General Business Ben Yennie General Business Ben Yennie

The 5 Pervasive Issues Preventing the Emergence of New US Film Hubs

If you want to succeed as an indie filmmaker, you need to have a network and a community. Trouble is the only major film communities in the US are New York, LA, and Atlanta. What’s stopping us from fixing that? This blog identifies problems we need to solve to expand beyond the coasts.

If you’re a filmmaker, you probably already know a lot of other filmmakers in your area.  If you don’t, you should.  That’s one reason why film community events are absolutely vital for the independent film industry.  It’s far from the only reason that communities of independent filmmakers are vital for your success as an independent filmmaker.  

I’ve been involved with a few film community organizations ranging from Producer Foundry to Global Film Ventures, and even the Institute for International Film Finance.  I’ve also spoken at organizations across the country.  From the experience of running more than 150 events and speaking for a few dozen others, I’ve noticed some commonalities across many burgeoning independent film communities, so I thought I would share some of my observations as to why most of them aren’t growing as quickly as they should.  Without further ado, here are the 5 pervasive problems preventing the growth of regional film communities.  

Lack of Resources

It’s no secret that most independent films could use more money.  It’s true for film communities and hubs as well.  In general, most of these community organizations have little to no money unless they’re tied to a larger film society or film festival.  Unfortunately being tied to such an organization often prevents the work of community building due to the time and resources involved in the day-to-day operations of running a film society or the massive commitment that comes with running a film festival.  

Compounding the issues with a lack of resources is that a community organization built to empower a regional film community isn’t something that you could raise equity financing from investors.  Projects like this are much better funded using pages from the non-profit playbook.  There are organizations looking to write grants specifically for film organizations seeking to empower communities.  You can find out more about the grant writing process in this blog below.

RELATED: Filmmakers! 5 Tips for Successful Grantwriting.

While local film commissions do provide some support to locals, their primary mandate is generally built for a different purpose that I’ll discuss in the next of my 5 points.  

Most tax incentives emphasize attracting Large Scale Productions, not building local hubs

Most film tax incentives are heavily or sometimes even entirely oriented on attracting outside productions as a means to bring more revenue to the city, state, region, or territory.  This is understandable, as many film commissions or offices are organized under the tourism bureau or occasionally the Chamber of Commerce.  Both of those organizations have a primary focus on attracting big spenders to the local area in order to boost the economy.  

RELATED: The Basics of Film Tax Incentives

This mandate isn’t necessarily antithetical to the goal of building local film communities.  There is nearly always a local staffing requirement for these incentives, and you can’t build an industrial community if no one has work.  Some of the best incentives I’ve seen have a certain portion of their spending that is required to go to community growth, as San Francisco’s City Film Commission had when I last checked.  Given that the focus of the film industry is focused on attracting outside production, there is often a vacuum left when it comes to building the local community and infrastructure as a long-term project.  

Additionally, given that film productions are highly mobile by their very nature using tax incentives to consistently attract large-scale projects is almost always a race to the bottom very quickly.  If a production can simply say to Colorado that they’ll get a better deal in New Jersey, then the incentive in Colorado fails its primary purpose.  Eventually, these states or regions will continue a race to the bottom that fails to bring any meaningful economic benefit to the citizens of the state.  While the studies I’ve seen on this often seem reductive and significantly undervalue the soft benefits of film production on the image and economy of a state, the end result is clear.  If all states over-compete, eventually the legislatures will repeal the tax incentives.  After that, outside productions will dry up.  

When this happens, local filmmakers are left out in the cold.  The big productions that put food on the table are gone, and there’s no meaningful local infrastructure left to fill the void that the large studio productions left.  

Creating a film community is a long-term project with Short Term Funding.

It takes decades of consistent building to create a new film production hub.  People often have the misconception that Georgia popped up overnight, and this isn’t true. While the tax incentive grew the industry relatively quickly on a governmental timescale, I believe the tax incentive was in place for nearly a decade ahead of the release.  Georgia’s growth was greatly aided by local Filmmaker Tyler Perry’s continual championing of the region as a film hub.  

