7 Things to Prep BEFORE STARTING your Festival Run

Far too many people consider the festival circuit as the be all and end all of their marketing and distribution plans.  While there are quite a few things wrong with that approach from a distribution standpoint.  (See last week’s blog here for an outline of why) film festivals can be a great way to market your film.  Although getting ready to attend a film festival is generally a bit hectic.  There’s always a lot to do, and it’s easy to forget something.  So with that in mind, I’ve prepared a prioritized list of the top 7 marketing assets you’ll need to prep before going to a film festival.

1. Business Card

​If you bring nothing else, you should bring a business card.  Well, also a set of clothes I suppose, but I digress.  If you want to make lasting connections, you need a way to follow-up with people.  If you want people to follow-up with you, they’ve got to have a way to reach you. 

Simply saying that you’re easy to find online is not really an acceptable answer at networking events like this.  It’s far too easy to forget that they were going to reach out in professional events like this.
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2. All your social media pages Set up and active

As we discussed last week, a big part of the reason to attend film festivals is to build your brand and build awareness of your film.  You want to make sure your film is easy to find online, and that there’s a way you can establish a connection with anyone who might want to buy it in the future as soon as you’ve connected with them at a film festival. 

For more, check out this article I wrote on proper facebook management.
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Related: How to manage your indiefilm facebook pag

3. Your Website

Its 2019.  Your film needs a website.  Even if it’s just a splash page going to your social media outlets.  The only reason this is below social media is that if you’re going to drive people to your website when you’re not at a festival, you’re going to need something like social media to do it with. 

For more information on what should be on your website, check out the blog below.
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Related: 13 things you NEED on your Production Company Website

4. Printed Materials to give away

Even a business card can sometimes be hard to remember, and it’s nowhere near enough to capture the attention of the overworked journalists that may attend this film festival.  That’s why you need larger, harder to lose festival printouts.  These can give all the information a time strapped reporter would need to write a quick blurb about your film, and direct to something like an EPK for more detailed information.  Learn more with the article below.
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Related: Printed materials for your festival run

But speaking of EPK…
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5. An EPK (Electronic Press Kit)

Every filmmaker will have assets that a would be useful to a reporter, but not really something that could be easily handled by a printed brochure.  That’s where an EPK comes in.  The EPK is more detailed information and assets that can be used by a journalist or reviewer.  It should have blurbs, links to your trailer, sizzle reels, and interviews if you have them. 

For more information, click the link below.

Related: Everything you need in your Indiefilm EPK

6. An Email List Capture page

Going back to your website, if it’s anything more than a simple splash page, you need a way to capture the email address of people visiting your site.  With their consent, of course.  This will be much more valuable to you than almost any other social media, as it’s more static and doesn’t change its terms as often as other platforms may.  Although that’s been less true as of late with Gmail’s aggressive filtering systems. 
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Related: 5 Steps to Grow your Indiefilm Email List

7. A Giveaway for people joining your list

Finally, if you have an email list set up, you should give something away to entice people to join.  I’ve listed 5 ideas for filmmakers below, as the standard fallbacks of ebooks, and other more marketing giveaways aren’t always valid.  Check the article below to see what I mean. 
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Related: 5 Giveaways for your IndieFilm Email Marketing

Thanks so much for reading!  If you want more content like this, you should join my mailing list.  Just as it says in #7, I have a few giveaways for you including a monthly blog digest, and a FREE Film Marketing Resource package!

Join my mailing list!

As an Aside, I offer festival planning as a consulting service.  I that service gets you a prioritized list of festival entries, brochure design, review of materials, and an overall strategy that will set you up for festival success.  If you’re doing festivals to get distribution, you can also submit to me, and I might cut out the middle man.  The link on the left will let you set up a FREE consultation call, and the link on your right will let you submit your film.

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