After the credits roll...

NickClapper

NickClapper

Apologies for the elliptical title. A more conventional title might've been: 'What should I do with my film once it's finished?'.

People on here have supported The Flight of the Flamingo since Day 1 and I am enormously grateful for that. Well, we're about to finish work on it this month, and it's raising the question of what to do with the finished film.

I'm going to organise a screening for cast, crew, friends and supporters at a cinema in London. I'll also be inviting some people who might be interested in supporting future projects, so hopefully they might enjoy the film and be receptive to pitches in the future.

I then have the question of festivals. I'm starting to feel like festivals might just be a really great way to blow a few hundred quid. Realistically, I don't really see the film playing in America because it's quite British and I think a lot of the script will be lost on the average American audience (this is a very reductive way of looking at it, for which I apologise). There are only a handful of really useful film festivals here in the UK, but they're extremely competitive and I think there's a very high chance the film wouldn't get programmed at any of them.

I am not looking to sell the film. Firstly, it's not good enough. Secondly, I don't have anything like the necessary paperwork done. I want to use the movie as a calling card and proof of concept film. I'd quite like the film to get a following on the internet, because I think that it's a really fun film.

So here are my questions:

1) If I was going to submit the film to 5 festivals, what would you recommend? I want suggestions where we have a realistic chance of getting programmed and which would be a lot of fun. Would be great to get some suggestions of festivals in the US which would be receptive to a little British film.

2) I want to release the film for free online. Should I a) Release it as a feature film on YouTube, or b) Break it up into a seven part web-series?

Any thoughts, experiences...etc would be greatly appreciated! :)
 
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If your not "marketing" your movie for sale, then festivals are about having fun, seeing your movie on the big screen for little money and building your reputation. Getting some laurels to stick on your CV etc. (Did you catch how hip I am for an American, I called a resume a CV!)


So from that perspective the definition of a "useful festival" is dramatically altered!
Enter nearby festivals, or places that you would like to visit anyway!

Few filmmakers participate in the after show panels so if you promise to show up in person your chances of getting in front of a friendly crowd to talk about making movies is rather good.

Paper work is only an issue if somebody calls you on it! Missing release forms, etc, is not a real blocker to festival screenings. If everyone involved is happy and friendly with you now, then Id not expect problems later.

There are many festivals that you could easily get into, it really isn't that hard, nor very expensive. Use withoutabox and be done with it.
 
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I second everything wheatgrinder said.

One other thought/consideration: if you submit to some US festivals, consider both geography and timing. You're probably not going to want to make more than 1 trans Atlantic trip, so pick a few to submit to that are (more or less) around the same time. You may want to submit to a few on the east coast OR a few on the west coast, but not both.
 
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If you did want to submit to US festivals, then I'd say go for it. I don't think your film's too British at all. In fact, I bet there's an American audience out there that would really enjoy it.

Also, it works well as a feature. I'm not sure how you'd break it down into a series. Unless you've got some clever plan, I'd say keep it as a feature.
 
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wheatgrinder said:
If your not "marketing" your movie for sale, then festivals are about having fun, seeing your movie on the big screen for little money and building your reputation. Getting some laurels to stick on your CV etc. (Did you catch how hip I am for an American, I called a resume a CV!)


So from that perspective the definition of a "useful festival" is dramatically altered!
Enter nearby festivals, or places that you would like to visit anyway!

Few filmmakers participate in the after show panels so if you promise to show up in person your chances of getting in front of a friendly crowd to talk about making movies is rather good.

Paper work is only an issue if somebody calls you on it! Missing release forms, etc, is not a real blocker to festival screenings. If everyone involved is happy and friendly with you now, then Id not expect problems later.
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Yeah, this is kind of why I think I should focus on home festivals- because I might be able to get something out of them. I'm not worried about paperwork for festivals, I'm just aware that I'd have to retrospectively do a year's worth of work if the movie was ever sold, so I'm not even curious about that line of enquiry.

mlesemann said:
if you submit to some US festivals, consider both geography and timing. You're probably not going to want to make more than 1 trans Atlantic trip, so pick a few to submit to that are (more or less) around the same time. You may want to submit to a few on the east coast OR a few on the west coast, but not both.
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I doubt I'd make the trip over to the US to see the film unless the festival was VERY high profile, but I won't be submitting to any of them anyway. I guess I could try and submit to some festivals near where Joseph (Cracker Funk) lives, which could potentially give him the opportunity to go there and network and get some proper paying gigs!

If I could get into an NYC festival around Christmas time then I'll probably be out there anyway, I guess...

mad_hatter said:
If you did want to submit to US festivals, then I'd say go for it. I don't think your film's too British at all. In fact, I bet there's an American audience out there that would really enjoy it.

Also, it works well as a feature. I'm not sure how you'd break it down into a series. Unless you've got some clever plan, I'd say keep it as a feature.
Click to expand...

My thought there is simply that I think people find the idea of sitting down and watching an indie feature on YouTube quite daunting. I'd be surprised if more than 20-odd people were willing to do that. If we break it down into 10 minute bites then, perhaps, it'd find a bigger audience.

