I have introduced you to the wise words of marketing guru Seth Godin before. He has amazing insight into the inner workings of marketing strategy and using it to your advantage. He has a book called The Dip which is about quitting. Yes, quitting is a success strategy that goes against everything anyone has ever told you about succeeding. The reason I want to talk about it here, where filmmakers come to read my thoughts and advice about film marketing, is that learning about quitting is a valuable tool to use before you embark on a career in filmmaking, or any career for that matter. I realize that this is not a popular concept, but hear him out.

With the proliferation of digital cameras and tools, the process of filmmaking has become simplified. So much so that practically anyone can give filmmaking a try and the market is now flooded with cheaply made, varying quality films all hoping to succeed. So how does one succeed and stand out from this  pack of new filmmakers? Seth explains that the dip is the barrier that exists to keep the masses out. When you start off being a filmmaker, it is so exciting. You are filled with enthusiasm for your project and you infuse that energy in the people around you so that they are also excited and supportive. Everyone starts out with a full head of steam when they start.

Then comes the part where you have to come up with a great and strong story, raise money,  find crew and talent who are skilled but willing to work for little to nothing. If you get into the production, it is often without a real sense of what is going to happen at the end and all of that enthusiasm starts to wane. This is the dip, the hard part that inevitably comes. The barrier that separates the truly committed and talented from everyone else. Proper planning, a clear determination toward your goal and an amount of research into what successful filmmakers before you have done to survive the dip will help you come out of it. That is what separates the successful from every other filmmaker.

If you are not willing to commit to coming through the dip, do not start. Do not even attempt it. It is imperative that you do not get into the dip and then quit. All of the time you spent at the start will have been wasted and you will never enjoy the benefits that come after you make it through the dip. You could have directed that time and effort into something else more rewarding. Only the focused, prepared and committed will make it through the dip. Everyone else should quit and devote their time to something else that will make them a success.

Here is a short video of Seth Godin explaining his philosophy on quitting and making it through the dip.

Saturday’s coffee chat at LA Shorts Fest featured guest speaker Kim Adelman, indieWire columnist covering short films and author of the book MAKING IT BIG IN SHORTS. For those who missed the chat, I wanted to cover some of the finer points she mentioned because I think her knowledge can benefit the short filmmaker as well as the indie filmmaker in general.

Her first point was an independent filmmaker has to think of themselves as a studio, just like a Hollywood studio. When you have completed your film, you are opening your doors for business. What do you want to invest your time in? How much time and money do you have to invest in your product, your film? What strategy are you going to develop and follow? I believe you really should decide this before your film is made, but for sure it has to be set when you put it out to market. And then you have to market it.

She recommends starting with film festivals as a means of exposure. You, as the studio, must determine how much money you have to devote to this endeavor. Not only are there submission fees, but travel costs, promotional costs and the time associated with each. While there are a few festivals that pay a filmmaker to travel, most do not. Festivals give your film exposure to a paying audience, give you a chance to meet other filmmakers and people in the industry who could potentially help you in the future, and give you a place to enjoy the atmosphere where being a filmmaker is revered and celebrated.

Some festivals have markets attached. These are the first festivals to consider if you are looking for traditional distribution. Kim suggested that short filmmakers in particular should submit to Clermont Ferrand in France which takes place in January. There is no submission fee and there is a short film market attached. Even if you aren’t accepted for the festival, your film will get into the catalog and screen in the market for buyers. Same for Palm Springs Shortsfest and Worldwide Short Film Festival  in Toronto.  For the feature filmmaker, festivals with markets attached include Berlin (European Film Market is attached, but a separate event), Cannes, AFI (AFM is attached, but a separate event), Philadelphia, PiFan (Korea, for genre films), and Rotterdam.

Kim recommended that you submit to festivals specializing in short films and mixed feature/short films. Shorts festivals give you better exposure if you have a short film because the mixed ones tend to emphasize the features, but being in a mixed festival gives you exposure to feature film producers and industry people who can help you to make your feature which is what short filmmakers usually aspire to do. She strongly recommends that whenever you take part in a festival, you should have your next film idea packaged so that if you meet an agent, producer or distributor and they like your short but want to know what you have planned next and how can they help you, you are ready to present the idea. You don’t want to say “I don’t know” or be scrambling around in your mind trying to formulate a cohesive film idea.

She also warned about spending too much time on the festival circuit with one film. This comes back to the studio thinking. How much time, money and effort do you want to spend on this one project versus the time and money you could spend developing the next one? Too many filmmakers spend an inordinate amount of time on the festival circuit with the same film instead of moving on to the next one. Eighteen months should be your maximum. On the one hand, festivals enable you to meet more people, but they don’t earn you money unless you are selling a lot of DVD copies at the screenings. Going back to festival strategy, identify what it is you are looking to accomplish with festivals. Is it name recognition, showing your filmmaking talent off to agents or distributors, gathering an audience for your DVD sales strategy? Identify when you have accomplished your goal and can move on. 

