Many authors and musicians have been able to build an audience independently. It didn’t require producing a viral hit reaching millions or any similar stroke of luck. Instead, they generally followed a simple and repeatable method based around sharing free content.
An author will create a blog where he can post essays to gain an initial audience. A musician will release songs on SoundCloud to gain followers. Eventually, they are able to sell a product – a book, an album, live shows, speaking engagements – based off the strength of their core audience, their ability to communicate directly to them, and their collection of short form content that can be featured on outlets across the web.
For filmmakers, this pattern is more difficult to follow due to the sheer cost and collaboration inherent in the art form. It can be expensive to produce even short films, and the need for collaborators makes it a challenge to consistently complete numerous projects. Not surprisingly, it’s a lot harder to find filmmakers who are following this strategy.
Because of this, most must still rely solely on certain gatekeepers – film festivals, distribution companies, out of touch studio execs – before their work can be widely seen.
However, I recently came across two examples of filmmakers that are building an audience using similar methods as authors and musicians.
Here are two different ways a filmmaker can attempt to build a core audience in advance of the release of a feature:
Option 1 – Give away an old feature for free
Hustle & Flow director Craig Brewer recently released a free digital download of his first (and what he calls best) movie, The Poor & The Hungry.
This is brilliant. While it may look like he is sacrificing money he could make from selling this film, the exposure he’ll get by sharing his work will benefit him much more in the long run. To receive the digital download, you had to sign up for his email list. He now has a direct link to a specific audience he can reach when his next feature is being released.
And for an interesting bonus, the decision to share the movie for free was deemed so radical that it was newsworthy in itself. For example, here is some press he received:
Option 2 - Build an audience through YouTube or Vimeo
Even though it is more involved to shoot a short video than to publish a blog post, a filmmaker can still model themselves after an author by building an audience through the release of free shorter form content.
This would be especially beneficial in advance of the production and release of a feature film. If you know what film you are going to shoot and who the target audience is, you can produce short form content that will appeal to them. You could even consider reallocating resources originally meant for marketing the feature and use them to produce videos in advance.
The team at Ralph Smyth Entertainment is currently putting this to use. They recently wrapped production on the feature film Intramural, but for the past year or so they have been producing videos for their YouTube channel, Humordy.
This has allowed them to build a base of subscribers that, again, they can communicate with directly when their movie is ready to be released.
Conclusion – By finding unique ways to release material for free, filmmakers can begin to build audiences in ways similar to authors and musicians. When the time comes to release a feature, they will already have a base of interested fans that they can communicate with directly. While it may not be enough to sustain the release of a feature itself, the film will have a great head start when combined with the traditional efforts of a distributor.
http://samtmalcolm.com/how-a-filmmaker-can-build-an-audience-two-examples/http://samtmalcolm.com/how-a-filmmaker-can-build-an-audience-two-examples/
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