Marketing: how much do YOU spend

[3ldfilms]

I'm curious, how many of you filmmakers put time/effort/money into the marketing of your films?

It's so important (even for short films in my opinion) but so few people do it.

I'm curious what other people have put into the marketing of their films whether it be money or just cheap creative efforts.

How many people have a marketing plan in place BEFORE you shoot the film?

Could be an interesting discussion.

[whatismoving]

I was hoping for a nice spirited roundtable on this one. God knows I'd like to know how other people go about it. Our movie had no marketing budget whatsoever, because we spent every cent on making the damn thing. It wouldn't have even taken much, really, maybe a few hundred for targeted ads and guerilla marketing. To be honest, I was exhausted after making the thing, and felt worn out for months. I'd quit my job and spent all my money on movie-related expenses and was actually having trouble getting enough food to eat. We didn't really have a crew or a support system of any kind, and my brother and I were the entire post-production team. A bit of marketing money might have done wonders, though I suspect I would have spent it all on food anyway. I just did (and still do) what I could to keep the website fresh and hoped that reviews and festivals would send people our way. That all helped, but without a bit of seed money, we couldn't do a great deal--which is too bad because we got some rather remarkable reviews and people are really fond of the movie. Anyway, that's our little tale. Anyone have any real marketing stories to tell?

[3ldfilms]

Personally, no matter how small the film, we always try and include a marketing budget IN the production budget.

As much as I feel the same drive to put all your money in front of camera, it won't do the least bit of good if noone sees the movie!

Our last short cost around $30,000 CAN ($20,000 USD) and we made sure to have the following:

Professional on set photographer (no, you CANNOT do it yourself--I tried and if you are directing, producing, or doing any other job on the film the pics will suck--plus a pro takes better pics anyway)

1000 18x24 posters
1000 11x17 posters
1000 8.5 x 11 posters
2000 postcards
1000 DVD packaging (premade for when we do a large DVD run)
Press kits
Website (stilll in works though)

And most of that was free from a deal we worked out with a printer!

Plus, we did a bunch of more cheap guerilla stuff like chalk drawings in the streets. We were also very aggressive about putting posters EVERYWHERE. Often, short films don't have a lot of marketing materials so we specifically made sure that everyone would see or hear about our film.

Our company is doing a feature later in the year that will cost 2 million to shoot and we will have already raised (as part of the production budget that we will have IN HAND before we roll any film through the camera) 1 million in P&A plus a very very in depth marketing & publicity plan. We actually spentb $2000 on to get some investor packages professionally made and you wouldn't belive the difference it made. People weren't wondering if we would make the movie, as far as they wer concerned it WAS being made. Simply because we had really fancy packaging!

Also, the fact that we will be spending 1 million on P&A (regardless of what distributor deal we work out) it is HIGHLY UNLIKELY we won't make good profit since the total costs are so low. Thus it is a lot easier (combined with marketing plan we had created) to get investors on board to give us the money and to presell the film to television.

Even if you don't have much money, it is worth the risk to spend some in advance on your marketing tools. Odds are it will pay for itself if not more!

[frodrick]

I am currently writing my first full lenght so I can't speak much from a film experience but since I direct a lot of theatre all I can say is the more you can throw into marketing the better. I just did a show for a black box theatre and my budget was $500. I spent $400 of that on marketing and still delivered one hell of a show. If you have a product from the get go that you know will deliver then marketing should be a major player. If you have a piss poor script and crap for actors then I would suggest hitting up some rich folk and putting the money somewhere else. Besides, marketing is just as much fun as the product you're selling so don't forget to have fun.
frodrick

[kavedawg]

My work is mostly short animated films with little potentional for actual distribution but I do want things to get seen so how I'm going to market something is always in the back of my mind. I do have some experience in consumer marketing and I have garnered some press on occasion, so here's my .02 cents.

The most effective marketing component that will cost the least amount of money and take the most amount of work...and could ultimately pay off best is your public relation strategy.

Having a good box and a cool poster is important but if no one knows about your work the posters are going to do little else besides look good in your room.

Writing an effective press release and getting it out to the appropriate outlets is tough. It's a highly specialized skill and if you don't think you can do it yourself by all mean hire an expert. There are a bunch of websites out there with tips on writing press releases (try googleing "press release templates")

Don't be afraid to start small and get some local coverage via newspaper arts sections or local weeklies. You might hold your local media in contemp but a press kit with some clippings about you is real helpful to reporters and editors down the line.

Basically, these guys are in desperate need to fill lots of space and they tend to want to expend as little effort as possible. If you looked at most of the press release that led to newspaper stories you would see that they are almost verbatim rehashes of what you sent them.

Be clear. concise and coherent. I have seen press releases from media companies that are obviously the product of a huge p.r. push and they can say everything they need to say in a single page.

If a reporter doesnt see an angle or has to spend too much time rewriting your copy it's not gonna happen.

I work pretty much cyclically. I'll spend a couple months working on a piece but when it's done I know it is time to switch hats and try and sell the damn thing. I duck into a phone booth and emerge as MarketingMan. It's a whole different world but is it really a movie if no one sees it?

[unberto]

Originally posted by 3ldfilms
Our company is doing a feature later in the year that will cost 2 million to shoot and we will have already raised (as part of the production budget that we will have IN HAND before we roll any film through the camera) 1 million in P&A plus a very very in depth marketing & publicity plan.

So how did you raise the money?