"We just made a movie." Yeah... and it's not enough. Sorry. What to do with this crushing realization and how to turn things around.

A fellow filmmaker complained to me recently that they couldn't understand WHY they weren't getting traction. It was because they "just made a film". Why that isn't enough any more & what you can do.

I hear this over and over and over again as a film PR/marketing and distribution consultant: we did what we were supposed to do, we made a good movie! Why aren’t we getting deals / offers / acquisitions / attention / acceptance to festivals etc. etc.

And it breaks my heart because remember, I’m a filmmaker first and foremost too, so I know what it took for you to get here and get a final product and maybe even get it into some decent festivals.

But times have changed drastically, and making a good movie is no longer “enough”. Truthfully, I’m not sure it was ever fully “enough” to just “make a movie”.

There’s this pervasive myth amongst filmmakers that if you JUST make a good movie that you’re going to instinctually attract the right audience, the right sales agent, the right distributor, the right whatever and you’ll get a Golden Ticket to the top and it’s JUST NOT TRUE.

The one thing that filmmakers seem to overlook is that each time they’re starting a new film, they’re actually starting—