successfully selling your film online >

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1 !! A step-bystep guide to successfully selling your film online > DRAFT - 29/11/11!

2 DRAFT - 29/11/11 A step-by-step guide to successfully selling your film online: The best way to make a success of selling your film online is for the filmmaker to fully engage with the entire process, from early engagement with the audience to an involvement in the marketing and promotion of the film. Every film needs a champion, this could be the director, the producer or somebody employed to do this job the difference between making substantial sales and a poor number of sales is dependant on how many people are aware of your film somebody has to shout here we are look, this film is great! The internet offers a multitude of ways to connect directly to the people who want to buy your film. This short guide provides an overview of some of the ways you can do this, however, all films are different and what works for some titles may not for others. You know your film and you should know who your audience is likely to be we suggest that you use this document as a guide, and pick and choose which methods you feel will work best for your film. The Distrify way > For 1000s of people Distrify is revolutionising the way that films are watched and shared online. When someone watches a film trailer in the Distrify video player they can also pay to watch the full movie immediately, order a DVD, buy a download, or find out when they can see it in their local cinema. Whenever someone shares a movie, they are also sharing the online-shop where you can buy it. The player works securely on any platform - from your smartphone to your shiny new ipad, laptop, or internet-connected TV. Distrify's business model is to make great film content available and take a share of the sale price. For full details of the financial split and how it works, see We also have a premium service available for festivals; distributors with specific requirements etc, for this please get in touch via hello@distrify.com. Read more and sign up for a free account at

3 Getting started: Have a plan to connect with your audience > A little strategic planning goes a long way when selling online. Step back from the details of the film, bring together some members of the team and grab some large sheets of paper or a whiteboard Discuss the following questions: The film: Audience: Timing: What are the key themes of the film? Who is/are the central character(s)? What other themes play a part in the film? Which films out there have similarities to this film? Is there a simple key message that you can use to promote your film? Who might be interested in watching this film? What are they like? How old are they, are they male or female, do they have families? What else are these people interested in? Where are these people online? What do these people read online? How do these people find out about the things they choose to watch (in cinemas and at home)? Who are we already connected to? Pull together a list of everyone involved with the film. Is there anyone involved with the making of the film who has a mailing list or strong online following? Think of a real live person who is the "Target Profile" of someone who is likely to be a fan of your film. Now keep this person in mind throughout your planning. Is there a key date relevant to this title that might influence when we release it? What else is going on which we could tie into for press/pr? Are we planning a traditional release pattern of festivals / theatrical / home entertainment, and if so, which dates need to be considered? Once you've gone through these questions you have plenty of material, which will help you when planning your film's online release. Bear all of this in mind when considering all aspects below. Cut a trailer a strong trailer: Many of you have made fantastic films but may not have a good trailer. The best trailers make the most sales! The best way to sell your film is by having a great trailer. Quite simply, the films with the best trailers make the most sales. Keep it brief 45 incredible seconds is better than something much longer (and note, the maximum Distrify can accept is five minutes and we definitely recommend you keep it well below this more like 90s - 2mins), use great music, consider including a voiceover, don't give away too much (and definitely not the ending!) but perhaps end with a cliff-

