I look forward to a near future in which filmmakers/directors will be able to put out calls for PMDs just as they do for DPs and Editors – and that they will get an equal volume of applications. Directors will develop long term relationships with PMDs that “get them” just as they do with DPs, Editors, and Producers etc.
But these people don’t exist yet – but the work is monumental. I was talking to a director at a party just this week about this issue. All of the producers who helped her make the film had moved on to paying work – they loved the film but couldn’t afford to be involved any more. I asked her if her credits were locked yet, she said no. I said – go post for a low paid position – but offer an associate producer credit (or Associate PMD credit). This doesn’t have to be a film student – or someone working in film. It can be that person you know that is a great salesperson, great with social networking, is organized, is interested in film but has no interest being on a set – they do exist. That is someone who can help you get this work done.
Two of the Co-Producers on Bomb It started working on the film six months after we premiered the film at Tribeca. I couldn’t get them on the credits of the film – but they are on the credits of the PAL DVD, and I will back up their credit on IMDB and in references any day – and that is ultimately what matters – a verifiable credit to someone coming up.
My workshops are in Amsterdam this week. 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. I look forward to hearing from you.
Development of a distribution and marketing strategy and plan for a film in conjunction with the entire team.
Create a budget for said plan.
Assemble and supervise the necessary team/crew elements to carry out the plan.
Audience outreach through organizations, blogs, social networking, online radio etc.
Supervise the creation of promotional and (if necessary due to the lack of a separate transmedia coordinator) trans media elements: including the films website script and concept for transmedia, production stills, video assets – both behind the scenes and trans media, promotional copy and art.
Outreach to potential distribution and marketing partners such as sponsors, promotional partners, various distribution entities, publicists.
When appropriate, engage the distribution process as designed.
Supervise the creation of deliverables.
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. I look forward to hearing from you.
As a filmmaker, I have thought a lot of about complaints from filmmakers of all these new tasks that we are responsible for in distribution and marketing. And this is how I came up with the concept of the Producer of Marketing and Distribution or PMD.
Just like you most likely did not make the film on your own, you should not be distributing and marketing the film on your own. I would argue that from now on, every film needs one person devoted to the distribution and marketing of the film from inception, just as they have a line producer, assistant director, or editor. I gave this crew position the official title of PMD since we need to train people to do this task, give classes in it, write books about it, just as people are educated (or learn on their own) to become DPs.
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. I look forward to hearing from you.
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.
Blogging helps in two ways: First, it drives traffic to your site as you link to new and interesting stories that are related to the subject of your film (For Bomb It, we post news about graffiti around the world.) And second, your blogging activity will help your site’s SEO (search engine optimization). This will result in higher search rankings for your film in relevant categories.
What to blog about?
Of course you should blog about your film, your filmmaking experiences and your screenings, but you should also consider blogging about subjects that relate to your film and your film’s audience. This will make your project relevant to them on a broader level and keep them coming back to your site. One simple way to come up with information to blog about is to use Google Alerts. We received a weekly Google Alert about “graffiti” and “street art” and select a few top articles to blog about.
I want to know what you think! 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.
Jon Reiss’ TOTBO Tip of the Day 9 – Create a Dynamic Website
Create a dynamic web site and do it long before your film is done.
Old-style film web sites are out — blogging and a constant flow of information are in. Blogging and tagging is what the little bots out in cyberspace will recognize and bring you up in the rankings. Thanks to my wonderful friend and web site savior Michael Medaglia and a lot of great blogging by producer Tracy Wares, we were near the top of Google search on “graffiti documentary” even before our world premiere at Tribeca. A great web site also helps you cultivate your niche audience and further allows the theatrical to fuel your DVD release.
I want to know what you think! 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.
