Think outside the box office: The ultimate guide to film distribution and marketing for the digital era

364 Pages·2015·6.321 MB·English

by  Reiss, John

What people are saying about
Think Outside the Box Office:
"Essential reading for anyone making an independent film today."
-Scott Macaulay Editor, Filmmaker Magazine
“Think Outside The Box Office” cuts through the “wait and see” and “no one knows”
currently so familiar in this uncharted terrain to provide in a no-nonsense, practical
format an essential road map for anyone serious about getting their film made and
— just as critically — seen.”
-Christian Gaines, Withoutabox, a division of IMDb
“Destined to become required reading for all filmmakers."
-Content Now
"Think Outside of the Box Office, a new book by author, filmmaker and all around
new media thought leader Jon Reiss, is a recommended read for anyone looking
JON REISS
to navigate the trails being blazed as the world of film marketing and distribution
changes and evolves."
-Chris Thilk, Movie Marketing Madness
Jon Reiss is a critically acclaimed filmmaker who has produced and
directed three feature films most recently Bomb It, a documentary about
“Reiss imparts his wisdom like a funny older brother or friend. I’m recommending graffiti, street art and the battle over visual public space throughout the
this book to all of you, even if you’re only dreaming of a filmmaking career right world. His experience releasing Bomb It with a hybrid strategy and the
subsequent articles he wrote for Filmmaker Magazine formed the inspira-
now.”
tion for writing this book. Reiss began his career as member of the punk
-IndieFlix.com
rock documentary collective Target Video, and went on to make five films
with the radical performance art group Survival Research Laboratories as
"Jon has created a template for filmmakers to take their work out into the world well as multiple groundbreaking (and banned) music videos including
ones for Nine Inch Nails, Danzig, Slayer and The Black Crowes. Named
with a plan for success!"
one of “10 Digital Directors to Watch” by Daily Variety, his other features
-Roberta Munroe, Author - "How Not To Make A Short Film: Secrets From A
include the award-winning documentary Better Living Through Circuitry, a
Sundance Programmer" striking exposé on underground electronic music culture and Cleopatra’s
Second Husband a dark psychological thriller. Jon also teaches at the
"A must read. I wish I had Reiss' book 2 years ago. It shows us how to take our film Film Directing Program at Cal Arts. He is currently working with numerous
film organizations, film schools and festivals to bring a variety of distribu-
destiny into our own hands."
tion labs and workshops around the world.
-Gus Roxburgh, Producer, Crips and Bloods: Made In America
Jon can be contacted at [email protected]
“The single most comprehensive and up-to-date resource for all things distribu-
tion. His own real world experiences, and interviews with other pioneers, offer an
education both on the macro and micro levels of these new models.”
-Filmmaker Liam Finn
"Get this book! It's a must read by every truly indie filmmaker and producer.
Marketing and distributing our work is now part of the game and Jon is on the
cutting edge of it all. His book will change how you think about making and
promoting your films and guide you into the future with your eyes open."
-Buzz McLaughlin, exec. producer, Either/Or
THINK OUTSIDE
THE BOX OFFICE
The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution in the Digital Era
Second Printing
Copyright c. Jon Reiss 2010 All Rights Reserved
[email protected]
www.twitter.com/Jon_Reiss
www.facebook.com/thinkoutsidetheboxoffice
Book Layout and Design Will Hays
Cover Design Justin Van Hoy
Book Title by: Susan Graves
Cover Photographer Jay B Sauceda
Assistant Editors Stephanie Bousley & Emy Takada
Copy Editor Jennifer Hoche
Website Programmer Kazuha Torisawa
Online Media Strategist Sheri Candler twitter.com/shericand
Publicity by Green Galactic’s Lynn Hasty & Charlene Boehne
Published by Hybrid Cinema Publishing a division of Hybrid Cinema
ISBN: 9780982576205
For US bookstores and online wholesale sales contact SCB Distributors:
[phone]
For worldwide wholesale or retail sales contact: [email protected]
[phone]
For Social Media Inquiries Contact: [email protected]
For Publicity Inquiries Contact: [email protected]
For Speaking, Educational or Workshop Inquiries Contact me at: [email protected]
Note for Educators: I have prepared 5 week, 10 week and 15 week syllabi for courses based
on the material.
