear from filmmakers how difficult it is to build up a fan base during pre-production when generally not much is going on to keep fans engaged. I hear you loud and clear and I agree this can be a challenge. So your goal at this stage is to start building the fan base for your film with friends and family and do your best to keep people engaged with what you have going on by posting up your artwork, teaser trailers, website designs, etc. and even asking them to get involved and give you feedback on the process.

A great example of this is what Linda Nelson and Michael Madison did with their film DELIVERED, which they started from the script stage in building up their fan base on Facebook. Take a look at Facebook.com/DeliveredMovie  where during Pre-Production they leveraged their Facebook fan page and community to  hold ‘virtual’ auditions, get feedback on their key art, hold design contests, and other activities.

When you can begin engaging your fans during pre-production like the “Delivered” moviemakers did, you will help build your brand as well as your film’s brand in the marketplace.

BUILD YOUR MARKETING TEAM

No doubt about it that you can’t tackle all the important audience building and buzz building function in Pre-Production alone since you’ll also be focusing on packaging your project, raising financing, and getting into Production. Fortunately there is now a crew position called the Producer Of Marketing & Distribution (PMD) whose job it is to oversea all the marketing and distribution-related duties from the early stages of pre-production all the way through distribution of the film. Here’s an interview I did with PMD For Hire Adam Daniel Mezei on how to start your movie’s campaign.

Interview With PMD Adam Daniel Mezei (www.pmdforhire.com)

In today’s democratized filmmaking universe, just about anyone can shoot a movie. Prove it, you say. Okay, simple:

Yesterday’s industry-insider roadblocks barring filmmakers from their true audiences are now as good as gone. Want to get into show business? Well here’s how:  pen a script, grab a low-cost camera, recruit some of your buddies and family as actors (or yourself), and – voila! – you’re making pictures!

While making a film sounds like snap, the even bigger magic trick is getting folks to watch your movie. Since the middle of last decade, product has simply flooded the market. There’s more competition in 2011 than ever before. Split between iTunes, Netflix, Amazon VOD, and traditional DVD channels (not to mention tens of other avenues), audiences must contend with so much choice with so little time. So how do you get them to even watch your movie?

Well, all this is the playing field of the PMD – the Producer of Marketing and Distribution. PMDs are above-the-line, PGA-accredited (pending) marketing personnel who work directly with your film’s lead producer to tweak your film’s marketing budget, to review its various digital and non-digital distribution sales options, and engage your film’s true audience over the long-term.

Let’s break these components down individually:

The Marketing Budget:

Most filmmakers shoot their movie without thinking about what happens after post-production. This is why a marketing plan is absolutely critical. Given that Hollywood spends over 40% of its blockbusters’ budgets on marketing and distribution (P&A = prints & advertising), marketing is almost half as important as the process of making your film. Filmmakers must now embrace what Jon Reiss has termed “the new 50/50” – 50% of your current budget must now be earmarked — in advance — for marketing and distribution efforts. Why 50%, you ask? Well, there’s film festival submission fees and overheads, press kit expenses, not to mention paying yourself between projects, among other outlays.

Digital and Non-Digital Distribution:

It’s the PMD’s job to know the best and most effective avenues to get your film into the marketplace and revenue back into your pocket. That’s what they spend their days researching, so when you hire one you should be getting the best of their expertise and contacts. PMDs help you to strike a balance between old- and new-world distribution channels to help promote and evangelize your project.

Engaging Your True Audience:

Why re-invent the wheel each time out? Well, this is your career we’re talking about, right? So why cultivate your film’s audience — from scratch — each time out? Better to nurture a fan base which you can “deploy” from project to project. An audience that will not only appreciate your work, but will also help extend the otherwise limited reach of your marketing efforts by seeding your film in their various communities. We’re talking about your “true” fans here, okay?

When’s the best time to hire a PMD?

As early as possible in the filmmaking process, ideally before the cameras start rolling.

So how much do PMDs cost?

Not as much as you think! But given how much effort you put into making your movie, don’t you want people to know about it and pay to watch it? That’s where a PMD can help.

*** What about you? What types of marketing campaigns have you done before that proved successful for your film? Or what questions do you have about a marketing campaign you’re planning? Post any questions you have for us in the comments section below!