4 hanger. Include a few words of a 5 star review if you've had any (and credit the source) and any festival selection or award laurels - if you've got them. Finish your trailer with the film's title (and use the title treatment which you have created as part of the film's visual identity). If your film is HD, make sure you create an HD trailer. >>>Make sure that your trailer is only available via the Distrify player<<< Anywhere where your trailer is embedded before the release date will become a place where people can buy your film once it has been released. So, if a reviewer embeds your trailer via Distrify, this becomes a place where your film can be bought. We recommend you don't put your trailer on other online video sites and also suggest that you avoid online trailer syndication services where possible. Encourage all reviewers to embed your trailer and make it easy for them by supplying the embed code for them to copy. Give your film a strong visual identity > Just as you can often judge a book by its cover, people do assess whether a film is right for them by the graphic design and imagery used to promote a film. Take a look at other titles that are related in some ways to yours you are likely to find that these all have similarities in poster design, typography and the key images used to promote the film. This isn't necessarily a bad thing and it can be used to your advantage to connect with the right audience for your film. Although some clichés have been overused. See: It is worth investing in good design. If you don't already have posters etc, give a graphic designer examples of designs for similar titles and other things you like and get them to create portrait (one sheet size, or at least one sheet height to width ratio) and landscape (quad, or quad height to width ratio) versions of a film poster. Include festival selection laurels and great press quotes (even better if accompanied by 4 or 5 stars) if available. Even if you never actually print any posters, you will find these can be used in various places online and this will help create an identity for your film. You will need a 1280x720 pixel image designed to have the distrify arrows in the middle and the title bar at the top. This should not include the film's title but should reflect the film's creative and is a good opportunity to include festival laurels. See examples: It is also useful to have a square icon with a key still or publicity shot and the title treatment for use on Facebook. If the titles and credits used within the film itself work with the poster typography, key images and artwork, this all works to reinforce the visual identity of the film and helps you create a coherent identity for the film.

5 How much should I sell my film for?... > Set your sale price. Make sure it's not to high and not too low. See what similar films are being sold for. Set the price higher for a new release, and lower for older titles. Shorts should also cost less than feature length films. Please see for recommended sales prices. Collate your assets > Create a folder on your computer and bring together: A long and a short synopsis. The trailer. Any good added extras you've got eg filmed interviews, behind the scenes clips etc. Around 5 or 6 great, high res publicity images featuring the key characters or scenes from your film. Large and small versions of your film poster artwork. Upload your film to Distrify > Go to and follow the instructions on the site to: Upload your film and trailer. Set the price and the ways people can buy your film. See recommended prices on Set the affiliate revenue share*. Include details of any festival or cinema screenings (if applicable). Note: if required you can limit the geographic territories your film is available in (however, due to the global nature of the internet, we do recommend that if you can, you make your film available worldwide). *Think of an affiliate revenue share is a reward from the filmmaker or the film's distributor to whoever helps them sell the film. It's simple for any sale made by someone sharing your film (either by embedding it on their website or blog or by sharing it with friends or followers) they can receive a percentage of the price. This is at least 10% but you can choose to set this higher if you think it will help the film sell.

6 Choose your moment > There are two ways to approach this. You can either: 1. Get your film up online early and build up to a critical point of discussion for your title, tying into a wider event and work towards this. See example The Second Day example below. 2. Set a future online release date for your film. Give yourself time to announce this, to develop the film's profile online and build followers and fans, to get people seeing the trailer and to build a buzz around the film. This works for big names, famous filmmakers, for timing a VOD release, which have associated marketing and publicity. For either of these it's worth considering a key 'event' which you can create or tie into to help generate press. This event could be a launch, or an online event, or something in partnership with a paper, or the release of some content, or a real world screening, panel discussion or event. Choose the date carefully, is there a key anniversary which you could link to which would help when generating press around the release? What else is happening on the day you're thinking of? Getting your film connected to PR from relevant organisations can be incredibly valuable. It can also be worth paying an agency to help you make the most of this. If you're choosing a specific release date there are a few things to consider. Create a buzz around the online release promote it as the 'online premiere' of your film. Traditionally films are released on Fridays this then gives you an opening weekend. Ensure that every time you tell anyone about the film, you include a link to somewhere where they will be able to watch it online.

7 Example 1: The Second Day The Second Day is a 37-minute documentary film made by a 16 year old boy - about 9/11 World Trade Centre attacks. The filmmakers set the ten-year anniversary of this disaster as the main event linked to this release. They identified high school teachers across the US as the key buyers of the film with the audience being their school kids. A month before this date, the filmmakers embedded to their website and started contacting the press and high schools directly. The film was made available to buy and sales were spurred by press coverage. Sales for the title peaked in the week before 9/11 and stayed very strong for the two weeks afterwards.

