Completing your film is a huge achievement, it takes a great deal of strength and tenacity to stick with it all the way til it’s done. In the old days, if you were lucky, you’d get a distribution deal, and they’d take care of getting it in front of audiences. Either by theatrical distribution, or via DVDs, they’d look after everything, and send you a cheque. Well, that was the theory.
Today, with the collapse of independent film marketing, this hardly happens any more. So what do you do? Luckily, via the Internet, there are many options available. But you have to distribute it yourself: DIY. Even better is DIWO: Do It With Others. By working with others to market your film after you’ve produced it, you can still get it seen, and make money from it.
In fact, in many ways, there’s never been a better time to make films. As well as the huge drop in cost with cameras and other hardware, the Internet allows you to retain almost total control over your film, allowing you to market it in a way that suits you instead of the system. Distribution costs have plummeted, and you can reach audiences very cheaply these days.
The situation can be summed up like this:
CwF + RtB = profits
By Connecting with Fans, and giving them a Reason to Buy, you can make consistent profits from your film. Using such online resources as Youtube, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, BitTorrent and others, as well as offline resources, you can build a community of fans around your films, and create a successful career without ever having a traditional distribution deal.
If you’d like to find out how to do this, contact me.
p.s. if you’ve got a new project in pre production, do NOT wait until it’s finished before you explore how to market it. The sooner you start, the better. Imagine the unpleasant surprise you’ll have if you spend a fortune to make your film, and then discover that absolutely nobody has any interest in watching it! Better to look into marketing before you even start your film.