This feature is part of an ongoing blog contribution from Jon Reiss, independent filmmaker and author of “Think Outside the Box(Office).”
Last week I spoke about connecting with audience, creating a dynamic website and blogging. Today’s tip is how to create relationships between your film organizations that should be interested in your film. This is an especially useful strategy for documentaries that naturally have a wide range of potential issue-oriented sites to connect to. But with a little outside-the-box thinking you can probably find relevant sites for your narrative film as well.
Ways to create a relationship with other sites/organizations:
1. Blog about their sites and link to them.
2. Request that they link back to you.
3. Send them your film and ask them to blog about the film and/or review it. (This also helps your search engine rankings — search engines will improve the rankings of sites that other sites not only link to but also write about.)
4. Go one step further: Create an affiliate relationship with those sites or organizations.
5. Use this relationship to generate community screenings.
Jon Reiss’ TOTBO Tip of the Day 12 The New 50/50
Distribution and marketing can take as long and cost as much, or more than you spent on your film. The new 50/50 is not a revenue split but the mental shift that filmmakers must make about the filmmaking process. This is not a hard and fast rule, remember all films are unique. It is essential to match the budget of your release to the kind of film that it is, your goals, and where it fits in your career. As budgets go up the proportion might be less, but it is a good guideline when embarking on a project. It is far better to have $50,000 to release a $50,000 film than to make a $100,000 film with no way of getting it to an audience.
My workshops start this week in London and next week in Amsterdam. Check out the TOTBO site for more information. Comment here or on my blog, or @Jon_Reiss on twitter, or on the TOTBO Facebook page. Check out the book here. I look forward to hearing from you.
