Adventures in Self-Releasing: Indie Distribution Pitfalls

by Jeffrey Goodman | Published May 1, 2009

From the beginning, it’s been my goal to avoid what are perhaps some of the most common pitfalls in independent movie distribution, and in self-releasing. I haven’t really had a model to follow. I guess, more often, I’ve had models not to follow. I still don’t know how it will shake out. (By the time this publishes, it will be May 1, the date of our theatrical launch.) But I have stumbled upon a few things that I think could be useful to the next person that decides to go this way:

1. Ticket Pre-Sells
Of anything, this one concept seems to be key. I’m not sure, honestly, how many independent movies have the opportunity to pre-sell their tickets online, but our tickets became available three and a half weeks before our launch. And this has proven to be very important.

Being able to pre-sell tickets takes a good amount of the uncertainty out of the process. In fact, I’m hoping to pre-sell our entire weekend. It’s nerve-racking enough tracking ticket sales and trying to hit certain numbers; I can’t imagine being involved in this process and just hoping that people will buy a ticket and show up during premiere weekend.

The more I do this, the more I see the similarities between self-releasing and running a political campaign. Pre-selling tickets is like early voting: I’m trying to get enough votes early to win the election before Election Day even arrives.

2. Tickets On Hand
Another thing I’ve done that’s proven very effective is buy my own set of tickets and have them on me at all times. I continue to do a good number of speaking engagements and now, as part of my talk, I mention that people can buy tickets directly from me if they already know the showtime they want to attend. I’ve already sold a great number of tickets this way. I don’t know much, but I’m fairly confident that people like for you to make things easy on them.

3. Group Sales
This part hasn’t been the easiest to take on, but it has worked quite well. I have been calling business owners that I know in the area and seeing if they will buy a block of tickets. I really encourage them to buy a block of tickets for one show and do it as a sort of field trip for the office. To top things off, I’ve offered to buy the tickets for them and deliver them. Once again, make it as easy as you can for people and sometimes you’ll be amazed at the result.

4. Recognition
We’ve been grassroots. By the time of our launch, as with so many independent movies, we will hit the theaters without ever having paid for a newspaper, magazine or television ad. We’ve relied on speaking engagements, yard signs, Facebook, a monthly update list and some free media exposure (print, TV and radio interviews).

But I’ll tell you what, there was something very satisfying I learned this week. I had a table set up outside the movie theater to sell T-shirts and tickets. And I can’t tell you how many people I approached who said, “Oh yeah, I’ve heard about that.” I think that recognition is what the studios are trying to achieve when they flood the marketplace with their ads. And, that recognition could be key now as we try to harvest the last four months of our marketing efforts.

Wish me luck. Pray for me. By the time you read this, it’ll be the start of the culmination of 10 years of work. And hopefully the beginning of a long, successful run, self-releasing The Last Lullaby.

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.

COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT

Comment by Nicole/MadlabPost on 5/01/09 at 5:49 pm

I hope that the The Last Lullaby attracts a lot of moviegoers during the theatrical release. One thing that I have read other Self-distributing filmmakers doing that would probably benefit The Last Lullaby is collecting demographic information OR lengthening their email list for subsequent films that they release and for DVD or VOD sales. The Pre-sale thing is a great idea along with having tickets on-hand. I never considered carrying tickets everywhere but this is something that may be beneficial.

Comment by Patrick on 5/03/09 at 5:47 am

Good luck! Congrats ahead of time.

Comment by Patrick McBrearty on 5/04/09 at 12:24 pm

How did you do? how did you do?

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 5/06/09 at 9:06 am

Hi Nicole/MadlabPost,

Thanks so much for your comments.

I agree that building an e-mail list is one of the most vital pieces in self-releasing.  I also believe that there’s a real art to it, one that I’m still trying to master.

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

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 5/06/09 at 9:20 am

Hi Patrick,

Thanks so much for your kind words.  I truly appreciate it.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 5/06/09 at 9:29 am

Hi Patrick McBrearty,

We did great!  For this past weekend, we ended up doing $16,640.75, making us the independent film with the second highest per screen average in North America:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/2009/05/05/box_office_chart_may_5_2009/

The film that was #1 was The Limits of Control, directed by Jim Jarmusch and distributed by Focus Features, the independent film distribution arm of Universal Studios.  The film stars Academy-Award Winner Tilda Swinton and Academy-Award Nominated Bill Murray.

Our per screen average would have made us the independent film with the highest per screen average in the country any of the previous five weeks.

This is an excellent start for the rollout of our film.  In fact, I’ve already fielded an e-mail from an exhibitor who has theaters in Portland, San Antonio, and Atlanta and is interested in LULLABY.  Our Premiere Weekend was a TOTAL, even amazing success.

We ended up selling out 14/15 screenings this past weekend.

Thanks for your interest and support.  I hope that you’ll continue to follow along.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Russ Skains on 5/06/09 at 3:06 pm

I went to 2 showings. One on Friday nite and one Sunday afternoon. I went with 2 different groups of my friends and I sent my family to a third showing.

People LOVED this film. You can see it in the newspapers, emails, facebook and conversation with your friends.

The Last Lullaby’s premiere was such a smashing success that if this doesn’t give it the buzz and pop it needs to move out....what will?

Comment by Patrick McBrearty on 5/06/09 at 3:29 pm

Awesome Jeffrey!

Congrats, you earnned it!  You need to write a “how to” book, and go into more detail.

great job, you give us all hope!

Patrick

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 5/06/09 at 4:05 pm

Hi Russ,

Thanks so much!  Those are kind words.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 5/06/09 at 4:07 pm

Hi Patrick,

Thanks so much!  I truly appreciate those words.  I will go into more detail in my blog entry this week. 

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Jane Kosek on 5/07/09 at 1:45 pm

Excellent news! Congrats! I am going to tell my blog readers to follow your story. We need some positive outcomes in our industry to be highlighted more. Here’s to continued success!
Cheers,
Jane
allaboutindiefilmmaking.blogspot.com

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 5/08/09 at 7:03 am

Hi Jane,

Thank you so much for your very kind words.  I will continue to follow your blog, too (I went on there and read your very nice post.)

Keep up the great work!  And thank you so much for your support and interest.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by Rod Tait on 5/08/09 at 7:33 pm

Hi Jeffery,

I just want to say what a great weekend! Thank you so much for putting in all of the hard work to bring this past weekend to fruition. And, thank you for sharing all that you have shared. I think that this is only the beginning. I think that you are on your way to some great success. Jeffrey, you do give all of us who are interested in film making hope! Great job on what you have accomplished so far.

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 5/09/09 at 7:40 am

Hi Rod,

Thank you so much for your e-mail.  And for all that you have done to help build a team around Lullaby. 

I look forward to moving into other cities with the film and truly appreciate all of your support.

Jeffrey

Comment by lojera reo on 2/24/11 at 6:52 am

Howdy, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam comments?
Saab 9-7X Air Conditioning Compressor

Comment by torrent on 3/01/11 at 6:25 am

Thank you so much for your e-mail.  And for all that you have done to help build a team around Lullaby.

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 3/01/11 at 8:22 am

Hi torrent,

Thank you so much for saying that.  I truly appreciate it.

All the best,

Jeffrey

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