Jon Reiss’ TOTBO Tip of the Day 6 – Identifying and Engaging Your Audience
Here is the Jon Reiss TOTBO three step approach to audience development and engagement:
1. Know WHO your audience is. This is not 18-25 year old boys/men. Or 35 – 55 year old women. As an independent filmmaker, if you cross over into a mass audience great – but you need to be much more specific. Tomorrow’s tip will discuss niche vs core audiences.
2. Know WHERE your audience derives information/congregates. In other words how you can contact them, engage them, communicate with them.
3. Know HOW your audience engages media, or HOW they will support you.
PS I was going to address budgeting this week, but I have shifted that topic to next week.
Jon Reiss’ TOTBO Tip of the Day 7 – Differentiating Core and Niche Audiences
The terms Core and Niche are often used interchangeably and this is a mistake. The niche audience for your film is that slice of the population that has a particular interest in your film or an aspect of your film. The core audience for your film is those people within each niche that are your most ardent supporters. Those people who will spread the word about your film to not only their networks, but to the rest of that niche. You can have multiple niches’ that are interested in your film, and within each niche there is a core who combined adds up to the core of your film.
Jon Reiss’ TOTBO Tip of the Day 8 – Engage Organizations to Promote Your Film
Step 2 of Audience Engagement is: Know WHERE your audience derives information/congregates.
Many niche’s have organizations that support those specific topics and interests. Engage those organizations early in your filmmaking process (as early as conception and prep). It is important to have the proper attitude toward your audience and these organizations. You need to think, “What can I give them?” instead of “What can they do for me?” If you think of the former, the latter will flow. People are very busy. You need to give them an incentive to be involved with you. The film is not enough. How will the film service their organization, their lives and the lives of their members? In turn, they will help you promote your film to your direct audience. This has been used by great effect by documentary filmmakers. Narrative filmmakers need to follow their lead.
I want to know what you think! 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.
Lois Feinis IndieFlix Filmmaker Interviewer,
Podcaster, and Host for IndieFlix Play It Again Podcast. Lois is a recording artist, songwriter, and performer.
Her songs “It Ain’t Easy” and “Chasing the Moon”
are featured on IndieFlix Play It Again Podcast.
Listen to more of her music from her debut CD Step Into the Water at: www.LoisFein.com
Hello readers. This is the first installment of a multi-part series from our friend Jon Reiss, filmmaker, entrepreneur and author of “Think Outside the Box (Office),” a must-read marketing handbook for all filmmakers. Stay tuned as we post new tips from Reiss every day during the series.
Day 1 – The Next Chapter
Many of you might know me from the book that I have written recently, Think Outside the Box Office (TOTBO for short). The primary reason that I wrote it was to share what I had learned while distributing my film Bomb Itwith other filmmakers so they could learn from my successes and mistakes. In the continuation of that mission I am launching two more initiatives – both in support of how people want to interact with this information. The first is a series of workshops around the world. It seems that the live experience is as important as the written word in imparting this information for many people. We are starting with London on May 8/9, Amsterdam on the 12/13, New York on June 5, Vancouver on June 12/13, San Francisco July 31/Aug1 with more being lined up.
The second initiative is the launching of a TOTBO Tip of the Day. This will soon be joined by Resource of the Day. In these tips, I will give not only a sense of what’s in the book and workshop, but they will be a forum to convey new tips to you as I learn them.
I want to know what you think! 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.
Jon Reiss’ TOTBO Tip of the Day 2 – Every Film is Different
Each film is unique and requires its own individual distribution and marketing strategy. A comedy about stoners will not have the same audience as a documentary about Aids orphans in Tanzania. Similarly each filmmaker has a different set of goals, needs, and resources. While the studio one size fits all model worked well for some independent films over the last 20 years – it was a disaster for others. With the new hybrid model of distribution you can craft a distribution and marketing strategy that makes the most sense for your film. You have a unique vision. Use that vision to engage your audience in a unique manner. This will help separate you from the media noise that surrounds us every day.
What do you think?
