Producing A Film? Create Your PR Plan First

Making a film can be a magical experience, but many filmmakers get so excited about and engrossed in the making of their film that they forget producing their film is only step one. Actually the production of your film should be pretty far down the line in your film to-do list. Particularly when it comes to new filmmakers, the excitement of making a film, and all that is involved in scripting, pre-producing, casting, production and post production, has a tendency to become all consuming. Creating the film becomes everything. But here’s the question, what are you going to do once your film (filled with joy, enthusiasm and dreams as well as blood sweat and tears) is completed. How are you going to get your film, promoted, marketed, distributed? How are you going to build that bridge between your finished product and your audience?

If this article were actually a script, we’d be having a flashback sequence here. We flash back to the incarnation of your project. We would fade back to before you edited, shot, cast, or wrote your film and add a new focus to the process. In this sequence your new flash back approach in the past would change your future. You’d figure out a game plan outlining how to PR, promote and market your film. Your new public relations plan would act as a guide, as a roadmap as you moved forward in your filmmaking process. It would be a bridge-building process between you, your audience, distributors, potential investors and influences. It would be the focus that helped insure your film would have a strong shot at succeeding.

So many filmmakers come to me after they’ve finished their film. They’ve been so wrapped in the process and the project has inevitably gone over budget. They didn’t consider a marketing campaign before they started production and now have very little money left for marketing. There’s often little I can do for them at that point. Those I have most success with either start with me during pre-production, or from the start realized that marketing was an essential part of the game plan and kept that in mind during the production process.

Ideally you want to start promoting your film and creating a buzz online and in the media before you finish shooting or editing your project. A well thought out media relations and social media campaign can serve you in a number of ways. Keep in mind, depending on your needs; you are going to be addressing different audiences with your media relations campaign. One outreach could be directed to the general public, another to a more targeted grout of viewers, another to distributors and still another to possible investors. You can also start creating a buzz for upcoming projects while promoting your current film.

So dive into your film project. Make the very best film you can. But be smart about it. Make a PR and marketing campaign an essential part of your film’s game plan. You don’t want to end up with a film that a few of your friends see, or gathers dust in your home, or gets submitted to a few film festivals and then fades away. You’ve put your heart, soul, time and money into your film project. You now owe it to the film and to yourself to give it a chance to succeed.

The PR & Distribution Connection for Indie Films

There are two primary areas where most independent films run into roadblocks, the first is marketing/PR and the second is distribution. That has pretty much always been the case, but now, with the film industry in such flux and more competitive than ever, it’s becoming even more of a challenge. Marketing, public relations and media exposure do not only create a buzz and help establish your brand, but these strategies can also solidify distribution interest, and interest film festivals. Distribution gives your film a way to reach your audience

At Anthony Mora Communications, Inc. we’ve been promoting major and independent feature films and documentaries for years. Having worked as a screenwriter and indie film producer, I know the hazards and pitfalls of getting a film from concept to the market. With that in mind, we’ve developed a unique PR and distribution outreach designed to publicize and market films as well as secure distribution.

Our firm specializes in media placement, media training and image development. We have placed clients in a wide range of local, national and international media venues including: Time, Newsweek, The Today Show, 60 Minutes, CBS This Morning, CBS Evening News, People, US, Entertainment Tonight, Premiere, Fox News, USA Today, CNN, MSNBC, 20/20, Oprah, The London Times, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and various other media outlets.

Making a film can be a magical experience, but many filmmakers get so immersed in the making of their film that they forget about focusing on the next steps, specifically marketing and securing distribution. Too many filmmakers forget to ask themselves what they are going to do once their film is completed. How are they going to get their film, promoted, marketed, and distributed? What is their gameplan for building that bridge between the finished product and the audience?

What we’ve developed are unique PR and distribution film packages with the independent filmmaker in mind. The approach is to actively PR and market a film while pursuing distribution through a number of channels including theatrical, DVD, VOD/Pay TV, and Online/Streaming.

We deal directly with distributors to make sure your film get the best deal and secure the widest release possible. By coupling our distribution efforts with a simultaneous specialized publicity campaign, we increase your film’s exposure both during the process of securing distribution, and during your film’s release.

If you have a completed independent film and are seeking distribution and publicity we can help. We have worked with a wide array of movies. Each film is unique and there are an almost infinite number of different strategies we can utilize depending on the needs of each project. Your primary objectives are to have your film find its audience and to make your project profitable. Public relations and distribution are the two keys that can help you reach your goals.

How to Use PR to Launch Your Independent Film

The film world has been going through seismic changes. It hasn’t been rocked quite a hard as the music world, but still, this is not your dad’s film world and it’s changing by the minute. So start by shifting your mindset. The days of making a film, finding a distributor and opening theatrically may still be alive, but on life support. Going from conception to production, to theatrical distribution was never an easy road to begin with. Only a handful made it, but now it’s even tougher. Traditional distribution channels are shrinking and financing whether it be for development, production, or distribution is getting harder and harder to come by. Particularly when it comes to small independent films, the heyday of companies such as Miramax, Gramercy, New Line and Lions Gate is now behind us.

But let’s say you’ve finished your film. You’ve maxed your credit cards, or mortgaged your home, and sold your cat, but you managed to get it done. So now what? You’ve submitted to Sundance? You’ll give a few more festivals a shot and then you’ll… wait? Well that’s one approach. But it might be a good idea to start considering a few other avenues.

When it comes to the entertainment world, whether it be film, music or publishing, perception always helps shape reality. No one knows this better than the studios. Particularly when it comes to blockbuster sequels, which often tend to be dreadful, the PR, marketing and online blitz is generally enough to send millions to stand in line at theatres and to buy DVDs. The studios are creating urgency through marketing that all but forces the public to consume. So, why not take a page from their playbook? You can’t compete with them budget-wise, but you can jump into the game with creativity, savvy and some marketing know-how.

Launch your own PR campaign for your film. You don’t need to have a theatre opening date or even a distribution deal in place. You can launch your media campaign in order to land a distribution deal. By creating a media buzz you separate yourself from the rest of the crowd. PR can help build an audience, attract investors, interest distributors and position you and your film to succeed.

So, how can you launch a PR campaign for a film with no distribution? Be creative. Maybe a pitch on how you raised the money to make the film, or a story on how the subject matter relates to something that’s currently in the news, or how it illustrates a trend. Perhaps your journey from your previous life to filmmaker would make for an interesting local feature. Is there something else you’re working on, or a cause your involved in that could make for a good story? If so, pitch that and then bring your new film into the interview. There are a number of possible story ideas. Think outside of the box. Once you have some PR, now you have the Internet which you can use to amplify and magnify your media coverage. I’ll be covering online marketing approaches and using you PR on the Internet in an upcoming article.