10 Tips for Promoting a Local Screening of Your Film
Once you set up your screening, the next step is promoting the event to get people to come see it. If you are doing this screening for the members of an organization, you don’t need to do anything, unless the event is also open to non-members. If you are organizing your own event, you need to do extensive promotion. Following are tips on promoting your event.
1) If you are doing an event for an organization and can help promote the screening, find out how you can help. These efforts will be much like the way you might promote your film, though you might more actively promote the latter. Some ways to help the organization include:
- passing out flyers at business referral and networking groups,
- announcing the event on your social media groups,
- providing announcements about the screening to organizations you belong to, so they can include it in their newsletter,
- inviting friends and associates to attend the event.
If this is a paid event, you might be able to offer your friends or associates a guest pass or discount, so ask about that. The guest pass or discount might give those you invite an incentive to come, and your invitees will appreciate the offer.
2) If this is your own screening, think of the different ways you can reach your target audience. One approach is to set up your screening on services like Eventbrite where attendees need to sign up and pay in advance. Then, you can direct your promotion to get prospective attendees to RSVP there, although they might still pay in other ways, such as through PayPal, a credit card, or at the door.
It’s a good idea to offer a variety of options to RSVP and pay to encourage more attendees. Later, you can decide what payment arrangements work best and use those in the future.
3) You can set up your screening on event and meeting platforms. The advantage of using one of the event or meeting platforms is they take care of the booking details. If this is a paid event, these platforms handle the payments for you in return for a service fee paid by you or the attendee. In some cases, you get paid after your event concludes successfully; in other cases, individuals pay up front but get a refund if you cancel the event.
Two of the most popular services are Eventbrite and Meetup, which I have used myself for numerous events. I’ll describe how to set up your screening using these services. Then, follow the instructions on each site about how to describe your screening and set up payment arrangements.
4) Eventbrite makes it very easy to set up a screening, and it provides guidelines you can follow. First, you need to set up an account, which includes entering basic information about yourself, your company name if any, and your address, email, and bank routing number and account to pay you after the screening.
After you set-up your account, create your screening as an event by clicking the “Create An Event” button. Preferably prepare the copy about your screening in advance, so you can readily copy and paste it into the event description, rather than trying to create it on the spot.
In writing your description, think of it as marketing copy to quickly describe what the film is about and its appeal to viewers. You can streamline the process by developing some basic marketing copy you use on different platforms to market your event.
5) To create the screening as an event on Eventbrite, enter in the Event Title, Location, Date, and Time when the screening starts and ends. Also include an image of the film trailer.
Then, add the description of the film, followed by the name and description of the organizer. If you are on Facebook or Twitter, you can link your event listing there.
The next step is to decide on the type of tickets — free, paid, or a donation. Then, select additional settings, such as whether you want a public listing shown to everyone (of course, you do) or a private listing, shown only to the people you specify.
You can additionally indicate the type of event and event topic. For example, the type of event is a film screening, and you can indicate the topic if the film is about a specific subject, such as science and technology, sports and fitness, or health and wellness. Otherwise, you can just select “Film, Media & Entertainment.”
While you have an option of showing the number of tickets remaining, it might be better not to include this, unless you expect a lot of early sign-ups. That’s because prospective attendees might be discouraged from signing up if a large number of tickets are remaining.
Once you enter all of this information, you can save it as a draft. When you have entered all of the requested information, make your event live.
To help prospective attendees find where your screening will be held and decide if this is a convenient location for them, Eventbrite includes a map with your location.
6) Once you set up your screening on Eventbrite, you can direct people there in your flyers and in any advertising, promotion, radio interviews, press releases, or any other methods you use to people to come to your event.
7) Another good platform for getting attendees to your screening is creating a Meetup group and posting information about your screening there. If you already have a Meetup group, just set up the screening as an event.
To initially join Meetup, you have to set up an account. You can opt to pay on a monthly basis or for six months. The cost is about $100 for each 6 months or about $20–24 a month.