Jon Reiss’ TOTBO Tip of the Day 3 – Know Your Goals
I cannot stress this enough. I cannot repeat this enough. There are multiple goals that you can strive for in the release of your film. You must prioritize what is most important to you. I categorize the goals for the distribution and marketing of your film into the following five (with a sub goal number 6):
Money
Career launch, help for your next project, fame.
Audience/eyeballs to see the film
To have an impact on the world
A long term sustainable connection with a fan base.
A green release.
Choices that you make in service of one goal will often sacrifice another goal. For instance releasing your film for free on the internet might get you the most eyeballs, but it won’t help you monetize the film.
You must make sure that everyone on your team is on the same page and don’t have conflicting goals. At the Slamdance Filmmaker Summit, I gave homework to two sets of filmmakers with whom I did a live speed consult*. While Hunter Weeks, a very savvy filmmaker, had known for some time his goal for his current film Ride the Divide was to help him get another film made, what he didn’t know until that night was his goal was different from his producer Mike Dion which was to make money to return the investment for his investors. These goals are two that are traditionally in direct conflict (career launch normally associated with some form of traditional theatrical which in turn is usually a money drain).
What do you think?
* I had so much fun doing these speed consults that they have become an integral part of nearly all of the workshops I conduct. The first day of the workshops is a presentation of the principles of the new techniques of distribution and marketing from a very practical perspective. The second day is primarily limited to 20 films/projects and I do 20-30 minutes speed consult on each – with all the other teams present so that they can learn from each other.
Jon Reiss’ TOTBO Tip of the Day 4 – Setting Marketing Strategy
Two helpful ways to think about marketing:
1) Reaching the audience that already exists for your film, and
2) thinking creatively of what audiences might be interested in your film.
I recommend that you consider and conceive of a marketing strategy for your film early in the production process, even at inception. Who is its audience? How are you best going to reach them? Are there particular blogs, organizations, print media that they subscribe to? Who will you bring on to help you outreach to your audience? How does this audience consume media? Answering these questions will help to fashion your release strategy.
Jon Reiss’ TOTBO Tip of the Day 5 – Budget for Distribution and Marketing
In order to successfully execute a marketing plan for your film, a budget must be developed in tandem with your production budget. This is not an optional expense to be decided at the end of post production. A marketing and distribution budget is a tool that balances what needs to be spent against what can be afforded, and helps make choices about which methods will be priorities and which ones cannot be implemented due to cost. A well analyzed, affordable budget will help to focus achievable marketing efforts without wasting time and money. Doing this will also make it seem that you have a sense of how you are going to make your investors money back (and that you care).
Next weeks tips will give expand on this topic – to help you navigate this process.
When I talk to IndieFlix filmmakers about marketing, I find a common sense of frustration and almost helplessness in our conversations. Sometimes they tell me about how a former distributor did them wrong or how promises fell short and important deadlines were missed.
The traditional life of an indie movie used to depended on a narrow release window with theatrical screenings, premiers and press releases. If that format didn’t lead to a huge distribution deal or fame and fortune, then what’s the next step?
At IndieFlix, we try to encourage filmmakers to think beyond these traditional formats and really delve into social media marketing, to utilize the support networks of the online community and find their niche audiences in online blogs and forums.
Finally, a book I can refer them to.
Filmmaker Jon Reiss’ new book “Think Outside the Box (Office)” answers these questions realistically and turns marketing into a positive, empowering experience for filmmakers. The book follows the trajectory from day one of pre-production all the way to worldwide distribution with smart, practical DIY tools at every step. (And IndieFlix gets a shout-out in the distribution chapter!)
Reiss bases all of his advice on his personal experiences with his film “Bomb It,” a documentary about graffiti culture. He critically analyzes his own mistakes and successes of that film launch and offers tips he received along the way.
One of the biggest themes throughout Reiss’ book is the importance of planning. Even a simple brainstorm timeline is necessary for every step of the way, from preproduction to press kit. Marketing should not only be included in every brainstorm, but every venture should have a marketing endpoint.
