| Creative Strategies to Build an Audience |
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| John Bain | |
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Page 1 of 2 Start with the notion that when filmmakers decide to make a film, they do it for the right reasons: they love the process, they have a unique story and/or message to communicate, and they want to change or to entertain the world.Some of them want their story to educate or reach the greatest possible number of people, and making money is a bonus. Others want to maximize profits. But either way, they want to reach the widest possible audience. The starting pointSo, once the filmmaking process has begun, the producers must ask themselves two key questions.
Once you have answered those questions, you are ready to start directing your resources into two important activities:
The DistributorIt is extremely difficult to have a successful release without a distributor. Most distributors will try to pick films that will generate revenues, from which they can earn distributor fees. But they are also in the business because they love movies. This means they will definitely champion the films that they love.The distributor will establish the release pattern and P&A (prints and ads) budget for the picture. This can range greatly, depending on such things as the size of the picture and whether it is also being released in the U.S. Sometimes the film is released on a “wide” basis with a big spend up front; sometimes it is released on a “platform” basis, with a minimum spend at the beginning which will grow if and when the film is performing. Your distributor should spend money in the media and the media activities that do the best job of reaching your target audience. For example, you don’t spend money on bus shelter advertising in North York if your audience lives in downtown Toronto. Continued... |
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