This article is for those who got in to Slamdance or Sundance, or will be getting into similar sales oriented prominent festivals in the coming months. First off, congratulations -- you got into one of the premiere film festivals in the world for independent film.
This post was inspired by the recent completion of the first year of the newly formed Independent Filmmaker Labs run by IFP that I helped convert into completion distribution and marketing labs. (I plan to write more pieces about what we either learned as a group in the lab -- or were stressing to the participating filmmakers). To be honest, this advice applies to all filmmakers -- whether or not they are going to a premiere festival.
1. Know yourself, know your film. When you are accepted into one of these prestigious festivals, you are accosted by many people who want to help you sell your film. You should have a sense of who you are and what your film is in order to evaluate what you are being told by those who want to help you.
In order to do this you must:
2. Know your goals. This is one of my mantras -- in order to achieve your goals, or know if someone else is going to achieve them, you must know what your goals are. Not every filmmaker has the same goals. Often different members of the same team have different goals. It is important to discuss this in advance so that you are not operating at cross purposes. As important -- not having defined goals will cause you to be swayed by other people's agendas. Some common goals to consider -- and they are often in conflict with each other:
A. Money aka Fortune.
B. Career launch aka Fame.
C. As wide an audience as possible.
D. To change the world.
E. To develop a long term relationship with a fan base.
3. Know your film. Consider the types of films that are selling in this tighter marketplace. Is your film realistically one of them? While there are always flukes (don't plan on being a fluke!) -- if it is not (and most films do not make big sales at festivals) what is your alternative? Which brings me to:
4. Have a distribution and marketing plan before you bring on representation. It is important for you and your immediate team to have an optimal plan for how you wish to get your film out into the world and the understanding of what it will take to do this.
This plan is not "sell my film." This plan is specifically how you would release into each market, how you are going to engage with your audience and motivate them to attend, buy, watch your film. It won't be your final thoughts on this subject - but you need to start with some sense of what is the best path for your film.