I don't have a clever plan about breaking it up at all, I'm just considering it a possibility that might be quite effective.

Thanks for the responses guys :)
 
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I wish google would buy NETFLIX's and merge the concepts... I have 4 different devices at home connected to my TV that all have netflix app! A couple do youtube, but thats so painful to use its hardly worth it..
 
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The problem there is that you've made a feature, not a series. The writing is completely different. Unless you find a really clever way to split it up, you're going to have a series that really doesn't feel like a series. Then you'll have the problem of how many people will come back for the next episode, if there's nothing to hook them in at the end of the previous?

Which ever path you choose, best of luck!
 
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Start-up idea: A Roku/Tivo/Smart-TV app which is basically "Netflix" exclusively for indie films. Filmmakers set the price, app gets a cut when purchases are made.

The idea being that while people don't seek out indie features and aren't about to find one of the new websites out there (and let's face it, they have no hope of competing for actual computer-browsing-based streaming market share), what they will do is browse anything on their streaming devices and will try anything that sounds good.

Anyone with some programming skills want to partner up? I'll front the capitol.
 
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mad_hatter said:
The problem there is that you've made a feature, not a series. The writing is completely different. Unless you find a really clever way to split it up, you're going to have a series that really doesn't feel like a series. Then you'll have the problem of how many people will come back for the next episode, if there's nothing to hook them in at the end of the previous?
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I agree entirely. It'd be far from ideal. But I want to consider which option will mean that the film gets seen by the most number of people. Compared to most YouTube web-series, the film would have pretty high standard of acting and production, so perhaps that'd make it stand out more. But I agree that the storyline doesn't naturally fit being broken into 7ths...

For me, the worst thing would be if, in a year's time, only a handful of people had seen the movie. I have no desire to keep the film under wraps, it does me no good. I want it out there so that people can watch it and enjoy it, and I can get feedback, opinions and contacts.
 
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I want it out there so that people can watch it and enjoy it, and I can get feedback, opinions and contacts.
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Have you been actively promoting it through social media? I know fb & twitter can be annoying at best, but if you want to maximize the number of people who are aware of it, you need to cultivate an audience.
 
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I'm not convinced that you need to release it to the world so quickly. What's the hurry, you turning into a pumpkin at midnight?

The people who need and deserve to see it will see it, soon. After that, you'll submit it to a handful of festivals. Unfortunately, festivals don't all happen in the same month, so while you're waiting to hear from one, you're applying to another. And while you wait to hear from that one, you're applying for the next. Before you know it, a year has gone by, and you're still waiting.

Let's say you release it, for free, on youtube. You still need to generate an audience, and that requires promotion. How you gonna do that? Whatever your solution, it's gonna require time, a whole lot of it. Isn't that time that could be better spent writing your next feature? Are you a promoter or a filmmaker?

I get it, you just want people to be able to see it. I promise, more than anything, I get that. But I can also say that the more patient I've been with mine, the more opportunities that have arisen, and I'm certainly not done looking for a way for more people to see it (one which doesn't require me trading my filmmaker hat for that of promoter).

Youtube? Pffftttt! Flamingo should be on Netflix!
 
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rayw said:
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=50136

Interesting.

So, at this point what's the comprehensive plan for 'Flight of the Flamingo's distribution and general public viewing?
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Well, we had a cinema screening of the film last week, with almost 100 people in attendance (including Indietalkers chilipie and harpsichoid), and that went pretty well.

Next step is to send the film to a handful of realistic festivals and cross our fingers. Meanwhile, I'll be uploading the film (password protected, of course) to Vimeo so that people who couldn't attend the screening, or who are very interested in seeing the film, have the opportunity to watch it.

And then I'll either see about VOD or releasing for free. I'm erring towards the latter because I think there'll be a lot of faff and hassle with VOD, and the result could be almost no money and almost no viewers. I'd rather not have those worries but actually have people see the film.
 
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Wow, cool post, lots of great input.
I'm on my way to finish my short doc and I was starting to think how to organize its festival tour, and final distribution. This thread is really useful to start making some choices.
 
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Dreadylocks said:
Start-up idea: A Roku/Tivo/Smart-TV app which is basically "Netflix" exclusively for indie films. Filmmakers set the price, app gets a cut when purchases are made.

The idea being that while people don't seek out indie features and aren't about to find one of the new websites out there (and let's face it, they have no hope of competing for actual computer-browsing-based streaming market share), what they will do is browse anything on their streaming devices and will try anything that sounds good.

Anyone with some programming skills want to partner up? I'll front the capitol.
Click to expand...


A little late to the party, but this already exists in a number of forms. IndieCrush, IndieFlix, Vangard, and IndieReign are three that spring directly to mind.

Crush, Vangard, and Flix are already live on streaming devices, such as Roku, while Reign is still web based with a streaming app in development. I watch indie films all the time on these channels, and I access them just the same as I do Netflix or Hulu.

Streaming devices are the future for indie filmmakers.
 
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