Online Film School Blog

I just got an email from the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) inviting me to post one of my films on their site for viewing. What’s this all about? Should I feel honored?

Several things are involved.

First of all IMDB recently bought WithoutABox. WithoutABox.com is, of course, the wonderful service for indie filmmakers where you can submit your film to just about any film festival in the world with just a few clicks. After you’ve entered all the important data about your film including an electronic press kit you only have to select the festivals you want and enter your credit card. WithoutABox does the rest.

The IMDB always seemed to be more about big studio films. With the purchase of WithoutABox it is suddenly interested in all the indie films out there. It was always possible, if not easy, to get your indie film listed on IMDB if it had been selected for showing in a recognized competitive film festival. (Since I have a film that qualifies I went to the hassle of filling in all the forms and providing the proof necessary to get it listed.)

Now the IMDB is suddenly very interested in my short film, as well as all the others they list. Why? Profit, of course. All these films are valuable content for IMDB - if the owners are willing to put them on the site. Suddenly IMDB has a lot of interesting content which brings in viewers who will click on ads and make money for the IMDB.

MDB never had much of a monetization scheme since it began as a volunteer effort. The income has come from advertising and fees charged to post headshots and film posters. IMDB must have seen the success of the various video site, such as YouTube, and decided to get their share.

So if you qualify to have your film put on IMDB, do you want to?

If you haven’t found any other way to sell your film you might as well. It’s worth some publicity value at the least. But if you are still exploring options for selling your precious film you probably don’t. As an option you can just post a trailer for your film. That sounds like a no-brainer to me.

What do you think?

Tags: film marketing by Jerry the Prof
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One of the elements of successful film distribution that is often overlooked by independent filmmakers is the publicity photos. If you want to sell your film you need a complete set of high-quality photos that can be used in publicity such as “stills” and posters.

In the time and money constraints of very low budget filmmaking no one takes the time to get out a good digital camera and get all those shots. Still frames from DV or other standard definition video is just too low quality to blow up into publicity stills.

HD is another matter. Individual frames are up to 2 megapixels and may be high quality enough to serve as publicity stills if they are well lit and sharp. Don’t forget to get some still shots with a quality camera but if you don’t have everything you need run through your footage in your editor and export the best and most dramatic frames as still JPGs to supplement your quality stills.

Check out this article for typical film publicity photo requirements.

Tags: film marketing by Jerry the Prof
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This morning I was reading my favorite SF Chronicle film reviewer’s column and was reminded of one of the most basic rules of filmmaking.

In his article Few Saw This Film, But Now You Can, Mick LaSalle talks about a powerful film from 2007 that has just come out on DVD. The name of the film is Grace Is Gone and you’ve probably never heard of it. The film tells the story of a husband and father dealing with the tragedy of his wife, a soldier in Iraq, being killed. John Cusack plays the father in a performance that had early critics talking Oscar.

The film bombed at theaters. Despite the excellent performances by Cusack and the child actors, and generally good reviews, the theme of the movie was just too downbeat. When movie goers read what the movie was about they stayed away in droves. The movie was quickly pulled from theaters and is only now coming out on DVD.

There’s a large audience for “weepies”, sad movies that make you cry, but movie audiences are looking for escape from their daily lives, not to have it rubbed in their faces. A quick check of IMDB uncovered that the best Vietnam war movies were all released after the war had become history. The war ended in 1975. Here is a list of some of the best films about the war.

• The Deer Hunter (1978)
• Platoon (1986)
• Full Metal Jacket (1987)
• We Were Soldiers (2002)

Filmmakers and screenplay writers, give your audience a break. If you’re thinking of creating a highly topical film realize that audiences view movies as entertainment. Even a “weepie” has to have uplifting elements and take your audience away from the frustrations of their daily lives.

Tags: screenwriting tips by Jerry the Prof
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The entertainment business is not the easiest way to make a living but if you want to understand the route to success you only need to study the name of the industry for a minute.

The entertainment business is the “Business of Entertaining”. So you need to create something entertaining through some combination of a compelling story and awesome spectacle that people are going to want to see and will tell their friends to go see. At the same time you need to understand and follow all the time-tested rules of good business practices which include marketing and professional relationships.

Every time I hear a beginning filmmaker telling me about their cool movie idea, that is almost completely lacking in any entertainment aspects with a broad appeal, I want to grab them by the neck and try to shake some sense into them.

Most of the ideas are a bland rehash of the latest summer comic book flick. Perhaps it would be interesting to five of their nerdy friends but a significant segment of the general population would find nothing original or interesting.

It’s also clear that these would-be moguls haven’t the first concept of how the business world operates. They have no understanding of basic business law, of how to find and nurture useful relationships in the industry or how to go about marketing a film.

If you want to succeed in “show biz” start by learning how the business world operates and, at the same time, learn what makes great storytelling. With those skills under your belt you just might be unstoppable.

Tags: entertainment business by Jerry the Prof
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Tags: Uncategorized by Jerry the Prof
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