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Additional Resources:

1. Starting A Movement – The Ultimate Promotion For Your Film

2. The PMD – Why Do You Need One?

3. The “Insiders Guide To Film Distribution” book (where this excerpt came from!)

In celebration of the official launch, I’m posting an excerpt from the book here on IFB. If you want to order your very own copy of the book – either paperback or Kindle version, you can head over to Amazon although at the time of this writing there’s only 17 copies left. They’re already flying off the shelves! Amazon also allows you to download the Table Of Contents as well as a Sample Chapter for free…. so head over and see what’s all included in this new version.

If Amazon is out of stock, you can also pick it up online at Barnes & Noble – available in paperback and for the Nook.

Updating the Insiders Guide was a lot of fun, and I especially enjoyed interviewing all new case studies and real world success stories. It includes interviews from people like Jon Reiss, Adam Daniel Mezei, Orly Ravid, Thomas Mai, Laura Kim…and many more!

And now without further ado….here’s the sample excerpt. I hope you enjoy and I’d love to hear your comments below!

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The Three Paths To Distribution

My experience has told me time and time again that once you’ve completed your film you’ll start getting anxious to find distribution for it. You’ve put in all this hard work and it’s time to get your film out there and to find its audience.

Many filmmakers’ instinct once they have a finished film is to immediately start shopping it to every distributor in sight. However, ‘shot-gunning’ distributors is not an effective approach! I would advise taking a more methodical approach to finding distribution for your film, which I’ll outline below.

For example, the first thing you want to do before you even start approaching anyone to distribute or represent your film is to put a solid strategy in place.  You don’t want to be haphazardly submitting items to distributors and reps, without taking into account any type of protocol.

In today’s market there are effectively three paths to distribution. They are Traditional, DIY, and Hybrid:

1.    Traditional

Traditional distribution is what we all normally associate with film distribution – theatrical, DVD, and Broadcast. Unfortunately as the market has changed, traditional distribution has become more and more rare for independently produced films. Where a filmmaker used to be able to rely on the tried and true method of premiering at a big festival followed by being picked up for theatrical distribution, DVD, and/or Cable distribution, those days are few and far between now and occur for fewer and fewer films. Furthermore, many filmmakers even reject traditional distribution deals given the choice nowadays because the offers may be so low that they feel they could do better distributing the film themselves (more on that in a minute).

An example of this is the movie Bottleshock that premiered at Sundance in 2008 and when the Producers got no real offers from distributors they decided to strike out on their own and implement a DIY strategy. The result is that they were able to make far more than they would have with any of the traditional deals they were offered.

So something to keep in mind is that even though you may still view traditional distribution as the ultimate goal for your film, it may not always be the best choice for your film and in most cases, isn’t totally realistic in today’s market.

2.    DIY

DIY distribution (do-it-yourself) has replaced traditional distribution as the go-to route for most filmmakers with independently produced films. Like I mentioned above, due to supply and demand in the marketplace, there’s just too many films and too few traditional distribution outlets left, so what has surfaced in its place is this new DIY route. DIY (or sometimes called self-distribution) has now supplanted traditional distribution as Plan A, whereas it used to be Plan B.

But don’t worry – DIY doesn’t have the ‘stigma’ that it once did and now many mainstream films are turning to DIY voluntarily because they wish to keep more control of their film and release it how they want to, when they want to, and on their own terms.

Of course there are both upsides and downsides to self-distribution. The biggest upside in my opinion is that any sale you make, any distribution deal you sign, you get to keep all the money for yourself. It goes directly to your bottom line, in paying your investors back and towards your profit. Conversely, the biggest downside to self-distribution that I can think of is that in exchange for not having to pay anyone a sales commission or fee or percentage of sales, you have to do all the work, which can be an enormous amount.

Don’t be fooled, the DIY route takes a tremendous amount of work and patience, but it can pay off handsomely to those who are consistent with their efforts. Before I got a publisher for this book, I self-distributed it as an eBook online. And the number one thing that made it a successful venture for me was my consistent efforts at tirelessly marketing my product. Some weeks were good, some weeks were bad, but being absolutely consistent in my marketing efforts I believe was the top contributor to the book’s success.

With all the new DIY platforms out there remember that since you do not have a distribution company behind you, you will have to do all the marketing, promotions, and advertising yourself (or with a team you hire) – whatever it takes to drive sales of your film. I will talk about specific ways to market your film with each self-distribution method I discuss.

