Funding Marketing For Distribution

+ why filmmakers are responsible and what to do about it

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

Last week I talked about what’s new in distribution and I invited you all to email me with what you’re up to if you’re in the trenches trying to get distribution on your completed projects.

I also announced my Distribution Lite consulting service for June where I help match your completed films, docs, or series with the appropriate platforms, distributors, and/or sales agents. (email me at stacey@filmspecific.com if you’re interested in this service).

But here’s the thing….

Whether you’ve spent $50K or $5 million on your film, you will also be expected to float the marketing and promotion budget no matter which company or platform you’re working with.

I experienced this recently on a few of my own films and in each case, the financiers had to reach back into their pockets to come up with some money to push the film out there in concert with our premiere.

I know hat you’re thinking - you don’t have money for that! And you didn’t do the reasonable thing and set some aside from the production budget (don’t worry, we didn’t either) 🤷🏻‍♀️

But I have had clients submit to and receive grants from non profits which covered a marketing budget (for impact films), pitch to brands to create a branded partnership in the form of live events/screening tour that was able to cover marketing costs for a release, or even crowd funding.

Where’s the best bang for your buck? If you’re operating with limited funds in my experience you’ll get the most mileage from hiring professional PR, and digging in and doing your own social media marketing.

We’ve also spent marketing funds on hosting a few high profile screenings which in turn led to press coverage which in turn became it’s own little flywheel of buzz, so I would consider live events a good use of funds if planned and executed properly.

Each film is different so requires its own strategy, but even if you can muster an extra $10K-$15K in extra funds, you can move the needle with your release better than doing nothing at all.

What’s been your experience with marketing and promoting the release of your film?

Were you shocked when Distributor conversations mentioned that it’s your responsibility not theirs to market the film?

Let me know in the comments below….

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Independent Series Distribution?

Coming up, I’ll tell you how I’ve changed my stance on independently producing a series for distribution when it’s completed. Yes, independent series distribution is now a thing….

Stay tuned!

Stacey

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