The next strategy is digital distribution. This is where your film can either be downloaded or streamed online or put onto a portable device such as an iPod or a cell phone. One company that can help you get your short onto iTunes (because iTunes won’t deal with the filmmaker directly) is Shorts International.  iTunes actually gives the short filmmaker a way to make money like there never has been before. There are also revenue sharing sites like Bablegum, Blip.TV, Atomfilms and Metacafe. She cautions that while some money can be made in this process, it is not going to make you rich. It may not even help you break even, depending on how much money you invested in your production. Traditionally, short films were used as calling cards, a way to sell yourself as a filmmaker, not  a way to make money. With the proliferation of digital sites, a short filmmaker can either put their film out there for free and build an audience for their next project that may make money or use these revenue generating sites to slowly recoup some of their costs. Back to the need for marketing, you will only make money on these sites if you can successfully generate traffic and downloads. That takes time and consistent effort. Another company she recommended is a Canadian aggregator called OuatMedia who specializes in the worldwide distribution of short films.

Overall, her statement “You are the Studio” resonated the most. As an independent filmmaker it is all up to you. This is both an exciting prospect because you don’t have to ask any one’s permission to make films and sell them, and a nerve racking one because there is no one holding your hand and guiding you through the process. There is no magic formula that will work every time. Filmmaking is a trial and error process, even for big studios. The path to success is littered with mistakes and poor judgement, but there is no success if you never try.

We had a banner opening last night at LA Shorts. Plenty of celebrity and filmmaker turn out to give the opening of LA Shorts Fest 09 the festive atmosphere it needed to showcase all of the wonderful talent. Pictures are rife all over the internet. You can access our Facebook pages or do a Google search to see what you missed if you weren’t able to attend.

The celebrity shorts were very well received. Many in the audience expressed surprise at how well they were produced and the variety of subjects covered. There was a Q&A session that followed the screening with Scarlett Johansson, Courteney Cox and Kirsten Smith where they discussed some of the difficulties they encountered. Scarlett had to cut one minute out of her 8 minute short in order to comply with the “New York, I Love You” anthology project requirement that  length be no longer than 7 minutes. Kirsten had a DP and 1st AD who clashed. All expressed interest in directing again.

Now, on to the main event. The mix of quality shorts this year is staggering. Many of the shorts have already won multiple awards on the festival circuit so if you have an interest in quality, independent short film, get your tickets now at www.laemmle.com.

The term Deliverables will come up when it is time to sign a contract with your sales agent in order for him to find traditional distribution for your film (theatrical, DVD, VOD,  broadcast, basically public viewing of your film handled by someone else) or with a distributor directly. Deliverables refer to a list of  requirements such as print materials, publicity materials and legal documentation needed to release a film. Deliverables are the last things created by the production team and delivered to the film’s distributor, but are often overlooked by the novice filmmaker.

A deliverables list is usually extensive and can vary wildly depending on the company handling the sale. It is also an expense that is underestimated, wildly underestimated. The latest figure I heard from a professional in the industry was close to $50K and that is if you have done your post production correctly! It is an expense incurred by the filmmaker, usually up front but in rare cases the distributor will front it and take it out of the filmmaker’s cut. So what is on this list that can be so expensive?

Below, you will find a general example of the things asked for by a sales agent or distributor to release your film to the public. This is not an exhaustive list, just commonly asked items. I have heard of some lists running into 7 pages long! Some items can be negotiated. The most expensive items are the prints which can run up to the tens of thousands alone for a feature film. If your audio and sound track were not professionally cut and separated, this is a very expensive redo as well. Careful now, your head is going to spin!

This information was sourced from the Access Film Markets web site.

This post is not meant to scare you away from following your artistic dreams of making a film and having it traditionally distributed. However, the film business is a business like any other and you must be prepared for the realities of it. Every deal is different and there is no set in stone contract. Make sure your deal is assessed by a knowledgeable entertainment attorney and let them advise you on what can and should be negotiated.

Today, I received an email from my friend (and one of my favorite filmmakers) Chris Jones telling me that he put up our podcast interview we did right after his win at the Producers Guild competition. I had a listen and it doesn’t sound half bad. I am always nervous to hear myself out of another device besides my own mouth!

We covered the various aspects of indie film marketing and how using a team approach will help make your film a success. Here is the link to his site and the podcast takes about an hour. I hope that we covered most of your questions. If not, you are free to send some to my email address info@shericandler.com

Now back to heavily promoting the LA Shorts Fest 09. We are in the downhill stretch to opening night on July 23. Have you got your tickets yet? It should be one of the most Hollywood-name filled events this summer. Plus, we have a wonderful program filled with some of the best emerging filmmaker talent on the planet. The Fest runs July 23-31. Get your tickets now.