3.   Hybrid 

There is a also a Hybrid distribution model that is part Traditional, part DIY.  For example, if you make a film that doesn’t immediately get distribution you may choose to do your own platform theatrical release. While you’re doing your own platform theatrical release, you may decide to sell your own DVD’s at the screenings. At this point, you will probably also want to sell DVD’s or Streams/Downloads off your website to capitalize on the fact that you are out there creating a buzz doing public screenings. With all this in place, you are completely self-distributed.

Suddenly a traditional DVD distributor picks up on all the buzz you’re getting, and sees that there is a market for your product, and that you are actually selling DVD’s, and they want in on the action! BUT…you have a nice successful online operation going and you don’t want to give up that revenue. After all, for every DVD you sell off your own website, you could be pocketing $5-$15, depending on the selling price of the DVD for. Once a DVD distributor picks up your film, you will only make perhaps $1-$3 per unit sold, at most.

So, you are left with a conundrum. While you always wanted a DVD distributor to offer you a deal, you also are enjoying the revenue that you’re making while self-distributing. The perfect solution is to negotiate in your contract with the distributor that you the filmmaker retain online distribution rights to your film. This would have been unheard of a few years ago, but surprisingly DVD distributors are realizing that they have to acquiesce in this area if they want to be able to acquire hot-performing niche films that are already out there collecting a buzz in the marketplace. Distributors are also realizing that filmmakers who are heavily promoting a film online, will only help their retail sales in the long run anyway. So everybody wins.

Distributors don’t have a choice anymore rather they absolutely have to alter their business models to accommodate filmmakers in this area. Traditional DVD distributors will be more like retail partners in the future, and filmmakers will leverage the new technologies available to them and handle their own online distribution.

Another part of the hybrid distribution model that has become popular is known as House Parties. For example, while some filmmakers are taking their platform theatrical release to art house and independent movie theaters, others are choosing to do targeted screenings in peoples’ homes.

A great example of this model is Robert Greenwald’s Wal-Mart: The High Cost Of Low Prices. Robert really wanted to get his message out there and knew how to find his target audience online. By galvanizing online support he organized grass-roots screenings at people’s homes all across the country and built a tremendous buzz for his film.  He ended up having somewhere around 1000 house parties, each with around 10-15 people in a living room. Within a couple of months he had sold 100,000 DVD’s from people buying them at the parties and off his website.

Granted, the house party strategy works very well with documentaries that lend themselves to strong grassroots opinions and campaigns, BUT you could also apply this strategy to a narrative feature if your film applies to a core audience (ie: surfers, teenagers, sports enthusiasts…whatever). Think about what groups people belong to online and how you can reach them. Then capitalize on that enthusiasm and organize screenings around it.

It almost makes sense these days to think in terms of what types of films could appeal to which groups online, and word backwards from there. At least that way, you will always have the insurance of direct sales of your DVD online and know that you’ll be able to make the revenue that way to pay your investors back. Even if a traditional distributor never picks up your film, you know you can do some grassroots promoting and selling all on your own.

Something else to think about is that while you’re out there doing grassroots screenings, building an audience for yourself, you may well be able to raise money for your next film. I know of a few filmmakers who while screening their films to a targeted demographic at private screenings met investors for their next films. So keep your eyes open and be prepared!

Stacey Parks is a film distribution expert with over 15 years experience working with independent producers. As a Foreign Sales Agent for several years she secured distribution for hundreds of independent features and programs worldwide. Stacey currently specializes in coaching independent film professionals on financing and distribution strategies for their projects, and works with them both one-on-one and through her online training website www.FilmSpecific.com. Stacey’s clients have secured deals with U.S Studio divisions, large international broadcasters, and worldwide DVD distributors, and have premiered their films at Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, Berlin, SXSW, San Sebastian, and other major film festivals worldwide. Stacey is the author of ‘The Insider’s Guide to Independent Film Distribution” 1^st & 2^nd editions (Focal Press) and presently divides her time between her clients, FilmSpecific.com, and producing projects of her own.

But the good news is I’m back in action and ready to really fly in 2011! In terms of what I’ll be focusing on personally this year it’s quite simple….

ONE I’m going to be focusing on producing a couple of my own projects this year (yep, back to my roots!) and,

TWO I plan to take you on that ride with me via my teachings on Film Specific, working with clients individually, and at workshops.

