Adventures in Self-Releasing: Self-Distribution Survey

by Jeffrey Goodman | Published September 4, 2009

It’s been a quiet week. I’m back in Shreveport as I wait for another wave of Lullaby activities (festivals, releases, etc.) to begin soon. This week, I figured I’d turn my blog over to you readers. You’ve often asked me questions and I’ve often expressed my opinion. Now, I’d like to gain your perspective on a few things. It’s my hope that many of you will chime in on some of the questions below in the comments section (and with each of your responses, it would be great if you also included a list of your 10 favorite moviemakers):

1. What are your favorite books on independent moviemaking?

2. What are your favorite blogs on independent moviemaking?

3. What is your favorite site for watching trailers?

4. What convinces you to see a movie more: Trailers or reviews?

5. What is your social network of choice?

6. Does Facebook or Twitter have a more powerful effect on what movies you decide to see?

7. What upcoming movie are you anticipating the most?

8. What movie critic’s opinion do you value the most?

9. Where are you most likely to buy a copy of a movie: Wal-Mart, Best Buy or Target? (Or somewhere else altogether?)

10. If you are member of Netflix, what percentage of your viewing is done on DVD and what percentage is done as a stream on your computer?

11. What is your favorite way to watch a movie (theater, home television, computer, etc)?

12. In the last year, what was the most memorable experience you had watching a movie?

13. What moviemaker’s efforts at building an audience have impressed you the most?

14. If you’re on a moviemaker’s update e-mail list, how often would you like to hear from him/her?

15. What are you hoping to gain from being on a moviemaker’s update e-mail list?

16. On which area of moviemaking do you wish there was more information available?

17. What would you like for me to cover in this blog that I haven’t discussed yet?

I look forward to hearing from you.

After living in Los Angeles for seven years, Jeffrey Goodman returned to his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana to direct The Last Lullaby. Co-written by the creator of Road to Perdition, and starring Tom Sizemore and Sasha Alexander, The Last Lullaby was filmed entirely in and around Shreveport and financed by 48 local investors.

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Comment by Evan on 9/04/09 at 1:28 pm

10 “favorite” moviemakers is a bit of a stretch. I’ll give you five. And these are five filmmakers who have consistently made films I’ve liked or loved.

1. Wes Anderson
2. Danny Boyle
3. Michel Gondry
4. Charlie Chaplin
5. Stanley Kubrick

1. I don’t read about making movies, I watch movies. I think you can learn everything you need to know about an artist from their art. It’s not really about following steps, so the behind the scenes is fairly situational and inconsistent and can be entertaining and informative but is never really where it’s all about.
2. The same. I don’t read this blog to learn about making movies. I read to see how you’re doing.
3. Trailer Addict
4. Trailers
5. Facebook
6. Technically Facebook because I don’t use Twitter. But both are pretty shallow ways to find out about movies.
7. Where the Wild Things Are
8. None
9. Bestbuy or Amazon
10. 95% DVD/Blu-ray 5% Streaming
11. Depends on the movie. Theater experiences are great, but can easily be ruined, and really aren’t for every movie. Home experiences can be good but can also have many distractions. Definitely not on a computer. Tv/Theater are probably of equal importance for me. It’s worth noting though that I watch probably 5 times more movies at home than in the theater if not more. I also tend to write while watching my favorite movies, so that home element is important to me.
12. Either seeing the new Star Trek and realizing that Star Trek is actually pretty cool (I had never seen the show), or seeing “Revolutionary Road” and being blown away by the acting. But if you’ll count it, The Dark Knight, just over a year ago was the most memorable experience in the last three or four years I’ve had.
13. Kind of a strange question because I don’t really follow filmmakers based on their abilities to build an audience, but rather on their abilities to make quality films. Most the time it doesn’t seem quite as active of a role for the filmmaker as it does for you. All 5 filmmakers on my list have just had strong portfolios of films that earned them an audience.
14. Not on an update list. Wouldn’t want to be. I only really care when the next film is out and you usually don’t need an email update to find that out. Unless it’s some really epic and groundbreaking film, I don’t really have an interest in the step by step process. Usually just the final product. That’s what I always judge a filmmaker by. Nothing else really matters.
15. See 14.
16. I think all the information we need to make movies is pretty readily available. I became a filmmaker by finding out online all of the things I could accomplish at home with barely any money, and started experimenting and getting feedback and criticism in online forums and building my experience through basically trial and error and input/help from people all over the country (without having to go all over the country). But from a technical point of view there are practically infinite resources on how to do anything in filmmaking if you know where to look.
17. Honestly, I think this blog is starting to get a bit stale because it’s been going so long and from an outsider’s perspective it just seems like what your movie will accomplish has been proven with everything you’ve done so far and it doesn’t have much further to go. For the most part you’re still doing the same stuff you’ve been blogging about all summer. I’m not interested in what festivals or which cities you’re playing at anymore. They seem to be all having roughly the same effect. There’s no buzz anymore and it feels like you’re really stretching it out for this film. Personally, I’d just be interested to see how you approach your next film given what you’ve learned from TLL, and see how starting that project goes for you. I don’t feel like there’s much more to learn from your experiences with TLL...at least for us.

Comment by Evan on 9/04/09 at 2:13 pm

In other words, it’s gotten to where it feels like you’ve spent more effort trying to sell and distribute the movie than you did trying to make it.