While I am in the middle of organizing the filmmaker troops and taking advantage of any promotional opportunity that arises to publicize LA Shorts Fest 09, I wanted to share some interesting video I found today thanks to Orly Ravid’s site New American Vision. It is a panel discussion with many heavy hitters, and up and coming ones, regarding the digital distribution landscape for filmmakers. If you have 30 minutes or so for each, give them a look.

“Keeping up with a blog can be a pain in the a**.” I hear this all the time from my clients who would like me to take over this job for them. I hear ya buddy. I have trouble keeping up with my own when I have an abundance of work to do for other people.  So, this is my attempt to get back to posting even though I am neck deep in promoting the LA Shorts Fest. It is a long post.

If you are a filmmaker taking part in this festival (or any film festival for that matter), you may be wondering what is the point of putting your film in a festival. It is an expense, especially if you are traveling to attend, and it doesn’t seem like you are getting much in return. If you have read my other posts, you will know that this expense should have been part of your marketing budget.

Some time ago, filmmakers used film festivals to build anticipation for a theatrical run or for a DVD release, collecting “Official Selection” accolades and “Winner” awards along the way. Film festivals served to elevate work worthy of special attention and, hopefully, attract sales agents’ and distributors’ interest. Making a sale moved the work from artistic expression into paying commercial dividends.

Today, that rarely happens to a festival film, especially a low budget one with no recognizable talent attached. With the closing of several high profile indie distribution companies and the scarcity of securing a lucrative deal with the remaining ones, film festivals often provide the only theatrical run a film might see. They serve as a platform release mechanism without the filmmaker making the investment of securing a theatrical screen for the minimum amount of time required by the cinema (often $1K-$4K per screening for a minimum one week run!).

The cost and time spent submitting the film, preparing and distributing promotional materials, duplication of prints in the required format and shipping them, travel and expenses add up. But does it equal or exceed the cost of only one screening in a local cineplex? How many people will be viewing your film if you ran it alone in a cinema rather than running it in tandem with similar films in a festival program? Plus you have the marketing might of the festival running print and radio advertising, garnering online and traditional media attention , gathering sponsors etc. to help attract the audiences. Granted, they are not focused only on your film, but you can get proactive and turn some of that spotlight on your project by contacting the media outlets yourself and offering interviews and publicity materials for them to use. That will only cost your time or the time of a consultant handling it for you.

Festivals also serve as a networking event, a chance to meet writers, directors, producers and actors useful for future collaboration and possibly industry executives involved in roundtable discussions or informal chats. Business cards are a must if you want to be taken seriously as a professional. Parties and receptions are not just a time to let loose and have fun. Work the room and meet as many people as you can. You never know who might come in handy in the future for projects.

Utilize the festival’s social media outlets as well as your own. I have been encouraging the filmmakers involved in LA Shorts to do this, but so far only a handful are taking advantage. Maybe it is because marketing is not on the forefront of their mind when it comes to their film. It should be. Actively seek out people in the communities where your film is screening. It will take a bit of online research on Facebook, Twitter etc. to find these people, but reach out to them and let them know about your film and when and where it is screening. Many online search tools are great for finding your target audience in a certain locale.

You must have a trailer or a clip to showcase. It is not a requirement, but a strong suggestion. I don’t care if your film is only two minutes long, have a 10 second clip that you can spread around the internet. If your film is two minutes long, do not load it in its entirety on the internet while you are on the festival circuit. What is the point of screening it in a festival if audiences can see it for free on the internet? Plus, nomination requirements for certain awards (like the Oscars) forbid you to make your entire film viewable on the internet.

While I am doing my best to pass along publicity opportunities to all of the participants, do not count on this happening at other festivals. They just don’t have the resources and energy to do this. Bigger festivals offer a press room journalists covering the event will stop into and pick up media kits prepared by the filmmaker. Don’t go crazy on the expenses of this activity. For the most part, these fancy folders go in the trash. Contacting local journalists and bloggers covering the festival directly will better attract their attention than your creatively designed press kit.

Be sure to include your film’s website address and contact information in all of your promotional materials. This is especially important if you are self distributing or attempting a hybrid distribution approach. Sales from your website are likely your only method of making money from your festival exposure. If the festival will let you sell physical DVD’s on site at your screenings, use the opportunity and bring plenty to sell. Ask the organizers if this is possible though, don’t just assume it. Perhaps you can offer special pricing to festival attendees or reduced pricing codes for buying off of your website.

Since filmmakers do not have a say on when their screenings will occur during the festival, a midday screening on a weekday will need more  of your promotional effort attention than a screening at night, or on opening night. Think of what incentives you can offer to audiences who attend your screenings. When devising your budget from the start, factor in this expense. It will inevitably happen.

If you are asked to participate in Q&A opportunities, panel or roundtable discussions or to introduce a film block, do it. Exposure for yourself as well as your film will help solidify your position in the filmmaking community and sharpen your public speaking skills (always useful for pitches!).