Let’s face it, we’ve all heard by now the statement: ‘traditional distribution is dead’ and as I’ve said before I think that’s a bunch of hooey. It IS possible to make money in the film business and still go the ‘traditional’ route. BUT I do agree that the film business has changed (just like any other business or industry things change and shift year to year) and so as Producers and Filmmakers we just need to go with the flow and adapt a little right? Pretty simple which is why I firmly believe it’s not as dramatic as everyone paints it to be. Of course, that’s just my personal opinion – you  may have yours and I’d love to hear about it!(that’s the great thing about a blog we can all have different opinions, share, and learn from each other)

OK, so on to the subject line of this blog – Yes, I’m totally bored with the conversation on Distribution! That might sound strange coming from someone who has actually worked in Distribution for over 10 years, runs a website on it, and wrote a book about it, but here’s where I’m at — the conversation on Distribution is so played out and at times is presented by certain ‘experts’ (who have never actually worked in Distribution themselves) as a depressing endeavor. Of course they would disagree and say they are painting a ‘rosy’ picture for you, one where you control your own destiny, but come one let’s face it – who of you out there wants to make films for pennies and scrape by financially year after year, aiming for the bottom, not paying your cast and crew, all in the name of having more control over your art? What?

What I’m proposing is this – I’d like to take the conversation to another level. I’m going to take a more holistic approach to filmmaking in 2011 and instead of focusing just on the Distribution side of things, let’s change the discussion to how we can make films that are even worthy of distribution in first place. Let’s talk about how to leverage technology and the internet to finance, market, and sell our films and marry that with the traditional system so that we can stand apart from the crowd. Who’s with me on this?

This year I’m writing the 2nd edition of my book “Insiders Guide To Independent Film Distribution” and boy a lot has changed since I wrote the first edition in 2007. At that time, I was the only person talking about Distribution. I had just come from the trenches of actually working in distribution for many years (as a sales agent and before that in the agency world) and so it represents the cold hard truth of what was happening at that time. Interesting thing is that even though much has changed since then, much has stayed the same – which is why I still sell a lot of copies of that book to this day because of its no nonsense back to basics approach. BUT the publishers are eager for me to get a second edition out there and that’s one of the big projects I’ll be pushing through the first part of this year. And believe me, I’m going to spend a lot of time in this new edition talking about making films that naturally lend themselves to both traditional and non-traditional forms of distribution and what your options are on every level.

And this very same theme will guide all my teachings on Film Specific, my workshops, my newsletters, and blog posts.

So join me in leaving the boring, depressing, distribution-only-centric mindset of 2010 behind, and elevating to a more uplifting conversation of making films the right way – using every resource at our fingertips including ‘new’ and ‘old’ and creating a ‘third place’ and a ‘third way’ for filmmaking.

So with that, I’ll leave you to digest what I’ve said and then I’d love to hear what YOU think below in the comments section. If you have any suggestions of what you’d like me to delve more deeply into in this realm that I’m talking about, just shout it out and I’ll do my best to accommodate. Thanks!

Details of the interview include:

• What is a PMD?
• Why does a filmmaker need a PMD?
• How do you compensate your PMD?
• What specific tasks does a PMD handle and what is the filmmaker still responsible for?
• How and WHEN to hire a PMD for your project?
• What to look out for when working with a PMD & what the advantages and disadvantages are of having one

Click here to listen:

Check out the interview and let us know what you think and any questions you have by commenting below!

And for more information on PMD’s …. essential reading is Jon Reiss’s “Think Outside The Box Office” – one of the best filmmaking books out there right now!

Additionally, to learn more about Thomas Mai visit this link Enter discount code: FILMSPECIFIC to save 25% on your first month consulting with Thomas. Must register by Dec. 1 at the latest to receive this discount.

Also, here’s my favorite example of a film that created a movement and one that we referenced in the video – “The Dark Knight” from Warner Brothers. I know it’s a studio movie, but open your mind a little and you will see many things you can co-opt for your indie. ENJOY!



And leave us any questions or comments you have on Starting A Movement for YOUR film. What are you doing that’s working… or not working?

1. After being locked out, Facebook gave me no indication whatsoever of when or how the issue would be resolved. I tried emailing their support (ha!) and tweeting them (@Facebook) on a daily basis and got no response whatsoever.

2. I couldn’t contact my Facebook audience and had no way of letting them know I had been locked out – so for all they knew, I just dropped off the face of the earth! After posting links and resources for them daily, it made me look bad and I had no way to communicate to them.