Most of the funding apparatuses available for the growth of film communities are primarily oriented toward short-term gains.  That makes long-term growth a difficult process, but if cities and regions outside of NY, LA, and ATL are to grow it needs to be a part of the conversation.  

There are some organizations out there pushing to build long-term viable film communities outside of those major hubs.  Notably, the Albuquerque Film and Music Experience has a great lineup of speakers for their event in a few weeks.  I’m one of those speakers, so if you’re in the area check it out, and check out this podcast I did with them yesterday.  

It’s hard to bring community leaders together

As I said eat the top, I’ve been involved with and even run several community organizations.  One consistent theme I’ve noticed is that most community leaders are very reticent to work with each other in a way that doesn’t benefit them more than anyone else.  This means that one issue I’ve seen consistently is that while there are disparate factions of the larger film community throughout most regions it’s nearly impossible to bring them together to build something big enough to truly build a long-term community. 

Most filmmakers and film community leaders are much happier being the king of their own small hill than a lord in a larger kingdom.  

Filmmaking is a creative pursuit, and it requires some degree of narcissism to truly excel.  This is amplified when you run a local film community.  Sayer’s Law states: “Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics because the stakes are so low.” If you replace the word “Academic” with “Filmmaking” can be said for the issue facing most film communities. Call it Yennie’s Law, if you like. #Sarcasm, #Kinda.

I discussed this in some detail with Lorraine Montez and Carey Rose O'Connell of the New Mexico Film Incubator in episode 2 of the Movie Moolah podcast, linked below.

The industry connections for large-scale finance and distribution generally aren’t local.

If you’ve read Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant’s book Writing Movies for Fun and Profit you’ll already know that LA is the hub of the industry, and if you want to pitch you need to be there.  Given the fact I live in Philadelphia, I believe it should be fairly clear I disagree with the particulars of the notion the overall sentiment remains true.  Also, if you haven’t read it click that link and get it.  It’s a great read.  (Affiliate link, I get a few pennies if you buy. Recommendation stands regardless of how you get it.)

If you want to make a film bigger than at most a few million dollars, you’re going to need connections to financiers and distributors with large bank accounts.  You can find the distributors at film markets, but all of the institutional film industry money is in LA.  While you may be able to raise a few million from local investors, it’s really hard and it is an issue facing the growth of independent film communities nationwide.  

Another issue is around the knowledge of the film business and the logistics of keeping a community engaged and organized.  While I can’t help too much with the latter, I can help you and your community organizers on the knowledge of the film industry with my FREE film business resource Pack!  It’s got a free e-book, free macroeconomic white paper, free deck template, free festival brochure template, contact tracking template, and a while lot more. Just that is more than a 100$ value, plus you also get monthly content digests segmented by topic so you can keep growing your film industry knowledge on a viable schedule.  Click the button below!

As I said earlier, I’m speaking at AFMX this year.  If you like this content and you’d like to have me speak to your organization, use the button below to send me an email.

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Film Financing, Marketing Ben Yennie Film Financing, Marketing Ben Yennie

How to Finance your Documentary

Documentary and narrative films aren’t just different styles, they’re entirely different beasts! It’s amazing how different the financing systems are. Learn more in this article.

It’s hard to find reliable information on film financing.  I’ve written a fair amount about independent film financing for narrative projects.  Since writing those blogs and doing numerous presentations on the topic, I’ve gotten a lot of questions on how to finance documentaries.  Since I haven’t seen a good guide, I thought I’d write one.  Here’s a step by step guide on financing documentaries.

1. Establish a deep connection with the audience that cares DEEPLY about your message.

Authenticity has been become incredibly important in all aspects of making your living as a filmmaker, journalist, or content creator of any kind.  As documentaries are primarily message films, authenticity and accuracy are even more important than they would be in your standard genre picture.  A deep understanding of the subject matter you’re tackling is absolutely vital for documentaries, as documentaries tend to rely much more heavily on word of mouth and community involvement than traditional narrative films.  