For links, extra documents, distribution and marketing tools go to www.ultimatefilmguides.com
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of the publisher or author.
Grateful acknowledgement is made for permission to reprint the following copyrighted works:
Lance Weiler’s Culture Hacker column on Piracy and Torrent Sites and Lance Weiler’s Hope is
Missing MIG both originally published in Filmmaker.
Cover photo is from a B-Side screening of Before the Music Dies, Republic Square Park
Austin, Texas June 5, 2006.
For Jill, Sam and Lucie who inspire me every day.
TABLE OF
Foreword by Ted Hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p7
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p11
Genesis/Methodology/Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p15
Who the Book is Written For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p19
How to Use this Book/A Note on DIY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p21
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p23
Section 1 - Getting Started
CHAPTER 1 Your Film, Your Needs, Your Audience . . . . . . . . . . . .p29
CHAPTER 2 Your Resources: The New 50/50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p37
CHAPTER 3 Overview of Rights, Markets and Windows . . . . . . . . .p45
CHAPTER 4 Creating Your Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p53
CHAPTER 5 Building Your Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p61
Section 2 - Preparing for Distribution and Marketing
Before You Finish Your Film
CHAPTER 6 Rethinking Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p75
CHAPTER 7 Art vs . Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p79
CHAPTER 8 Preparing Conventional Distribution
and Marketing Materials During Prep,
Production, and Post . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p85
CHAPTER 9 Your Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p93
CHAPTER 10 Increasing, Cultivating, And Partnering
With Your Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p107
CHAPTER 11 Utilizing Social Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p115
CHAPTER 12 An Introduction To Transmedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p127
Section 3 - Live Events/Theatrical
CHAPTER 13 Redefining The Theatrical Experience . . . . . . . . . . .p133
CHAPTER 14 Film Festivals and Your Distribution Strategy . . . . .p137
CHAPTER 15 Conventional Theatrical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p149
CHAPTER 16 DIY Theatrical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p161
CHAPTER 17 Creating A Live Event Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p171
CHAPTER 18 Booking Non-, Semi-, And Alternative Theatrical
- An Introduction To Grassroots/Community
Screenings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p181
CHAPTER 19 Budgeting Distribution And Marketing . . . . . . . . . . .p197
CONTENTS
Section 4 - Marketing and Publicity
CHAPTER 20 Conventional Publicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p213
CHAPTER 21 Creating Publicity Materials And Events . . . . . . . . . .p219
CHAPTER 22 Pushing Content On The Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p229
CHAPTER 23 Direct Web Marketing Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p235
CHAPTER 24 Transmedia, Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p243
Section 5 - Merchandise
CHAPTER 25 Working With A DVD Distributor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p251
CHAPTER 26 DVD DIY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p257
CHAPTER 27 Educational Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p265
CHAPTER 28 Merchandising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p275
Section 6 - Digital Rights
CHAPTER 29 Redefining Digital Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p283
CHAPTER 30 Television/Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p289
CHAPTER 31 An Introduction To Digital Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p295
CHAPTER 32 Selling Your Digital Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p305
CHAPTER 33 Digital Rights Outlets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p315
CHAPTER 34 DIY Digital Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p325
Section 7 - Foreign Sales
CHAPTER 35 Conventional Foreign Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p331
CHAPTER 36 Hybrid Foreign Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p337
Section 8 - Sanity and The Future
CHAPTER 37 Keeping Sane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p343
CHAPTER 38 The Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p347
APPENDIX Advice From Filmmakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p350
APPENDIX Manifesto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p353
About UFG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p358
Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p359
Workshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p360
Love, Em-
brace,
Share. Cu-
rate and
Speak Up
and Out.