Despite being ticked off there were some valuable lessons:

1. First and foremost, do not rely on Facebook as your end-all-be-all ground zero for your film or business. You’re dead in the water if for any reason they decide to shut you down or change their policies for whatever reason. You cannot afford to tie up everything you have in Facebook. Please please please – build a website or blog for your film and capture email addresses so you can continue business as usual no matter what Facebook decides to do.

2. During my 7 day FB lockout period I told my friends that it felt oddly liberating – and to tell you the truth I got a heck of a lot of more work done! Just goes to show you how distracting social media can be if you don’t manage your time properly.

So what can you do to prevent from being caught in this vulnerable situation?

Like I said above, number one is to have your own website or blog for your film hosted with your own URL.

People always ask me which resources I recommend to host my websites, blogs, and email databases, so I’ve come up with a short list of the services I use (and who I’m an affiliate for), so you can see all in one place who I recommend:

Website Hosting & Blogs

I host all my blogs (including this one) on Blue Host which has a super convenient one-click Word Press installation. Blogs are a simple way to create a quick and cheap website for your film or production company because you can easily embed your trailer, handle all the admin and changes yourself, and interact with your audience easily through the comments section. Blue Host is basically a one-stop, quick and cheap resource for getting a great looking film website up fast. Heres the link to check them out for yourself.

Email Capture & Database

I tell you I swear by Aweber! I’ve hosted all of my email lists there since the beginning and have never once had even one problem. If you’re wondering why as a filmmaker you even need an email list in the first place, let me put it to you like this – if you want to be able to connect directly with your audience and your customers you need an email database. Why? Because if you rely solely on a third party site like Facebook to interact with your audience, you’re playing with fire since you have no control over their platform and they can shut down your film page at any time and you will have no recourse and no way to stay connected to your fans (unless you are capturing their email addresses in Aweber of course!). Here’s the link to get started with them.

So what happened after the 168-hour lockout?

When I finally got let back into Facebook it was pretty uneventful – just a random email from them saying that I could now go in and reset my password. WTF? Anyway, I’m happy be back in on the ‘inside’ but grateful that I haven’t put all my eggs in one basket with only one platform to connect and communicate with my audience.

If you have a similar Facebook Lockout story I’d love to hear it! And if you’re proudly diversified over multiple platforms, I’d like to hear about that too!

1. So you have sufficiently ‘primed’ your audience for the release of your film by the time it’s ready

2. So that you have actual potential customers for your film – an audience of people ready & willing to consume your film in the theater, on DVD, VOD, or however you are releasing it

What are the consequences if you don’t aggregate an audience properly?

Well imagine having a completed film and having to start from scratch trying to build a fan base… it could take months, if not years to accomplish that – all the while your film sits there collecting dust because there’s no audience to launch it to!

OK, so here’s my biggest recommendation for aggregating your audience PROPERLY….

YOU NEED TO CAPTURE EMAIL ADDRESSES

Why? Because Facebook Film Pages do not allow you to send a message directly to your fans, so you are entirely dependent on them seeing your communications on their ever-cluttered wall when they log onto Facebook. This is not a good strategy! Instead you should be providing a sign-in box where your fans can give you their email addresses (if they want) so you can message them directly with updates on your film, AND you can market to them directly once your film is ready for release and/or for sale. Want to see an example of what I’m talking about? Here’s a screenshot from the DELIVERED Facebook page that Linda Nelson referenced in the previous Case Study:



I also use an email capture on my own Facebook page:



Now you may be wondering where these email addresses go once you capture them right? I’m glad you asked! What you need is an EMAIL DATABASE that can handle this function for you (otherwise known as an Autoresponder or Email Marketing service). If you receive my Film Specific newsletters, then you are a part of my email database which allows me to communicate with 10,000 plus subscribers at once by pressing a single button. People ask me all the time which Email service I use – it’s called Aweber and I’ve been using them for over 3 years and can highly recommend them.

The next question I always get asked is how to install this Email Sign-Up box on a Facebook page or website. It’s actually pretty simple because once you register with a service like Aweber you will get a bit of code to use on your page or site and POOF – the sign up boxes magically appear! Then when someone signs up to receive your updates, their email address automatically gets added to your Aweber database where you can log in and start communicating directly with your fan base. You know those stories you hear about people selling tons of DVD’s off their websites? Well they accomplish that through doing an email campaign and utilizing a service like Aweber.

So what do you guys think? How many of you are already using email capture on your Facebook page or Website and what has your experience been?