The primary goal you should have when establishing yourself within this community is to speak authentically about the community in your film. By doing this, you will most likely also establish credibility with the audience that is most likely to shout about your film when it comes out.  As a bonus, through the process of establishing a deep connection with the subject matter, you are likely to find good subjects to interview for your documentary.   

2. Get a fiscal sponsor

A fiscal sponsor is a non-profit organization that can extend its non-profit status to your simple for-profit entity allowing you to take tax-deductible donations, which can greatly help you raise donations from friends, family, and even certain crowdfunding platforms.  They’ll normally take a fee of between 4% and 9%, but they’ll increase your close rate dramatically.  Additionally, unless you are a non-profit, you’ll most likely need a fiscal sponsor in order to apply for grants.  

3. Apply for relevant grants

Next, you should start applying for grants.  You don’t need to limit yourself to filmmaking grants, you can also apply to grantors that tackle the subject matter you’re planning on documenting.  So long as those foundations and grantors back projects to build awareness there’s a good chance you’ll be eligible for those grants.  I wrote another blog with the help of one of the fundraisers for Slamdance a while back, you’ll find it below.

You should start applying for grants once a month as soon as you can.

Related: 5 Rules for Grantwriting.

4.  Confirm one high-profile expert in your field to give yourself legitimacy

Now it’s time to start shooting your film.  Confirm an interview with an expert, possibly using the connections you’ve developed back in step one.  Otherwise, reaching out to universities that have programs related to your subject matter is a generally good bet.  Most of the time, you shouldn’t need to pay the academics or many of the other experts who might be interviewed for the documentary. For them, it’s good press to build their legitimacy and public profile.

5.  Prepare a crowdfunding campaign

This is another reason Step 1 is to ingratiate yourself in a community.  If you’re a known entity in that community, your chances of success are much better and the amount you’ll be able to raise is much higher.  While this is harder than it once was, it’s nearly impossible if you’re not an established part of the community.

Here’s a blog on a crowdfunding timeline.  

Related: Crowdfunding Timeline for Filmmakers

6. Get a few more experts in your network to give interviews

Ramp up your production and get a decent portion of the film shot and start to find the narrative throughline for the finished piece.  You will want to start charting this path as you shoot, as it can help guide you through future interviews or even re-interviews if you can.  

7. Launch your crowdfunding campaign. 

You do that after the first expert as if you’re doing it properly, you should be able to use a portion of the interview as an immediate delivery once the campaign closes.  If you have multiple experts at this point, you’ll have some degree of legitimacy that you could turn into a short as one of the major funding levels.

Even after you raise the money you need for your main round, you should continue to apply for grants on a monthly basis.  The reason n why will become clear later. 

Here’s a blog on the dos and don’ts for pushing your movie on social media.  I wrote it after a few too many people sent me auto DMs.

Related: 5 Dos and Don’ts for Selling Your Film Online.

8. Get a few higher profile influencers in the documentary.

If you get a few subjects in the documentary with some degree of a following, it will likely help boost the visibility of the documentary once it’s getting ready to come out.

9. Release regular updates on social media

If you make sure to release updates and engage with your following on the goings on of the documentary you’ll be much better able to keep in the consciousness of your community which will make a rather large difference when it comes time to distribute your project.

10. Make sure you keep your backers informed.

Take what you’re doing on social media, and give more depth and detail as to the goings on of the project, as well s content to the people who have supported you financially. There are a couple of ways you can do this, the simplest is to continually communicate through whatever platform you originally crowdfunded through.

11. Keep applying for Grants, but now focus on finishing funds.

Applying for grants isn’t something you should have stopped doing, but at this point in the cycle, you should be applying for grants to finish your movie rather than develop or shoot it.  If you’ve consistently been applying all this time, you’re more likely to succeed at this point as you may well be starting to re-apply for the same grants you didn’t get last time.  

12. Launch a secondary crowdfunding campaign for finishing funds

This is part of why you’ve continued to stay in touch with the people who backed your first campaign, as it’s much more likely they’ll come back for your next round if they’re happy with your communication skills as well as the progress you’ve made.  

