I recently attended Independent Film and Television meetup organized by

The featured  presenter :

His tips on creating a marketable film on a small budget  reminded me of a few take home lessons on Social Media Marketing.

Tips

1. To create a 4-5 min film, look for inspiration in the everyday speak and expand it to to motivate the story.
2. Do not loose sight of the part of the story that is unique – this is what will gets attention for the sale.
3. When writing don’t look for perfection 1st,  and don’t take others ideas as anything more then suggestions.  You are not responsible to someone else’s ego?
4. Reduce the # of crew.  By doing this you make the cast more comfortable so they can focus on their best.
5. Act fast.  By keeping the set ups short the momentum – and  the focus of crew and cast is maintained.
6. Eliminate unnecessary shots, they should all move the story, boil it down , remember it is not about ego.  You will need to pay attention to editing to confirm the integrity of what you have developed.
7. Good films pay attention to good actors and good dialogue.
8. Production value does not need to be as high as you think, “there’s no end to better”
9. You won’t make a lot of money on one sell but it might get seen by a lot of people.
10. The place to sell is expanding, sell to inflight, mobile phones, new media channels.
11. You may need to declare the work is yours, that it is original – written created by you or
12. Deal memos and photo release or similar permissions have been acquired.
13. Short film distributors that have been very helpful at making the process simple are ouatmedia.ca and  movieola.ca, everyone appreciates a simple process.
14. You will  make 1st contact by email- they send forms, you send a YouTube link to confirm.  The conversation has begun, the 1st contact is the key.
15. “every element  must move the story forward towards the unique characteristic“

Now that you have read it go out and make short films and sell them….

But before you do, re-read these steps replacing:

• “cast” with “customer”
• “story” or “film” with “social media tactic”
• “unique characteristic” with “your message”
• “crew” with “levels of approvals” or “administrative process”

Hmmmm could great filmmakers, design great campaigns?

Steve? Josh?  what do you think.