Film festivals can be seductive. They offer more avenues to get your feature film viewed. In reality, that has its upside and its downside. Hundreds of films are now shown at film festivals and nowhere else. It’s as though they’re locked in an alternative universe. That can make it feel as though there is movement or traction, but that’s not necessarily the case in the real world.

It’s great that the various festivals offer filmmakers new venues to showcase their projects, but those showings can also give a false sense of security. As a producer or director, you may feel that your film is moving forward where it may not be. And chances are it won’t be if you simply show at festivals and leave it at that.

Your job is to get your film in front of the public. Film festivals are a good start. But, that’s simply step one, now you need to work it! Don’t simply wait for the public, or distributors or producers to find you. Chances are they won’t.

Let’s say you do get your film into a festival. Now you need to market and PR your film. Have clips up on YouTube, have a dynamite website up describing your film. Market your film to the local market where the festival is showing, but also broaden your approach to include the national entertainment media. Start a robust social media campaign.   Now that your film is ready to show, your job is to shepherd your project, get it viewed, get it noticed, create a buzz. The best method I’ve found to successfully market and promote a film, is a combination of social media, blogging and traditional PR.

Public relations is the only form of marketing that garners you and your films the credibility and validation of being featured in the media. You are not presented via an ad, commercial, or social media post but as a news story.

You are the news!

If you can hire a firm to launch a media relations campaign for your film, do it. It will pay off for you in the long run. But if that’s not in your budget, then do your homework, learn the basics of how to launch a PR campaign. But, don’t reach out to the media before researching how to do so. Sending the wrong information or contacting the media with inappropriate pitches can do you more harm than good.

Chances are this film has been a labor of love; it’s caused you blood, sweat, tears and cash. Now you owe it to yourself and to your film to give it a real shoot to succeed.