8 Give your film an online home... > Making an online hub for your film is a great starting point. Create a simple website with the player embedded on the homepage in a prominent position. Give the page an image header which has the same image and title treatment as the posters. Include a well written synopsis, a couple of key press quotes, festival laurels (if available) and links to where else audiences can engage with the film eg, its facebook page (see below). Including 'like this on facebook' and 'share this on twitter' buttons is also useful to help make it easy for the people who love your film to tell their friends and followers about it. Encourage anyone interested in hearing about the film to register for updates though the player. Sharing and spreading - connect to your audience... > So you've identified a whole range of people associated with your film or who might be interested in it. These people need to know about it. You need to connect to these people and make sure that they are aware of, and reminded about, your film. Using this player you are selling direct to your fans, or connecting to supporters who will sell directly to their fans. Knowing who your audience is is key to success when selling films online. Connecting with the right people to connect with a wider audience is fundamental to how your film will be shared and spread online. It is worth noting that on average 1 in 16 people viewing a trailer on the Distrify player go on to purhase the film. Therefore the more places the player is embedded, the more people will be watching your trailer and the more sales you'll make. We've found that super-connected filmmakers creating work about niche-interest subjects, which have strong online communities, have a much easier time of this. However, whether or not this sounds like you and your film, it's worth trying to get the player embedded on some other sites online. Remember, anywhere the player is embedded works as a shop and is a place for the film to be bought online. So, use all your connections, make new ones and use everything you have to encourage people to share your film and help you get your film out there. Make it personal, do the work and you will see results. See appendix X for a suggested site layout and structure.

9 Example 2: Terry Gilliam and The Wholly Family The Maverick film director Terry Gilliam broke all the rules when making his new film. Entirely funded by Garafalo (a pasta company from Naples), Terry had complete creative freedom to make whatever film he liked. The result, The Wholly Family, will be entirely distributed through his website via the Distrify player. This example is great example of a filmmaker being the champion of his own work with dedicated site and Facebook page. From these destinations the film can be shared with anybody who is interested (fan blogs, movie review sites, online newspapers etc) and when they embed and a sale is made they person who has embedded with receive 10% of the sale price. For example: A fan put The Wholly Family Distrify player on their website and the film sells 150 times for $1.99 Distrify pays out $29.85 to that fan.

10 Example 3: Nick Turpin s In-sight Engaging the world of street photography. Photographer and filmmaker Nick Turpin created a 38-minute documentary about street photography on 5 th Avenue, New York, commissioned by Format International Photography Festival. He then used the power of Distrify with the strength of his networks to make a success of selling the film. He identified concentric circles of potential audience members and used the connections he had to reach them. By reaching (in order of importance): Street photographers working on 5 th Avenue Street photographers People who live/work on 5th avenue Photographers People who live in New York or like New York >

11 Nick was able to target those closest to the film's subject who in turn spread the film to their networks in larger circles. Amongst other places, the film is also available through: Pay your fans for sharing and selling your film > Ask your crew, friends and fans to help you sell your film. You can set the affiliate revenue within your Distrify control panel higher than the standard 10% if you feel this would create a greater incentiveto share your film. See Appendix X for sample s you could modify to encourage people to help you share and spread your film. To help get this working you could support this by offering exclusives to key partners like competitions they can run, extra video content, interviews etc. Go global > The Internet has changed things, everyone is globally connected to social networks and anyone buying your film wants to suggest it to their contacts in other countries. We advise you make your film available worldwide to make the most of this. Although, if required, you can limit the availability of your film to specific geographical areas or territories within your Distrify control panel. It's also worth considering multiple language versions of your film. Subtitle it. Get it out there wherever there's an audience. Think big, put in the effort, connect to your audiences and if your film's worth seeing, it will be seen.