13. Ramp up the content you’re releasing

Before you may have released photos from interviews on social media, and teasers to your backers.  Now you may want to release teasers on social media and short interview clips to your backers.  You don’t want to release anything that will give too much away, but you want to build buzz and have a deep engagement with your backers.  You want them to feel like they made your movie possible.  In a very real way, they did, and they may have gotten you to the finishing line. 

14. Apply for impact grants

Impact grants focus on getting the film out and into the world.  They cover things like festival submission, travel, and other costs related to marketing and distribution.  You should start applying for these grants when you hit picture lock.  

NOW THAT YOU’VE FINISHED MAKING THE FILM…

15.  Hire a publicist (If you can)

Publicity isn’t cheap, but it is one of the best ways to build both the profile of your film and of you as a filmmaker.  Getting press early on will help you in the next parts of your process.

16. Apply to festivals

Now that the film is done, you should start applying to relevant festivals.  If you’ve already gotten some press coverage, you’re more likely to get in, however, the time your publicist will be of the most use is during your festival rune.

17. Get a Lawyer, and get them to do an E&O Coverage letter.

If you didn’t already have a lawyer, get one now.  A lot of lawyers will do some pro-bono work for documentary filmmakers as a public service, so don’t hesitate to ask.  Along with being a steadfast advisor, they’ll also have the ability to write a fair use clearance letter which will enable you to buy E&O Coverage if and when you need it.  Also, you should really have a lawyer on call when you move on to step 18. 

18. Get a producers rep, or sales agent and distributor

Finally, you should make sure to start reaching out to producers reps sales agents, and distributors as soon as you can after submitting to festivals.  Some of us can help make sure you get into bigger and better festivals, but any reputable person with these titles has a much better chance of getting you a profitable distribution deal on platforms 

After the success I’ve seen from one film I both repped and distributed film Queen of the Capital, I’ve recently started putting a greater emphasis on documentaries, since my direct contacts in that area have grown significantly.  You can learn more about Guerrilla Rep Media Services film below.

Thanks so much for reading, if you liked this content, please share it.  Also, join my mailing list for some great resources including a festival brochure template, ebook, and a whole lot more.

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Distribution, Marketing Ben Yennie Distribution, Marketing Ben Yennie

6 Things for Filmmakers to Prepare for the 2019 American Film Market #AFM2019

If you want to get the most out of the American Film Marktet, you need to prepare. Here’s what you need.

With AFM 2019 right around the corner, it’s time for filmmakers to prepare for the market and do their best to get a traditional distribution deal.  For those of you who don’t know, AFM is still the best place for American Filmmakers to get traditional, non-DIY distribution.  So, with that in mind, here are the major things you need to prepare. 

Also, For legal reasons, I need to say that the following: The American Film Market® AFM® are registered trademarks of the International Film and Television Alliance® (IFTA®) Any and all Opinions expressed in this video are Not Endorsed by the International Film and Television Alliance® or leadership at the American Film Market.

Just in case you'd rather watch than listen, Here's a Youtube Video on this topic!

Leads Lists

You need to know what sales agents and distributors you want to submit your film to. This starts with research and leads lists.  You need to figure out which sales agents tend to work in your genre and budget level, what similar films they’ve helped sell recently, what their current market lineup is, whether they require recognizable names, and who the name of their acquisitions lead and CEO are. 

To make your job easier, I put a free template in my resources packet which you can get by signing up below. 

Join my mailing list and get the FREE AFM Advance contact tracking template. 

Trailers

You need to get their attention, and a trailer is a great way to do it.  I’ve gotten limited theatrical agreements based on an excellent trailer.  See that trailer here.

If you don’t have a trailer, you can submit without it.  However, it will be much less likely to achieve the desired results. ​

Pitches

There are elements of an indie film pitch.  I tackle the topic in extreme detail in my book, but here’s an overview of what needs to go into that 10-30 second pitch.