And I personally don’t think that should ever be the case.

Comment by Patrick on 9/08/09 at 11:30 am

Hey Evan, thanks for being so encouraging to a fellow filmmaker. BTW what have you ever made? Don’t listen to this guy Jeffrey, keep doing what you’re doing.

Comment by Russ Skains on 9/12/09 at 12:08 am

Patrick, Evan gave an honest thought out response and that is what Jeffrey asked for. I can’t see how you can fault him for that.

From what I see...Evan is the only person who has taken the time to respond in the correct manner. He didn’t ask anyone if they liked it or agreed with it...it is what it is…

Comment by Angelo Bell on 9/14/09 at 12:00 pm

1. My favorite books on indie filmmaking are those books I consistently turn to for advice and/or inspiration: Rebel Without A Crew, How to Make a Movie for $10,000, and oddly enough, The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide.

2. I don’t have a favorite blog about indie filmmaking unless you consider my own. I try to be informative more than entertaining in my blog. Dolling out all the information I’ve learned (the hard way) about indie filmmaking over the last six years with 13 films under my belt - http://www.AngeloBell.com

3. The Apple Movie Trailer site is my favorite site for watching trailers - http://www.apple.com/trailers/

4. Trailers are the strongest influencers in getting me to see a film. Reviews come in a distant third, with word-of-mouth a close second.

5. My social network of choice right now is Twitter because it facilitates immediate communication with like-minded folks.

6. Neither Facebook nor Twitter have powerful effect on what movies I decide to see. I see films “I” like over films other people like.

7. What upcoming movie are you anticipating the most?

8. I don’t value any movie critic’s opinion. I don’t think there a critic who can bypass their prejudices to objectively review a movie on its on merits.

9. I am most likely to buy my movies at Wal-MArt (cheapest prices), Target and then at BlockBuster Video sales.

10. 80% of my Netflix membership viewing is done on DVD. I’ve watched LOST on my computer to catch up on the previous seasons.

11. What is your favorite way to watch a movie (theater, home television, computer, etc)?

12. This year “Star Trek” was an amazing experience for me. I remember sitting in the theater and thinking, “God, I don’t want this movie to end! I can watch it all day!”

13. i’m not impressed by any particular moviemaker’s efforts at building an audience. It’s not that theire results aren’t impressive, it’s that they had money, which facilitated their efforts. I WANT to be impressed by a moviemaker who builds a huge, loyal and committed audience strictly through social media/blogging, and self-releasing on a shoe-string budget

14. If I’m on a moviemaker’s update e-mail list, I prefer to hear from them once every two weeks with substantive updates.

15. I hope to be inspired and obtain information when I join a moviemaker’s update e-mail list.

16. Without a doubt, I wish there was more cohesive information available on self-distribution.

17. On this blog I’d appreciate more details. For example, instead of saying something like, “My friend got me a meeting at Warner Bros” I’d like to hear how your met your friend, build a relationship with him, and how he got his current job/position which made it possible for him to connect with someone at Warner Bros. Then I want to know what he said and did to make the meeting happen on your behalf.

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 9/14/09 at 2:42 pm

Hi Angelo,

Thank you so much for taking the time to provide answers. I will work on providing even more details here on “self-distribution”. I truly appreciate your perspective and hope that you’ll continue to follow along. And I look forward to following your efforts, as well.

Jeffrey

Comment by Russ Skains on 9/16/09 at 2:44 am

I have been extremely impressed with what Jeffrey has done with this series on this MovieMaker blog and feel indebted to Jeffrey for all that he has taught us through the weeks of Lullaby’s development.

I have followed along Lullaby’s development since its premiere in DFW’s film festival. He clearly made a great movie as the film festival circuit loved his movie and giving him rave reviews were the norm. I found that the more I watched the movie, the more I liked the artistic elements of it. Hard to beat this movie for a first movie by a director.

But what I learned from this blog was how hard it is for an indie to get any movie from point A to point B in distribution...how do I get fannies in the seats in a theater for my movie?

I have been extremely impressed with how Jeffrey built an audience with limited resources and capital. We live in a different age than ever before and the social networks and facebook in particular can work well for striving artists. I also enjoy the newletters that Jeffrey sends out...these are emails that I looked forward to reading about the development of Lullaby. Jeffrey sent them out once or twice a month and this doesn’t clutter anyone’s inbox too much.

In fact, I was sad to see the run end...as I had so much fun and learned so much about the process...I didn’t like it ending.

I salute Jeffrey Goodman! He is a class guy with no pretenses and he works extremely hard. I hope that he continues to make movies but for me...I don’t think any of them will be as much of a learning experience or as fun as Lullaby was!

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 9/16/09 at 8:02 am

Hi Russ,

Thanks so much for the incredibly kind words. Trust me, the next one will be just as much of a learning experience. And maybe even more fun!

Look forward to continuing to share in the process.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Free twitter backgrounds on 12/03/09 at 4:32 am

Facebook overtook Myspace as the most popular social networking site (based on unique monthly visitors) in early 2008 and has held that distinction ever since. Most recently, Facebook was estimated to attract 91 million unique US visitors a month while Myspace attracted around 63 million. Twitter is by far the fastest growing social networking tool (and overall website).

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 12/03/09 at 7:53 am