12 Start talking: Create a Facebook page and twitter account for your film > Facebook is a great way to get the ball rolling with engaging a potential audience and to kick-start people sharing your film. Create a Facebook page using page type 'movie', fill in all the relevant fields, upload at least 5 key images and add a profile picture (either your film poster or square title icon will work). Follow the instructions on to include the Distrify Facebook App on your page this will enable you to show your trailer and also sell directly on your Facebook. We recommend setting the Watch Now tab as the landing page for anyone arriving at your Facebook page for the first time. Encourage everyone you know on Facebook to 'like' and share your page. Get all those involved with the production to do the same. Competitions work! Give away signed movie posters or production shots, give the chance to win exclusive things only you can offer - like set visits and the chance to meet cast and crew if you're engaging with your fans early. Make sure that you put up at least one Facebook post a day. However, vary these and avoid going for a hard-sell approach most people use Facebook to hear from people they care about. By clicking that they 'like' your film they want to hear from you and they want to hear about the film, they probably also want to find out how they can get hold of it, however, there's no faster way to loose friends than by hassling them to buy something. Instead, talk about the themes in the film, start conversations, if appropriate you could run caption competitions or online polls. Link to any great reviews of the film or to cinema screenings and make sure you keep an eye on the page and respond to any questions that are asked in the responses to your comments. Consider Facebook advertising. You can target people with specific interests by areas and by demographic. This is a great way to widen the net and engage people around the world with your film. Note: narrow targeting is best identify specific audience interests and demographics relevant to your film. Look for people with an interest in your film's subject matter, location, stars and other cast members or director. The War You Don t See:

13 Use Twitter > Building a strong twitter following takes time. Unless you've a blockbuster or huge movie franchise to sell, it usually works better to be yourself if you're the director of the film, or create a profile for the production company. Once you're set up on twitter, we recommend you: Include mention of the film within your profile text. Roughly plan what you'll be tweeting about and how often you tweet. Don't go for the hard sell. Twitter is a space for conversations and interesting information. Engage people with the themes within your film and what you're about as a filmmaker/film organisation. We recommend going for around 12:1 where for every eleven tweets not actively selling the film, you're allowed one gentle tweet informing people that they can buy the film on your website (or through Facebook, or through a related blog or site etc). Link to all positive reviews. Link to the film's main website when tweeting directly about it. Connect with your followers answer their questions, retweet positive tweets about the film. > is the best way to communicate with your fans make sure and treat your audience with respect no spam! Before your film is available online, people are invited to sign up through the player. These addresses can be downloaded when you are logged into You can either simply them yourself with news stories and to announce when the film is available, or use an online marketing service to create attractive s that reflect the visual identity of your film. Remember, you must legally comply with data protection laws and give people the option to unsubscribe from your mailing list at any time. Press and publicity > Create an EPK (electronic press kit) which includes a synopsis, cast and credits, great images, selected reviews, details of any festivals the film has been in or any awards won (use laurels), information about the production (year, country, notable involvements), filmmaker and key cast biographies etc, links to website, trailer and social media spaces relating to the film, details of how audiences can buy your film and your contact details. Create a well-designed pdf which is small enough to or a section of your film's website where people can access all this material. See for an example. Remember only offer the trailer through the Distrify player so wherever this is embedded becomes a point of sale for your film. If you're doing this yourself you'll need to create a list of people, publications, bloggers and online communities who might be interested in your film. Then them a press release about the

14 online release date. Include anything newsworthy about the film and attach or link to the place they can access your EPK for further information. Make it as easy as possible for anyone to embed your film on their site include the embed code in the text and encourage people to use it. When some hits EMBED in the top right of your player they can find the embed code where you see COPY CODE. It looks like this when you paste it: <iframe title="distrify video player" id="distrify-player-19" class="distrify-player" type="text/html" width="640" height="392" src="//widgets.distrify.com/widget.html#19-2" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> That s all you need to get selling. You may want to mention the affiliate revenue share if you think this might encourage them to embed the player, however, some sites are just looking for content and this may not be of interest. Use your judgement. Need more? See for help, check out our support forum at or send us a message via Further reading Think Outside the Box Office Jon Reiss Sheri Candler blog