Ok, so while we’re on the subject of launching your DVD online, there’s something else you should be concerned with other than what type of campaign you are going to run, and that is whether your film’s website is actually optimized for eCommerce.

What that means in plain talk is this: after you drive all that traffic to your website either via partners or screenings or whatever, is your website set up to actually take orders for your DVD?

For example…..

1. Can the buyer actually EASILY find where to buy the DVD (you’d be surprised….many people don’t make the BUY NOW button front and center)
2. Is buying a one or two click process? (ie: you don’t want to make it too complicated to complete a transaction)
3. Is your site secure giving buyers confidence that their credit card details are safe?
4. Do you accept credit cards either through Pay Pal or a Merchant Account system? (sending in checks is no longer very efficient)
5. How are you going to fulfill your orders? Do you have inventory on hand ready to ship? Or are you using a manufacture on demand service like Create Space?

These are just a few of the very BASIC things you need to have in place to make sure your site is optimized for eCommerce. You also want to make sure you have a place where potential customers can sign-in to get on your email list, so that if they don’t buy on the first visit to your site (most won’t), that you are able to convert them to buyers down the line by forming a ‘relationship’ with them through regular communications, offers, and free content that makes them happy

One of the best film sites I’ve seen out there for optimizing eCommerce (and I use this example all the time) is Hunter Weeks’ www.10mph.com. Clearly shows you how and where to buy, guides you through the process absolutely clear and pain-free. Every filmmaker is marketing their film online should build a site like Hunter’s!

Incidentally, I go into further dissecting of the 10 MPH website and other optimized film websites in my SELLING MORE ONLINE course which is free this week for Film Specific Members. You can read more about it here:

http://www.filmspecific.com/public/776.cfm
(past participants to this live course paid $300, but I’m making the on-demand course free for FS members)

And as always, I’d love to hear from you — show me your website and how you’ve optimized it for sales? What has worked best for you? What tweaks have you made along the way to improve sales?

I’ve been following several self-distribution DVD launches over the last year or so and I can tell you this – the best ways to make a splash with your DVD and to sell a REAL amount of units (1000 or more), is done one of two ways:

1. Either by doing a heavy amount of internet marketing including using some of those partner relationships you developed early on, or

2. By taking your film on the road for an extensive screening tour

If you’re going the internet route, prepare to spend 3-4 months in prep before you pull the trigger with the launch. And if you prepare to go the screening route, it can take anywhere from 4-12 months on the road to gain enough traction to sell enough DVD’s to make a real difference to your bottom line. Then you need to have the back-end infrastructure online to actually sell the DVD’s, so you’ll need prep time for that. But from what I’m hearing so far, the results using this higher cost approach can be well worth the effort….

And what about money? I recommend having some kind of budget in place to launch your DVD online. Some people include enough in the budget to hire help both with coordinating the launch and executing it. If you are doing screenings, you might want to consider hiring a company to book the theaters for you….and then there is the marketing. So your budget can be anywhere from nothing to a couple hundred thousand dollars depending on what you intend to hire out, and what you can do yourself.

I have a couple of resources on Film Specific that talk about budgeting for Self-Distribution. You can find them here:

http://www.filmspecific.com/members/925.cfm

http://www.filmspecific.com/members/808.cfm

I’m in the process of putting together extensive case studies on filmmakers using both of these approaches so stay tuned for those. But in the mean time, I’d love to hear from you – anyone out there have experience successfully launching their DVD and selling units directly to consumers from their website? Which approach worked best – internet only, or screenings, or both?

Somehow though actually ‘engaging’ marketing partners is easier said than done….

For example, once you make a list of potential partners, how and when do you contact them? And what do you offer them in exchange for promoting your film?

The answer to the first question is that you should be getting in touch them as early in the filmmaking process as possible. Ideally during pre-production.

As to what you can offer them to entice them to help you? The most obvious thing you can offer them is money – for example an affiliate commission on every DVD they sell to their audience. But what if the film isn’t made yet and you don’t have DVD’s to offer? How do you really get them excited at this stage in the game?

This is one question that several of my clients are grappling with right now. And we’re working together on ways to approach marketing partners and what we entice them with – what we can say or do to get them to join our ’cause’ right now and help us start spreading the word on the film, get a buzz going, get some fans and followers, and in general start engaging the target audience for the film early on.

I’d love to hear from you any ideas you have….anything you’ve done that’s worked, or not worked, or anything you’re in the process of doing with regards to engaging your marketing partners in the early stages….