Let’s Talk About… The New Media Landscape & How it Impacts Your Film’s Marketing & PR Efforts. Ignore changes happening in real time at your own peril.
Plus, Super Bowl spots that stood out and why ads are important to master for your film. And... I'm on the jury at Slamdance! Also Sundance ended a week ago: how many films have released trailers?
Before we get into this week’s post, I wanted to share that I’m on the jury at Slamdance! I’m thrilled to be part of this special festival and their inaugural festival in Los Angeles.
Click here to read the announcement.
Now let’s get into this week’s post…
This post is designed to give you a bird’s eye view into how things are shifting in the media landscape and how it affects you.
WHY does this affect you?
Because many of you still think that getting your film written about or covered in one of the major outlets you have come to know and regard as what is continually being referred to as “Legacy Media” is a key factor to your success, but legacy media is falling apart at the seams and no longer carries the same weight it once did with people.
I know of a filmmaking team (who let me preface, I adore and respect) who worked with a PR team to get their trailer played on one of the major US morning shows. I have no idea what they paid to do this but I do know that nabbing one of these spots is fairly costly to the filmmakers even though there is no guarantee of it happening (ie - PR is never ever guaranteed).
While there’s no way to say for certain how many people caught the trailer when it aired live, I looked at the count on their YouTube five months after it went on the air and it was at a whopping 439 views. After FIVE MONTHS of being online.
Ask yourself : do you think this moved the needle for these filmmakers? Do you think these efforts (the time and resources) and these (limited indie film marketing) dollars could have been better spent somewhere else? I wasn’t managing their campaign, but on the outside looking in, I have thoughts on this and would have suggested an entirely different strategy for their marketing and PR efforts. I’m not saying there’s no value in getting a placement like this, there is, but 439 views after five months is dismal and isn’t going to move the needle like they’d hoped.
And, hold your nose at this move if you will, but the current ‘administration’ just designated the front row of their press conference briefings to social media influencer and TikTokers.
That’s unprecedented and while I might vehemently disagree with it and want to point out the likelihood that next to none of these influencers have a background in journalism or operate off the code of ethics that legacy media is bound to and that billionaire Steve Wynn just filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court to try and overturn a landmark case from 1964 that resulted in journalist protections, this is the reality regarding our current media landscape and we cannot bury our heads in the sand nor cling to the old ways of doing things.
Things have changed. We have to change the way we make and distribute indie films.
Traditional Media is Broken. What Do You As A Filmmaker Do?
I hope that this illustrates my point but if you still consider legacy media to be the gold standard for your film’s marketing and PR strategy, I have some really sobering news for you: chasing legacy media to promote your project is not going to cut it any more.
Ignore this at your own peril but for those of you who are interested in learning about what else you need to be doing, read on. I’m going to go into detail about this shift and some of the emerging outlets that should be on your radar and touch into some of the strategies you should be enacting. Each film is unique and should have a unique marketing and releasing strategy, but some of what this week’s post is about is going to be applicable across the board.
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