Adventures in Self-Releasing: More Successful Self-Releasing in 8 Steps

by Jeffrey Goodman | Published August 28, 2009

We’re in a slightly quieter period now with The Last Lullaby, so I figured I’d switch formats again for this week’s entry as I look back and examine some of the decisions I’ve made. I will soon be starting my next movie and, as with anything, I do hope I’ve learned from some of my mistakes.

Q: Is there an ideal week to open an independent movie?

A: I think, unless you have a major publicity and advertising (P&A) budget (over a $1M), I would probably encourage you to stay out of the crowded indie market that begins in early September and goes until the end of the year. Other than those four months, I would encourage people to release their movie when they’re ready, regardless of the month. For instance, we released our movie right in the middle of the summer blockbusters, and I think that was just fine.

Q: Is it difficult to get exhibitors’ attention if you’re self-releasing?

A: If you are putting up solid numbers each week, the exhibitors don’t care whether you have a distribution company behind you or not. Don’t worry about that. Worry about trying to figure out a way to average $3,000 to $4,000 per screen each week. If you can keep up that average, I’m convinced you can find a theater in almost any city to give you a screen. Now, granted, I wasn’t able to hit this sort of per-screen average each week. But I think with a little more P&A and a more identifiable niche market, I could have attained these numbers.

Q: What will you attempt to do differently the next time out?

A: I will try to do a few things differently:

1. I will definitely try to determine our niche markets earlier and try to form alliances with them as early as pre-production.

2. I will also try to have our Website up as soon as pre-production begins and begin gathering e-mail addresses at that time.

3. I will have a Facebook group, Twitter account, movie blog and any other major social marketing accounts as soon as I have the funding in place for my next movie.

4. I will have a trailer up as soon as I possibly can.

5. I will have a DVD of the movie for sale from the time of our very first festival screening and at every screening thereafter.

6. I will have a graphic designer on staff and consider them as important of a hire as my producer or cameraman.

7. In my own assessment, we did ourselves a disservice with Lullaby by making a genre movie that wasn’t even more edgy. In general, film festivals are not terribly partial towards genre movies, particularly horror and crime movies. Meanwhile, the key genre festivals, like Austin’s Fantastic Fest and Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival, that do make horror and crime movies their focus seem more interested in those movies that really push the envelope. Next time out if we end up making a genre movie, I will make sure either I downplay the genre elements or make an even edgier, genre movie.

8. I will have even more money in the budget set aside for P&A.

I have learned a great deal. Now, I just hope I can convince people to take a chance on me again. We, as moviemakers, have to accept that we’re in a high risk/high reward venture. And just as we can’t totally control how our movies turn out (although we can exert a great amount of control), we also can’t control whether audiences will accept the movies we have made. However, times are changing. I think, at the very least, we have to try to exert the same amount of effort in trying to make audiences find our work as we have for years in trying to make our work match our visions.

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.

SHARE THIS STORY

COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT

Comment by Gabriel on 8/31/09 at 8:57 am

Using your experiences from your previous project can really help you make something new in your upcoming projects. So take advantage of that, make a list of do’s and dont’s.

Comment by Alexander on 9/02/09 at 3:18 pm

Hey Jeffery,

I have enjoyed your bolgs up to an including this point. It seems the most relevant to my future and has some of the most up to date information offerd online today. I look forward to seeing more of your work soon.
Also Stoked that I am purchasing tickets for “The Last Lullaby” today for the Calgary Film fest and that I finaly get to see the fruits of your life labour.

Keep it up!

All the best
Alexander

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 9/03/09 at 6:52 am

Hi Alexander,

Thank you so much for your e-mail.

I am so happy to hear that the posts continue to be useful. And that you’ll get a chance to see the film in Calgary. I’m excited for it to play there.

Also, I can’t remember, do you receive our monthly updates? If not, I’d love to add you to the list.

I hope that you’ll continue to follow along.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Victor on 9/11/09 at 2:03 pm

I look forward to seeing more of your work soon.

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 9/11/09 at 3:06 pm

Hi Victor,

Thanks so much for the kind words! I hope that you’ll continue to follow along here.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Sheri Candler on 9/14/09 at 12:29 pm

Hi Jeffrey,
I pump my fist YES at your answer to q3. Start marketing as early as prepro. However, I don’t think you need a graphic designer on staff, you need a marketer to set the plan and strategy and hire out the designer to brand everything. A separate marketing person will take the reigns on that for you while you make the best film you can. Start early and be consistent with your message and with your interactivity to the audience you are building. That is the key to successfully distributing your film. But budget for that extra marketing person to collaborate with you so you can concentrate on film greatness.

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 9/14/09 at 2:45 pm

Hi Sheri,

Thank you so much for your comments. I couldn’t agree with you more on beginning the marketing efforts as soon as possible. I’ll definitely do a better job at this next time out.

I hope that you’ll continue to follow along.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by saad on 9/19/09 at 3:15 am

Very nice post , thank u for your efforts !!

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 9/19/09 at 6:42 am

Hi saad,

Thanks so much for your comments. I hope that you’ll continue to follow along.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Guia Budapeste on 11/03/09 at 7:18 pm

Facebook groups, Twitter accounts, blogs and other major social marketing accounts are a must-have for all marketing efforts but they are just such a pain in the back.

Comment by indonesia arthritis on 12/23/09 at 8:37 am

This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I love seeing websites that understand the value of providing a quality resource for free. It’s the old what goes around comes around routine. Did you acquired lots of links and I see lots of trackbacks?

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 12/23/09 at 10:35 am

Hi indonesia,

Thank you so much for your comments. I did acquire a lot of feedback and dialogue here. I really appreciate it and hope that you’ll continue to follow along.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Mike Miami on 1/25/10 at 2:19 pm

I always like to read something like this. That is usually a bit hard to find valuable information on the internet. And I found your post using Yahoo and I can say I the time spent was worth reading.
placemats

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 1/25/10 at 2:35 pm

Hey Mike,

Thanks so much for the very kind words! It’s always great to hear that some of this is helpful. I hope that you’ll continue to check in.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Jessie Jacob on 2/11/10 at 7:04 am

It’s very difficult for independent film to reach out their audience. Since they usually lack the main factor, which is good advertising or promotional campaign, they find it hard to market their movie. However, independent movie maker make use of our technological advancement to promote their movie like twitter, facebook and other social networking site.

Comment by sciatica pain treatment on 4/09/10 at 7:03 am

Excellent news. I am glad that on importance you blog is popular, as it is really interesting and affable. It is pleasant to me your articles and that that you do! My congratulations.

Comment by bit torrents downloads on 12/13/10 at 7:14 am

It seems the most relevant to my future and has some of the most up to date information offerd online today however it’s very difficult for independent film to reach out their audience. Since they usually lack the main factor, which is good advertising or promotional campaign, they find it hard to market their movie.

Comment by sniper2 on 9/27/11 at 5:05 pm