  • Title of Film

  • Stage of development

  • Any attachments

  • Genre

  • Sub-Genre/Audience

  • Budget Range

Check out my book on Amazon for the full chapter

Related: What investors need to know about your movie

Key Art

You’ll need a poster, even if it’s a temp poster that’s eye catching and will convince the sales agent they can move units.  It can be a temp poster, but it needs to invoke the spirit of the film and imbue a sense of intrigue for anyone who looks at it. 

Promotional materials

Once you’ve got the key art, you can use it to create promotional materials.  One of those would be a quarter page flyer, another may be a tri-fold brochure.  I’ve included a pages and word document for use at festivals in the resources packet, but it could be modified for AFM.  If I get a few people tweeting at me or commenting the want it on my youtube videos that they’d like that, I might make it. 

​Screening links

If your film is done, you need screeners. The distributors will need to see it, and they’ll probably want a Vimeo screener. Youtube unlisted or private won’t due, as the compression on Youtube makes it difficult to see all the technical issues with the film.

If you can get it out in advance of the market, all the better. It normally takes a few markets to start seeing money from your film if you don’t get a minimum guarantee. Getting that started would be in the best interest of all involved.

Thanks so much for reading. If you liked this and want more, come back next week for what you should expect from AFM 2019, as well as where the market seems to be heading. OR, if you can’t wait, you could listen to me on Indie Film Hustle Talking about AFM. 

You could also check out my book!

 It’s the first book on Film Markets, used as a supplemental text in at least 10 film schools, and is still the highest selling book on film markets.  Check it out on Amazon Prime, Kindle, Audiobook on Audible, Online at Barnes and Nobles, Your Local Library, and anywhere books are sold. Also, join my email list to get a great indiefilm resource package totally free!

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Marketing, Distribution Ben Yennie Marketing, Distribution Ben Yennie

Why you WON'T get Distribution from your Film Festival Run

Is your plan to get distribution by going through festivals? If so, you NEED to read this ASAP.

Part of what I do through the consulting arm of Guerrilla Rep Media is review people’s Decks and business plans.  One thing that I keep coming up in these documents is that entirely too many filmmakers list their distribution strategy as sole their festival run.  There are a lot of issues with this line of thinking, so as I do with any question that keeps coming up I thought I would write a blog about it.  So without further adieu, here’s why you probably won’t get a distribution deal from your festival run.

You generally only get distribution from top tier festivals

Realistically, there are only a few film festivals that will get you distribution.  The festivals that can get you a good distribution deal are pretty much the ones you’d expect.  Sundance, Tribeca, COMPETITION screenings at Cannes, TIFF, and to some extent South by Southwest (Although that’s far less true than it used to be.) Unfortunately, due to Amazon Discontinuing the Festival Stars program, there are no longer any festivals that GUARANTEE a decent distribution agreement if you get in. 

Even if you do get into these festivals, it’s probably not going to help as much as you think it will, although it will definitely help a fair amount. That being said...

You’re probably not going to get into a top-tier festival.

I know I’m being a pretty major buzzkill.  Unfortunately, fewer than 1% of films that submit to Sundance get in.  While that’s likely to be the lowest acceptance rate among the majors, it’s unlikely the other festivals that would get you distribution are going to have much more than a 2-3% acceptance rate. 

So realistically, do you think it’s a good idea to hedge all bets on your film’s distribution on the 2-3% chance you’re going to get into a major film festival?

Even if the film festival offers distribution, it’s probably not very good.

There are some film festivals that offer distribution to the films that get in.  Generally, this sort of distribution is only slightly above aggregation.  Even though it’s often framed as non-exclusive, it’s generally not in your best interest to take it as it ties up a lot of platforms and can greatly discourage more reputable distributors from coming on.  Also, a lot of times the split with these distributors is far less than ideal. 

Some festivals retain this right as part of their submission process, so be careful.

Even if your film gets into festivals, that doesn’t guarantee butts in seats.