The four basic elements that Reiss insists you think about, beginning in pre-production, are:
What you want/need from your film
The qualities of your film
Your potential audience
Your resources
Each one of these should a part of your film production story and you should ask yourself the following questions:
What does success mean to you? Do you want your film to become a mainstream hit or build a conscious community around your message? What qualities of your film make it stand out and different from others? Why do people have to see your film? Who is that audience? How old are they? What are they interested in and where do they live? What web sites do they visit and what publications do they read? Realistically, what resources do you have to make this launch a success? Who is on your team and will help you promote it? What is your budget?
Filmmakers should be able to utilize these questions to create a strong marketing campaign for their work. Reiss suggests creating a goal and working backwards. Marketing, he insists, is not a dirty word. These strategies are going to be what helps you successfully reach your audience.
Not only does the book focus on the broader picture, but Reiss really gets into the nuts and bolts of the process, from creating the web site to becoming a relevant blogger and hosting a successful screening. A combination of on- and off-line exposure is necessary for visibility.
This book is an excellent resource for any filmmaker, regardless of their level of experience, budget or connections. Throughout, Reiss imparts his wisdom like a funny older brother or friend. He even suggests only reading parts of his book as you find them useful and breaks up the chapters so it reads like a workbook. I’m recommending this book to all of you, even if you’re only dreaming of a filmmaking career right now.
Filmmaker Jon Reiss has spent a lot of time working the indie film market and has accepted, if not embraced, the marriage of filmmaking and marketing. He has written a much-anticipated book on the subject, called “Think Outside The Box (Office): The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution and Marketing in the Digital Era,” which chronicles the lessons he learned while promoting his film “Bomb It,” a documentary about graffiti on five continents. The book is, he describes, a “360 page nuts and bolts guide to distribution and marketing for filmmakers,” which basically goes over all the things filmmakers have to think about when all the hard work of creating their art is over.
He deals with these subjects at length on his blog. His latest post answers a lot of questions about the state of distribution and marketing indie films and the steps filmmakers must take to make sure their work gets noticed in today’s economically challenging, online world.
Not only does he advise working with distribution companies like IndieFlix that offer competitive profit splits, but he describes in detail a film’s “path to release.” It’s exciting that Reiss points out that blanket, untargeted marketing and simple “check this out” messaging simply doesn’t work for anything but multi-million dollar pictures.
Being able to find those niche groups and tailor your promotional messaging to them is an essential tool for indie filmmakers. Plus, audiences get genuinely excited about films they’re interested in watching because it relates to their own interests. In turn, those people are more likely to talk about it to friends who might enjoy it as well.
Marketing, Reiss says, “isn’t a dirty word – it is the way that filmmakers will connect with their audience.” I like that statement a lot – it’s something we try to emphasize to IndieFlix filmmakers on a daily basis. Marketing your film doesn’t make you a salesman or a shameless self-promoter… it’s the avenue you take to reach the people who probably don’t know about your film but would be very interested in it once they do.
Filmmakers have to include marketing in their filmmaking timelines. Reiss advises to start thinking about it “at inception… or at least in production.” It’s disappointing to work so hard, only to sign it all away and watch it drift into oblivion or collect dust on a library shelf. Taking control of the process, going in with a game plan and remembering who your audience is are all essential pieces to a successful launch. Trying to promote an indie film through the old-school studio distribution model is like trying to fit a circle piece into a square hole. Recognizing and accepting that fact is the first step to making a successful film and proactively taking control of your art.
The market is changing and evolving, so it’s important to stay flexible and experiment a little with marketing and distribution. I can’t wait to pick up Reiss’ book, because we’re all learning and are in this boat together.
I look forward to a near future in which filmmakers/directors will be able to put out calls for PMDs just as they do for DPs and Editors – and that they will get an equal volume of applications. Directors will develop long term relationships with PMDs that “get them” just as they do with DPs, Editors, and Producers etc.
