A Final To Do List for Distributing Your Own Film
The previous articles on distributing your own film have described in detail what to do. Here I want to briefly summarize the major steps to take in doing your own distribution, whether you work with an aggregator, other distribution platform, or set up a website for your film.
Recognize that doing your own distribution does take work — perhaps 20 hours a week or more in the two to three months before you launch the film and two to three months after you launch it. Besides any promotion you might do for a film distributed by a distributor, you have to
take on the marketing tasks that a distributor might do.
Following are 10 key major marketing and promotion activities to publicize and sell your film.
1) Create your movie trailer, poster, and press materials so these are ready to go. Make sure your material looks professional, because like a good book cover is a major key to selling a book, a good poster and trailer are an introduction to your film, so viewers want to see more.
2) Set up a website for your film, whether it’s a standalone site or a page on your website devoted to your film. Include an image of your poster on the opening page and provide a link to where people can buy a DVD or purchase or rent a downloadable or streamable version of your film. Keep this website or page simple, so it’s like a landing page devoted to promoting your film and getting visitors to buy.
Essentially, this page should only have the poster, a trailer, some testimonials if you have them, and a “Buy Now” button that directs visitors to the site where people can purchase or rent your film (such as your website, Amazon, or iTunes). The page should also include an opt-in form to obtain the person’s email, so you can contact them in the future and perhaps offer a gift, like a coupon for future purchases. Include social media icons on your site, so visitors can share information about your film on social media sites.
3) In order to collect emails when people sign-up on your opt-in form, set up an email service, such as MailChimp, Aweber, GetResponse, to handle the collection and follow-up for you,. If you don’t know how or want to make these arrangements yourself, hire a virtual assistant who has done this before to set up the service for you and then monitor the results.
4) Arrange with an aggregator, such as FilmHub and Quiver, to handle sales and rentals of your film. Many have non-exclusive deals, so you can still sell your film in other ways. Decide on which approach works best for you — a no-fee upfront with a commission off each sale or an upfront fee and no commission on future sales.
5) Make sure you have a very good, professionally done trailer, because this is a critical tool for promoting your film. It should include a link to your film website or to a page featuring a link to buy or rent your film. You can upload your trailer to YouTube, Vimeo, or popular social media sites, though if you upload it to YouTube, be aware that YouTube can either play other videos on your channel (if you have them) or other random videos after your trailer plays. So consider using Vimeo instead. There’s a basic account you can use to just play your trailer or set up a Vimeo Pro account for $20 a month paid annually, which will enable you to sell your video directly from that site.
6) Create one or more press releases about your film, featuring different stories in each one, such as the launch of the film, tie-ins with the news, and behind the scenes stories. Another promotional possibility is getting a story in the local newspapers and magazines where you filmed scenes in the movie. Contact the local media yourself or with the help of an assistant to follow-up, and use an online press release submission service, such as PR Wire, to send information on your film to the national media, including radio show hosts, magazines, and journalists. Target the publications and shows which do features or cover the entertainment industry. As you get stories in the media, create a list of them and let the news and social media know about them. This way you build on past publicity to get even more coverage, including in larger media outlets.
7) Create a profile and page for your film on the social media and include links to your website or other sites where your film is sold, so you can drive traffic there. The major sites to have profiles include Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Join online forums interested in the subject of your film and join the discussions on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media. Find ways to share information of value relevant to the topic and respond to posts by others with relevant comments. Include links to your website in your post, though don’t only pitch your film, since that can be considered spamming, and you can potentially be banned from the group.
8) Consider advertising on various social media sites and other platforms that are targeted to the market for your film. You can boost your social media posts or set up advertising through the platform’s ad manager. For example, some of the major platforms where you might advertise are Facebook, Google, Twitter, and YouTube. Start with a small ad budget, say $5 to $10 a day for 10 to 30 days, so you can see how well the ad is performing, before you spend any more. Then, if the ad is doing well by leading to increased sales, you can increase your ad budget, as long as this good return continues.
You might also buy some ads in offline magazines or newspapers which cover the subject of your movie or are in your local area.
9). Once your film is listed on the major transactional VOD platforms, such as Amazon, iTunes, and Google Play, step up your publicity and advertising to get visitors to those sites to purchase your film. Treat your initial PR and advertising promotion like the launch of your film, where you want to increase sales as much as possible over a short time period of a few days to a week to increase your sales ranking. Then, these sites may be more likely to promote your film through their own promotions, leading to even more sales, and you can use these high sales rankings in your future marketing and promotion efforts to get even more sales.
10) Monitor the results you are getting from promoting and advertising your film on different social media and sales platforms. Then, continue to expand those efforts that are the most effective and stop or change those promotions or ads that are not doing as well. Consider the different elements in your campaign, such as the copy, use of images, target market, and the platform where you are doing your promotion and advertising. Through this assessment, you can optimize both the content and way you are approaching your market. If you don’t have the time or interest in doing this assessment and coordinating your marketing and promotion campaign, consider hiring a marketing or PR professional to handle these activities.
All of these efforts should help you in increasing both the awareness of your film and its sales. You can then decide if you want to continue doing your own distribution or look for a distributor. Preferably, get an established distributor, since they will not only do the hard marketing work and much of the promotion, but they can get you into major distribution channels, such as Netflix, that you are unlikely to access yourself.
Doing your own distribution successfully can be a great way to get started, if you don’t initially find an established distributor. But afterwards, you may be able to get a distributor or a bigger distributor than you might initially get with a new film and no track record. While some filmmakers do prefer to stick with self-distributor because they may get higher returns at first because established distributors commonly deduct fees for marketing and promotion. But in the long run, a good distributor will open up more channels and do more of the marketing and promotion than you usually can do yourself. So generally, consider doing your own distribution as a stop-gap approach when you don’t have a distributor. But then it is usually better to turn your self-distribution efforts into a distributor deal for more money for less work in the long run.
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.