by Nic Baisley.

The art of self promotion is a tricky thing. Take it too far and you can come off as egotistical, and leaning too far in the other direction will leave you toiling in obscurity. There is a fine line between “I think you might be interested in what I have to say” and “look at me, look at me, look at me”. So what can filmmakers do to build and attract the right audiences for their projects?

The term “right” is used because, while having hundreds or thousands of people supporting your career with words is a wonderful thing, having an audience that will actually put up hard-earned cash at the zero hour is another thing completely.

In the world of independent film, or to be exact, ESPECIALLY in the world of indie film, the community-at-large is very supportive of each other’s projects. One look at crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo are great examples of filmmakers passing the buck from one project to another to help get each person’s respective films made.

Read the rest of this article from Mastering Film.

Sign up now for your own FREE monthly subscription to “The Director’s Chair” filmmaking ezine and get the first 30 pages of my 220 page Film Directing Multi-Media Online course, “The Art and Craft of the Director Audio Seminar.”

by Jen Yamato.

The indie filmmaking game (as in true-blue, studio-free indie filmmaking) has gotten to a point where even Francis Ford Coppola is following Kevin Smith into the great unknown of out-of-the-box distribution experimentation, but mumblecore vet Joe Swanberg (LOL, Hannah Takes the Stairs) has partnered with independent release label Factory 25 on yet another crazy idea: Selling four-film, one-year subscriptionsto his fans for $99.95 a pop, like a film version of artisanal foodstuff and wine club models.

“If I can find 1,000 people to pay $100 a year for four of my movies, I can keep making movies,” said Swanberg (via Filmmaker Mag). “This can be a sustainable way to make small challenging movies that don’t have to get into festivals and don’t need distributors.”

Read the rest of this article from Movieline.

Sign up now for your own FREE monthly subscription to “The Director’s Chair” filmmaking ezine and get the first 30 pages of my 220 page Film Directing Multi-Media Online course, “The Art and Craft of the Director Audio Seminar.”

This article was written by Jason Brubaker.

“If you’re one of the many independent feature filmmakers who is trying to navigate the ever changing world of digital self distribution (so you can still make a living by making independent movies). . .

I have an AWESOME solution for you.

And No. I’m not talking about iTunes and their snobby indie movie selection mechanisms. Nor am I talking about Hulu’s wonderfully new nickle and dime subscription service (I say that with sarcasm.)”

This article was written by Mark Hefflinger.

“Online DVD rental service Netflix (NASD: NFLX) on Monday announced deals with a number of independent film distributors that will increase the size of its library available for instant streaming to its subscribers. The new deals with The Criterion Collection, Gravitas Ventures, Kino Lorber, Music Box Films, Oscilloscope Laboratories and Regent Releasing will make around 300 new titles available for instant streaming.”

Read the rest of this article from Digital Media Wire.

“201 Things You Wouldn’t Know
Without Movies or Television!”

This article was written by Jerome Courshon.

“This has become a common topic of conversation in the world of distribution for Directors and Producers.

There are several reasons for this, among them: a) More filmmakers are doing this and getting press, such as the “Four Eyed Monsters” team, as well as John Sayles with his last movie, “Honeydripper”; and b) More filmmakers are realizing that to stand out from the crowd of thousands of movies vying for distribution when looking for a DVD and other deals, this is one way to do that.

To be able to say your movie had a theatrical release, and you achieved box office numbers of ‘x’ per week, this can do a lot for one’s “pedigree.” There’s also the chance that your movie may make some real money at the box office.’

Read this article from Secrets to Distribution.

———-

Sign up now for your own FREE monthly subscription to “The Director’s Chair” filmmaking ezine and get: (1) Day One of my 201 page mutli-media Online film directing audio course, “The Art and Craft of the Director Audio Seminar” and (2) the first 24 pages (plus mp3 audio) of my 137 page “Script Breakdown and Film Scheduling Online Course For Independent Filmmakers.”

———

“Much has been said and written about the current distribution crises of independent films, I am not going to belabor the horror stories here.

But just as a way of introducing myself – I will give you a brief introduction to my own horror story.

In 2007, I was at the Tribeca film festival where I was trying to sell my documentary “Bomb It.”  We did everything by the old school book, kept the screeners a secret, we spent $20,000 launching the film at the festival, with the result of packed houses and hundreds of people turned away.  After all the excitement, what we had were a few $10,000 all rights deals that we rejected.  A week after Tribeca, our film was available for sale on Canal Street — as a bootleg.

A number of lucky films each year will still get overall deals that make some kind of financial sense for them.  However these deals are not available to the vast majority of filmmakers at this time.  We are in the midst of a new world order or crisis.”

Read rest of this article from IndieWire.

———-

Sign up now for your own FREE monthly subscription to “The Director’s Chair” filmmaking ezine and get: (1) Day One of my 201 page mutli-media Online film directing audio course, “The Art and Craft of the Director Audio Seminar” and (2) the first 24 pages (plus mp3 audio) of my 137 page “Script Breakdown and Film Scheduling Online Course For Independent Filmmakers.”

———

“The Internet is a super-distribution machine that allows copies of digital media to flow in an almost frictionless way. As the wealth and survival of traditional media businesses are built on selling precious copies, the free flow of free copies is undermining the established order.

If reproductions of media are free, how can we keep on financing films and how can we find value in the media we create and sell? BRIAN NEWMAN (former CEO Tribeca Film Institute).”

Watch this video from DIY Days.

The Ten Commandments of Filmmaking
How to Work (and Survive) in the
Film and Television Industry
by Peter D. Marshall

“This article is a sequel to my report, “Welcome to the New World of Distribution,” which was published exactly a year ago in indieWIRE. Since the report appeared, the Old World of Distribution has continued to decline.

Filmmakers making Old World deals (in which they give all of their distribution rights to one company for up to 25 years) are ending up dissatisfied. Producers and directors who succeeded in the Old World are now telling me that the traditional distribution system is broken and that they are determined to find a new approach.”

Read this article from Peter Broderick.

The Ten Commandments of Filmmaking
How to Work (and Survive) in the
Film and Television Industry
by Peter D. Marshall

“Here is a video in which indie distribution pioneers discuss new strategies in distributing independent films.”

Watch this video from All About indie Filmmaking.

———-

Sign up now for your own FREE monthly subscription to “The Director’s Chair” filmmaking ezine and get: (1) Day One of my 201 page mutli-media Online film directing audio course, “The Art and Craft of the Director Audio Seminar” and (2) the first 24 pages (plus mp3 audio) of my 137 page “Script Breakdown and Film Scheduling Online Course For Independent Filmmakers.”

———

“I’ve written quite a bit on the subject of Independent Film Distribution. Over the last ten years, there have been a gazillion changes in the ways movies are made. But the one area I’m most excited about is Video On Demand. I frankly don’t remember how I lived without the technology.

As a filmmaker, this technology offers us enormous opportunity to not only make our movie – but with a couple clicks of a mouse, we can now reach a global audience — well, sort of.”

Read this article from Filmmaking Stuff.

The Ten Commandments of Filmmaking
How to Work (and Survive) in the
Film and Television Industry
by Peter D. Marshall