Tips for Marketing your Independent Film

So you shot your film, spent more months than you care to remember in the editing process and now you are ready to debut the final product. What do you do now to get your labor or love, out to audiences and hopefully to win awards for your efforts?

Here are the key things that matter for your future in to the world of independent film.



1. Alternative Cinemas

Independent films are being screened in many different kinds of venues in a trend which may sweep the world. Digital screens allow art galleries, bars, pizza houses and other non-traditional cinemas to show alternative content.

What does that mean for independent shorts, features and documentaries? Look for these non-traditional outlets and perhaps your film will end up being screened in a pub, with drinks, networking and distribution contacts.


2. Self Distribution

It used to be that self-distribution meant getting your beat up car with a bunch of fly posters, and hitting the road. Sometimes you might have an advance person leaflet the city, and when you arrived, you would do some local radio, screen your film at a local venue, collect the box office (minus the venue's share) sell T-shirts, posters, CD's, collect a few dollars and tank up the van and hit the road again.
It's all changing thanks to social networking websites, new digital opportunities, and the advantages offered by internet distribution.



3. Social Networking

If you don't have a Twitter, Plurk, and Facebook account, get them going now. Find friends with similar interests and professional in the film fields. Don’t hesitate to use social media as your way forward in terms of news, advertising and blatant self promotion.



4. Low Budget Filmmaking
Movies on the web don't need to be the same resolution as movies in cinemas. You can shoot films using lower priced cameras, or even an ultra cheap FLIP camera. Just make sure to save the film in it’s highest resolution so you can make a high quality DVD later.

Meanwhile submit your film to YouTube, Kewego, Motionbox, Truveo and others to promote your film with a trailer. Paramount Studios thinks that Low Budget has a huge future and has launched a low budget division. This is good news for independent filmmakers as more and more outlets become available.



5. Use Internet Optimization Techniques



One of the most important tool filmmakers have in marketing to a niche audience, on the internet, is the understanding and use of key word phrases, and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

The bad news is that SEO is a really time consuming excercise. The good news is that if you are good at it, or become adept at it, you will be able to promote your film on the first pages of Google and other search engines - and sell your film or your film idea.

Develop a blog, podcast or video cast and engage your audience with ideas and controversy. Join in the dialogues of other people’s blogs and forums and become an expert in your field, developing a following for your own efforts.



6. Promote at Film Festivals

Film distributors are increasingly using film festival screenings to promote new releases of films. Using the social nature of festivals to promote contacts, and by eventually getting into the larger festivals, independent filmmakers and distributors can leverage their marketing budgets to the maximum.

For filmmakers seeking distribution, starting the buzz about your film at film festivals is the best place to begin. It's the most direct and easiest way to attract distribution for a beginning filmmaker. There are now hundreds of smaller festivals to get your start in the circuit. A good strategy is to win at one of the smaller festivals so that your film gains credibility and has a better chance of being selected at a larger festival.

A great place to start your quest into the festival world is a festival like the Twin Rivers Media Festival, that accepts, short films and feature films in all genre, as well as scripts and audio projects. This festival is in it’s 16th year and likes the feature and award the works of previously unknown filmmakers. Once you get an award there you are listing in the IMDB database and you are on your way to film fame!