Will Marketing Your Short Film Project Expose Your Bankability?

Short Films Tell A Story Quickly, Concisely, And Cleverly… And Are Gaining The Attention Of The Film Industry “Power Players”!

Some may think it is a fad but to contemporary Hollywood and Winter Palace Films the short film has become serious business, even though to movie fans it is often as a film festival afterthought.  However, unlike the movie fans emerging filmmakers are hot on the value of the short film in the film market, today.  With the recent few years’ successes of shorts, often enhanced by the power of YouTube, the word has spread quickly transforming how Hollywood views these miniature movies.  Studios and financiers have always said they like to see as much of the movie as they can, figuratively, before they develop it.  With shorts, this literally can be accomplished.

Shorts from filmmaking neophytes are seizing the imagination of some of the film industry’s biggest names, seeing them not just as a calling card for new talent but also as the basis for compelling, theatrical material.  With the potential of viral explosion, shorts are gaining buzz in real time, as stars, producers and agents send links to one another under a blanket of conspiracy and innovative financial findings, likening Hollywood’s new hunt for success to the California Gold Rush.  These smaller compact stories are quickly becoming profit motives and creative templates for the film industry, and some shorts have already inspired Oscar nods.  Also with viewer traffic so easily measured, either at film festivals, online, or in the theaters, it can reassure development, marketing and focus group-minded studio executives of an audience for a filmmaker’s work.

The most inspiring comment we at Winter Palace Films has heard promoting shorts is a quote from Peter Schlessel, Sony’s President of Worldwide Affairs, who spearheaded the successes of the well touted film, District 9, which was rumored it was derived from the short film, Alive in Joburg.  Peter said of the film’s rookie director, Neill Blomkamp, “A good short tells you that a filmmaker can handle a story, that he has vision and that he has the ability to convey emotion, which are all things we saw with Neill.  You can never take something like that and build a business plan around it.  But if it worked once, it could work again.”

However, it’s more than just one success causing the Hollywood “Power Players” to go shorts-crazy.  Every year we are hearing of short after short being developed into feature films gaining both limited and wide theatrical release.  As the great graphic novels became all the rage a few years ago offering studio executives more tangible representations of story ideas, shorts do graphic novels one turn better because they show how a finished film might actually be positioned in the film market.  And, isn’t the film market where we want our film projects?

If you are not an expert at advertising and marketing there are entities available to guide you with your short film project through the confusion of film festivals, marketing including social media, website presentation, and viral marketing, and other exhibition options to gain notoriety and exposure in the film market…and, they should begin by devising a plan for you and your short film’s or your short film screenplay’s anticipated success.

For more information see this blog’s contributor, Winter Palace Films.

What is Script Coverage… Anyway?

Let’s talk coverage…



What is Coverage, anyway?  Well, it consists of three basic sections: a Cover Sheet, Synopsis, and Comments.

The Cover Sheet records the Submission Details (the “who gave what to whom”), the Logline ( one-sentence description of the story), a Rating Chart of general qualities, and Final Recommendations (“Consider” means “Yes”; “Pass” means “No”; and “Maybe” means… well, “Maybe.”

Synopsis

The Synopsis is a brief summary usually running from one to two and a half pages, double-spaced.  It is usually very flat and dull in content, revealing none of the sparkle, wit and brilliance making the script interesting.  If the story is complicated or involves many shifts of time and space, the synopsis may simplify the action to a great extent.  However, it does contain the essential story points, the elements likely to be repeated when the “What’s it about?” question is asked in the development meeting.

Comments

The Comments section contains the real meat and potatoes of the Coverage.  This one-page, single-spaced document should read like a short critical essay.  Since most executives start by reading the comments first, the opening paragraph recapitulates the logline and makes general comments about the style and quality of the work.  The next section touches on the premise and tone of the story including discussions of the genre, style, setting and theme of the story.  It may liken the script to other movies (hence, famous analogies such as “Little Rascals meet the Usual Suspects”).  Or, it may discuss it in historical context, the storyline’s given period of time or era.  Historical context considers the political, social, cultural, and economic setting for a particular storyline–those things which surround it in time and place, giving a sense of how unique or ordinary the story plays.  The next section covers execution, focusing on story structure and scene work.  It breaks the story into acts, and may comment on pace, dramatic tension and thoughtline.  It discusses the quality of the scene writing, or its ability to make individual scenes “play.”  The last major section covers character and dialogue.  It speaks of character in more specific terms, focusing on the lead characters and their development. It also discusses dialogue, looking for a natural feel and character-specific qualities… making them real.