If you’re looking to get your film into festivals as a way of building awareness for your project, then you’re going to need to make sure you market that your film will actually be at the festival and drive people to show up.  There are far too many times when a film is shown at a festival in an all-but-empty room.  Don’t let this be you.

If you show your at too many festivals, you can saturate your market

While you definitely want to build buzz about your project, showing the project at too many festivals can just make sure that all the people who would seek out your film have already seen it.  That’s somewhat hard to do, but it’s still something to be aware of, especially since most festivals don’t share their box office with filmmakers or pay a screening fee.

Thanks so much for reading!  Check out Last Week's Blog for guide on what you should prepare to make the most out of your festival run.  In the meantime, you should consider joining my email list for some great giveaways including FREE monthly blog digests segmented by topic.

Also, I do both US Direct Distribution and marketing/Festival planning as a service for my clients. Check out my services page for more.

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7 Things to Prep BEFORE STARTING your Festival Run

If you want to find success at film festivals, you need to prepare. Here’s a guide.

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 at professional events like this.

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.

Related: How to manage your indiefilm facebook page

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. 

For more information on what should be on your website, check out the blog below.

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.

Related: Printed materials for your festival run

But speaking of EPK…

5. An EPK (Electronic Press Kit)

Every filmmaker will have assets that 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. 

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 marketing giveaways aren’t always valid.  Check the article below to see what I mean. 

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!

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Marketing, Community Ben Yennie Marketing, Community Ben Yennie

The Printed Materials you Need for Film Festivals and Markets

If you want to get the most out of a Film Festival, you’ve got to maximize it as a promotional opportunity for you and your work. Here are some things that might help.

Most filmmakers only think about festivals when they’re getting ready to market their film.  There are lots of reasons that this line of thinking is flawed, however, it would take far more than a 600-800 word blog to even begin to touch on them.  However, if you’re going to have ANY level of success from your festival run, you’re going to need some really snazzy printed materials.  This blog outlines a couple of examples I’ve used personally and had success with.

Why you need Good Printed Materials

Just getting into a festival is no guarantee people will see your movie.  Generally, you have to spend a good amount of time and energy driving people to your screening.  One of the most effective ways to do that is by having them a tangible piece of paper that has all the information they’ll need on it. 

Generally, the cheapest thing you can hand them is a postcard, however, for festivals, I strongly prefer a Tri-Fold Brochure.  The Tri-Fold Brochure has more space for everything a reporter or reviewer may need to know about your project, all put into a piece of paper that can be easily turned and segmented to group relevant pieces of information. 

The point of getting into a film festival is less about getting people to see your movie, and more about validating your film and giving it a chance to get meaningful press coverage.  Both of these things are significantly more likely to happen if you can make a reporter’s job easier by giving them all the information they need in one compact piece of paper. 

Postcard Outline

Generally, you’ll want the promotional art for your project to take up the front of your postcard.  If you don’t want it to take up the entire front of your film, you could leave a space for screening times towards the bottom.  If you want to get more use out of these cards, you could also leave a space that can be covered with a return address mailing label on the bottom where you can put the time and locations of screenings at this festival.

On the back, I’d put a synopsis, information about the director, and maybe a little bit about how the film was shot.  You probably won’t have space for much else.

Brochure Outline

I’ve added a template for this in my resources section, but I’ll outline what I mean here.

On the front panel, you’ll want to put the key art, where the film is screening (The mailing address label works well here too), and maybe your social media links or where they can purchase the film.

When they open the brochure, on one of the two panels you reveal you’ll want to put some stills from the film to add visual interest. On the other panel, they’ll see when they open your brochure, you’ll want to outline your production company, including your creed/mission statement and other projects you’ve made.

Then they open the other panel, you’ll want them to see photos and bios of your key cast and crew.

On the back panel, you’ll want a bit more art, a bit about what you’re working on next, the next steps for the film, and then a press contact and a link to download your EPK. If your film is available for sale anywhere, you’ll also want to include that there.

I actually a template of this format for MSWord and Apple Pages. You can find it in my FREE Resource package alongside other templates.

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