After you click the “Start a New Group” page, you will receive an invitation to “Get Started.” Then, enter the group’s location. After that, select up to 15 topics. This is important, because Meetup will send an announcement to members in the area interested in that topic.
Select the topics of interest that fit your film. Meetup will suggest some related topics to help you make your choice, and it’s a good idea to choose among them since they are already in the system, though you can come up with your own topics.
The next step is to pick an appealing name. This could be the name of your film or choose a more general name to encompass a series of films you might feature in the future.
Next, write a brief group description indicating the group’s purpose and what it will do. Meetup has a suggestion you can use as a guide.
Then, review and agree to the Meetup guidelines, which are designed to make sure you plan to have actual meetings. And you do.
If you are not already a Meetup member, you have to sign up through your account on Facebook or Google, or provide an email. Then, you get an option to pay on a monthly basis or every six months. As a new subscriber, you may get an extra discount.
8) Once you pay, your new group is set up and you can add additional sections to provide more details about the group, yourself, and your screening. Preferably, have all of the information about your group and screening ready to go when you sign up. That’s because in a day or two, Meetup will send an announcement about your group to everyone in your area interested in your topics. Those who are interested can request to join. They will then be automatically enrolled in your group, unless you indicate that you want to review all interested Meetup members first. Unless you have a special reason for reviewing applications, let anyone who wants to join do so. This way you are more likely to get sign-ups in your group. However, wait a few days until you get members, at least 15 to 20 members, before you announce your event.
After you pay, you can create your screening as an event, using Meetup’s guidelines about what to include. If you want to charge money, you can offer various pay options, including PayPal, credit card, or paying at the door. Preferably, set up the payment through Meetup’s WePay portal, so people have to pay to attend. That way you are more assured they will attend, in that only about 30–50% of the people who sign up without paying generally come. To use the WePay portal, provide your bank account routing code and account number, and as people pay, the money goes directly to your account.
9) On the group’s home page on Meetup, each group starts with its name and location, followed by the number of members and the organizer. Additionally, there is a group description and photo of the organizer. As members join, Meetup adds their picture or logo.
Once you set up your screening, it will be listed as an upcoming event and you will be listed as “1 attendee.” As others sign up, they will be added to the listing.
If you have further details, you can add them. For example, if you want people to sign up through Eventbrite, include that link in the description, and if people can pay through Meetup, indicate that here.
10) Create a series of promotional materials and activities to promote your screening. These include the following:
- create promotional flyers to announce and briefly describe your screenin
- announce your screening at group meetings
- announce your screening on the social media
- post information about your screening on your website or landing page for your film
- send an announcement about your screening to the organizations where you are a member
- advertise your screening to the selected venue’s audience if they have a newsletter
- set up a table or booth at a local trade fair — or get someone at a trade show to promote your screening
- contact the local media
- use a media service to send out your PR
- hire help with your marketing and promotion.
GINI GRAHAM SCOTT, Ph.D., J.D., is a nationally known writer, consultant, speaker, and seminar leader, specializing in business and work relationships, professional and personal development, social trends, and popular culture. She has published 50 books with major publishers. She has worked with dozens of clients on memoirs, self-help, popular business books, and film scripts. Writing samples are at www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com.
She is the founder of Changemakers Publishing, featuring books on work, business, psychology, social trends, and self-help. The company has published over 150 print, e-books, and audiobooks. She has licensed several dozen books for foreign sales, including the UK, Russia, Korea, Spain, and Japan.
She has received national media exposure for her books, including appearances on Good Morning America, Oprah, and CNN. She has been the producer and host of a talk show series, Changemakers, featuring interviews on social trends.
Scott is active in a number of community and business groups, including the Lafayette, Pleasant Hill, and Walnut Creek Chambers of Commerce. She is a graduate of the prestigious Leadership Contra Costa program. She does workshops and seminars on the topics of her books.
She is also the writer and executive producer of 10 films in distribution, release, or production. Her most recent films that have been released include Driver, The New Age of Aging, and Infidelity.
She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and her J.D. from the University of San Francisco Law School. She has received five MAs at Cal State University, East Bay, most recently in Communication.