Screening your feature to an audience

M

Mickey Munday

Well-known member
i'm curious, after completing your feature film what has been some of you guy's very next move? i've seen where some have done a screening for general public (then u never hear about it again) and i've read where some have skipped that and went directly into film festivals or shopped directly to studios

is there really any reason to screen to the general public and your actors just so they can see it if your main goal is to sell and get distribution or into festivals anyway?
 
0. screening with trusted sources, final revisions made to the cut
1. cast and crew screening
2. submissions to film critics for reviews
3. festival submissions and sent to friends that can help network the film
 
Hey Zak,

Can you get a short reviewed or not? I mean are there any sources or critics that would be willing to take a look at a short film perhaps to get some review commentary going? I was just wondering...
 
yes, absolutely. many critics love shorts because it's a quick way to add content to their site/publication. my tactic was as follows....

1. upload the short online at a private location

2. compose a short, provocative email inviting them to review the film with a direct link and a jpg of the poster attached.

3. dig, dig , dig for the email address of as many critics as you can find. i did it the hard way, googling for review sites and collecting addresses.

i sent out 50 of these emails and got about 20 reviews within a month.
 
Thanks for that Zak! About Screening...Just read Tanya York's new book ( maybe for another thread sometime ) and the discussion had pros and cons. Biggest concern was questioning that you, in fact, have your "target demographic" attending the screening. If your movie is for 18 to 35 year old audiences, it may not be that important as to what a bunch of 50 years think about it since they wouldn't be buying it anyway. And then there is the question of "sample size" to determine if the screening audiences are statistically valid at all (did you show it to enough people). Turns out, the best may be what Zak said... show it to the people whose opinion you trust and listen to their feedback.
 
What's the best way to get an audience to watch a sneak preview?

1) Presell tickets?
2) Put an ad in the LA Times the day of the screening?
3) Get ahold of a critic and invite him to the screening?
4) Invite everyone off the street?
5) Ask the talent to bring their friends?

Thanks for the discussion. I'm wrestling with the best approach to promote FELLINIESQUE PLAYERS http://www.felliniesque.com
 
ads aren't going to work. i tried that in 2005 for a feature i had playing at the egyptian and despite a rave review in la weekly, may a dozen people came because of that. one of them was cheri oteri oddly enough.

anyway, i am personally using social networking to locate the people who are interested in the work. over the past year, my HEART OF NOW facebook group has amassed 450+ people. most are in los angeles and i could easily fill a theater like the new beverly or the downtown independent.

it's like a mailing list really, just with a higher level of interaction.

but in my opinion, the amount of work to do a theatrical screening and the cost vs. reward is minimal. and really only serves my own ego. I think a lot more can be accomplished, in terms of generating buzz, by sending out dvd screeners and screening it privately online. what I want to add to the latter is a community component. making it more like a virtual social theater. it's under development actually, and i'm calling it CINEFIST.
 
great points zak. you pretty much have summed up my thoughts - on just having a random screening to strangers - with your own experience.

how are you promoting on facebook at this point with your heart of now profile? are you sending requests to people in your network manually? how do you think it grew to 450 fans?

i have a fan page setup on facebook for my film as well and i'm curious to know how the people found out about it that aren't on my network or friends list, but there doesn't seem to be way to know where the fans are coming from.
 
Zak Forsman said:
yes, absolutely. many critics love shorts because it's a quick way to add content to their site/publication. my tactic was as follows....

1. upload the short online at a private location

2. compose a short, provocative email inviting them to review the film with a direct link and a jpg of the poster attached.

3. dig, dig , dig for the email address of as many critics as you can find. i did it the hard way, googling for review sites and collecting addresses.

i sent out 50 of these emails and got about 20 reviews within a month.
Click to expand...

I have my site online at a private location that is password protected, so that's good. It's available certainly for screening. Also that private location has the video, a full cast and crew list, director's statement, short synopsis, long synopsis, production notes, etc. So it's like an electronic press kit, basically. The public version of the exact same page just contains the trailer.

I used to know a number of online and print critics because I ran my own review site as well, but I've fallen out of touch with most of them, a few retired, etc. One of my dad's oldest friends is friends with Kenneth Turan of the L.A. Times, because he married this guy's ex-wife, basically. Kind of funny but I've met Ken before, tried to get him to review my first book, etc. Who knows, maybe I could interest him. I've communicated with Shawn Levy of The Oregonian as well, he's a great guy and a good critic. So I'll see what I can dig up. Doesn't hurt to ask, at least.

Would you definitely contact these people before festivals, or would you wait to get some credentials from festivals then contact them?
 
i recommend doing it before so you have all the good press going into the festival -- you can add it to your marketing campaign (posters, trailers, web site, etc) and EPK. it can take months to get reviews back on features. shorts dont take as long. a month or two.

the other benefit is this. a lot of reviewers know programmers. several have recommended me to fests I would not have had a chance at. but because I was recommended.... well, you know the drill....
 
Zak Forsman said:
i recommend doing it before so you have all the good press going into the festival -- you can add it to your marketing campaign (posters, trailers, web site, etc) and EPK. it can take months to get reviews back on features. shorts dont take as long. a month or two.

the other benefit is this. a lot of reviewers know programmers. several have recommended me to fests I would not have had a chance at. but because I was recommended.... well, you know the drill....
Click to expand...

Oh ok, wow that's awesome, well that definitely seems like a good idea then. I will get on that as soon as possible. I think it would be nice to have a poster printable with some review comments, rather than just blank of awards and accolades as it is now. It's a nice poster I think, but none of that extra goodness. I know for me it was helpful with my second book having some comments to put on the back cover, gave it more of a professional feel and more validity.

What about let's say down the road, going for the 2nd and 3rd tier festivals, it gets into some festival in a smaller town, then is it a good idea to see what local publications there are there, as far as critics, and whether they may be willing to review it before the festival so they could write a blurb about it in a general festival overview or something? Have you tried an approach like that?
 
has anybody tried inviting acquisition execs from studios to the premiere of your film once it's gotten into a festival? i was reading that was one way, but have never heard anyone say that they've actually done it.
 
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