The Peo-
ple United
Shall Nev-
er Be De-
feated.
Think Outside The Box Office
FOREWORD
Our dreams are born out of our pasts, curiously making
fantasy rarely relevant to the world we are actually liv-
ing in — and no where is this more evident than in the
dream factory of the film business.
Don’t even get me started on Hollywood, but much of so-
called “American independent filmmaking” is still fueled by the
hopes of industry discovery and colossal riches.
The indie filmmaking process has been romanticized — par-
tially by the misuse of the label “independent” — conjuring up
the notion of an individual auteur pulling a fully formed and
instantly embraced über-work out of his or her brain and onto
screens everywhere. I am not sure that myth ever had any ap-
plicability to our world, to the one in which I have experienced
laboring in the producing trenches on more than 60 “indie”
films in the past two decades, other than helping to inspire a
plethora of content that was left begging for a home and an
audience. Let’s weep for them no longer, though. Change is
now the name of the game.
If the past decade and a half of the American independent film
movement was defined by the demystification of the develop-
ment, production, and festival/sales processes, then the com-
ing hours are about demystifying the distribution, marketing,
and discovery processes. Filmmakers have generally drunk
the Kool-Aid and swallowed the belief that there needed to be
a concrete barrier between creation and discovery — the po-
larization more popularly referred to as art versus commerce.
I have heard hordes of directors acquiesce that they must
“leave the marketing up to the experts” and they had “too
many stories to tell” to get involved in the distribution of the
work they helped to produce. There is no future for innovative,
diverse, and challenging work if those isolating and defeatist
attitudes continue to permeate the community.
Granted, we all have things we do better and enjoy more than
some of the most practical aspects of our daily toil. I totally
get why some artists find it necessary to seclude themselves
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Think Outside The Box Office
from certain influences, practices, and solutions. Yet filmmaking
has always been both a collaborative art and an audience-based
business. No filmmaker can expect to do it on his or her own. At
its most fundamental, cinema is a dialogue between the audience
and the screen. These two simple truths are the core principals that
will allow for a vibrant movie culture to flourish. Collaboration and
dialogue are also the foundation for everything Jon has outlined in
precise detail in this book. They should be every filmmaker’s mantra
for the days ahead.
When filmmakers embrace the dictates of collaboration and dia-
logue as the governing elements for marketing, distribution, and
discovery, grand new possibilities open up to both creators and au-
diences alike. These next few years of Truly Free Independent Film-
making will be about erasing the lines between art and commerce,
between content and marketing, between the narrative and the sell,
and between creation and discovery.
Whether it is that one’s body of work is all one story, or that in-
stead of reinventing the wheel each time, we seek to engage our
audiences, family, and friends in an ongoing conversation, it is this
fundamental mind shift from the way most of the “indie” commu-
nity approaches their work, its marketing, and its consumption,
that will drive the changes to come. Call it what you will, but the
movement to engage audiences more fully in an earlier and actual
dialogue will ultimately mean that stories are more layered, contex-
tual, and robust than they were in the past — and the possibilities
for expansion have just begun to be unearthed. Sure, the cynical
say social network outreach is nothing but marketing, but it really is
a robust, user-driven dialogue and collaboration, one that can fuel
good work finding its appropriate home. It’s a new frontier, and the
book you are holding is a blazing trail into the discovery of a series
of best practices.
While some may like to look at the barrage of change that we’ve
had to endure (i.e., the collapse of mainstream distribution of art
and specialized films, the collapse of print journalism and the na-
tional dismissal of film criticism, the bottoming out of the DVD
market, the continual format wars within corporate media, the
bait and switch of “free” content for expensive and “necessary”
hardware, and the corporate film industry’s rejection of original ma-
terial in favor of “pre-branded” content — The Dixie Cup Movie,
anyone?) as understandable cause for alarm, it can also be recog-
nized as a tremendous opportunity. This book is not about market-
ing work, but collaborative practices that will expose us and others
to new pleasures.
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