Promote Independent Movies Online
Websites Spread the Word Without Costing Much Money
Traditional film promotion and publicity includes giving away postcards and posters, sending out media kits, developing supplementary material for a DVD, attending promotional screenings, and giving talks at colleges and festivals. In addition to these methods of getting the word out, Internet options such as trailers, shorts, and an interactive website should be explored for generating additional interest.
In the early days of Internet hype, the team behind The Blair Witch Project set up a website containing folklore associated with the film. A few selective mentions of the website led to throngs of people visiting the website trying to learn more about the mythology associated with the project.
When Eduardo Sanchez, Daniel Myrick, Gregg Hale, Robin Cowie and Michael Monello stepped off the plane in Park City, Utah, for the Sundance Film Festival in January 1998, they never expected their low-budget thriller about a witch hunt gone awry to charm audiences and the media, and to entice distributors into a bidding war. Yet in the first big sale at Sundance that year, the five men, founders of Orlando-based Haxan Films, sold worldwide rights to The Blair Witch Project to Artisan Entertainment.
A film website also mysteriously featured a positive review of the movie before it was even screened at the festival, a trick accomplished through a film lab spy rather than black magic, according to the filmmakers during an interview shortly after they found a distributor for the film.
Similarly, before it was even finished, the documentary film My Date With Drew got a huge boost from a website the filmmakers created asking for help contacting Drew Barrymore. The filmmakers said during an interview that the website inspired interest in the film, rather than the other way around. When they first launched the website, it was mentioned in a trade publication, and they got so many hits that the system crashed.
Star, co-director and co-producer Brian Herzinger said they launched the whole idea from their website, and used it to gauge interest in their project. He recommends spending the money upfront to get a professional-looking website and promotional materials, in addition to hiring a professional photographer to chronicle the entire process of making the film, so that it can be put together in an electronic press kit for later publicity.
Online Marketing
Ellen Raine Scott, a Canadian director of the award-winning short film Diary of an Alien, agrees that besides budgeting for materials and attendance at film festival screenings, online marketing is an important way to spread the word about a film, whether through your own website or posting your film on other sites in contests, for reciprocal-link sites, or some other arrangement. However, she cautions fellow filmmakers.
“Check every line of the agreement with Internet opportunities to be sure you maintain your rights,” she says. “Be careful about compensation when dealing with the Internet companies. Although they offer lots of opportunities, some of them want to obtain your rights. You need to keep your rights even though you are eager to get a deal. So be on the lookout for the good offers and don’t be afraid to reject the bad ones.”
For more information about independent films, read Finding Cast and Crew for Indies.
Use the Internet to Promote Your Film
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