Conclusion

The Conclusion or closer tries to cram the whole discussion into a single sentence, setting the stage for a Final Recommendation.  It is good to remember that the Final Recommendation comes first – as it is the gut reaction to the story.  Then the comments are drafted to support it.  Do not confuse this as an academic exercise, grading the script on storypoints and character arcs.  It’s actually the final grade indicating whether or not the story “works,” meaning it moves an audience full of people and is recommended for production and distribution into the film and television market.

What to Avoid when Scouting for a Producers’ Representative or Producer of Marketing and Distribution on the Internet…

Don’t be fooled by all the website flash when searching for a representative to market your film for distribution purposes.  Often these days when seeking that special person or company for representation we think we are doing our homework by reading the services performed and fees, reading the company bios, checking recommendations, and looking at the film distribution track record of titles and statistics offered.  But in fact, we’re not being as thorough as is necessary.

Let’s say we’ve found that perfect representative where the services performed and fees are agreeable, the bios make sense showing they have done this task or related tasks elsewhere and for a reasonable length of time with documented success, and the recommendations or testimonies seem to be supportive.  That’s all good, but let’s stop right there and examine those testimonies.  These are sometimes hard to pinpoint as some references may be an interested party but have limited attachment to any given film or maybe they are loosely attached to many films.  Is the testimony related to the services offered?  If no film is mentioned it’s often hard to tell.  So, let’s say this representation company shows known entities or celebrities as references.  Again, are films listed in their testimony, and if so can you locate them in IMDB as a project distributed?  So okay, let’s say you’re satisfied with the testimonies or you understand it’s often hard to get a known filmmaker to give that free quote and you move onto the film distribution listings or the film library.  And, wow!  What an impressive list of films; and, they even have key art.

What you don’t know is that unless the producers’ representative or producer of marketing and distribution is attached to these films discovering their participation with the distribution deal is very tricky as there is no published record.  Much like an advertising or public relations agency but with sales abilities, the representative’s job was bringing the film and buyer together along with publicizing the film during its marketing campaign.  Then normally, an attorney representing the film is in on the negotiations with the distribution entity.  Unless credit is given on the project somewhere during the deal such as executive producer or producer, the film’s success is only traceable under the names of the principal attachments, producers, directors, etceteras or the actual distribution company, making it impossible to connect the representative with the distribution deal.  And to complicate things more, there are usually non-disclosures signed during the deal preventing the sharing of the negotiation specifics.

So, how are all these films listed on this representative company’s website as their distribution deals or film library?  Maybe they produced them.  So, you look up some of the titles on IMDB to see who exactly were involved with these films, and you find one or more of the representatives in this company were producers.  Now, you’re satisfied with how the films are actually listed on the website.  But, don’t stop there!  Were these films distributed?  And if so, how did they perform?  Also, why is there a library listed on a representative’s website with limited distribution to the films?  This leaves us one more important question; will the film you’re bringing to the company be distributed or will it become a part of the library and grow old awaiting its audience?

Okay, now you’re more or less finished with your investigation of a producers’ representative or producer of marketing and distribution website and can make an informed decision as to how uninformed you really are pertaining to what is represented by the website’s attempt at credentials.  So, what are we really left with here… a gut feeling from the interview?  Yes and a little more; it’s the information relayed to you by the representative you are interested in hiring.  They should give you a secure feeling of the ability to market your film and the flexibility to change strategies during the campaign.  They should give you an idea of costs and an outline of a marketing campaign plan.  Often costs are difficult to project as the campaign usually takes place over the period of one year in which the campaign changes course, or some costs such as travel fluctuate drastically depending upon time of booking.  The representative should give you the confidence they will present your film wholly and not lump it in with a bundle of other clients’ projects or their existing film library.  You certainly don’t want your film on which you worked hard and financed by being a medical guinea pig bundled and sold.  The representative should know their way around the film market and various distribution platforms and companies.  And, they should know the film market major and minor players.  And…most important of all, the representative should “Get Your Film!”  How else are they going to position it for the film market?  Now, you’re ready to hire that representative…so go out there and get that great rep to make your film project a winner!

Learn more at Winter Palace Films located at http://www.winterpalacefilms.com