How Do You Introduce Yourself To A Genre Market?

Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC

Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC

What is your approach?

I'm in 3 groups with LinkedIn for science fiction and blog on Science Fiction & Fantasy World web site. I'm considering placing quarter ads in the top 10 science fiction magazines next year to get the word out on my new production.
 
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This is an interesting question. I consider myself to be a big fan of sci-fi, but don't subscribe to any sci-fi magazines. I'm assuming most sci-fi fans will be the same way, at least those under the age of 35. Not many "young" people feel the need to have dead trees delivered to their door. Banner ads on sci-fi websites might help, but I use an ad-blocker and would never see them. Without any name talent, getting articles on websites about your project will be extremely difficult. I guess I don't really have any answers for you. I wish you luck in your quest, though. Keep us updated on your choices.
 
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Part of what I'm looking at is circulation of subscribers.

Challenger magazine has 6.1 Million subscribers. There is a good chance that I will get the attention of some of them to go on the Internet to look at the trailer that should be out by then to attract new fans.
 
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Don't forget that with web ads you pay for clicks, not views.

Google adwords is awesome. You can target your audience if you want with search words like "sci fi, myth, amazon, robot" or whatever. Even "competition" like "SyFy, battlestar, trek" and similar. You set the price too. AND you can advertise the YouTube video directly. We advertise a few of ours super cheap, only a penny or two a click with a $15 a month budget. If we upped the price per click or the overall budget we'd get way more, but even at $.02 we notice a difference. The ad puts us at the top of "related videos" to the right of other videos.
 
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@Paul Thanks for the 411.

@SinEater IC2 is stricky a fund raiser for IC3 and a resume piece. Part of the fund raising is building a fan base and following for I, Creator with hard numbers like views to show the cable TV networks. Showing Fox TV Internet views helped get Terminator: TSCC a second season. That is useful for gwtting investors too.
 
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Is it going to be free to watch, or will you charge? Will it be ad-supported on your own website, or uploaded to Youtube? All of these things would have effects on my plan going forward. What is the length of the film? Internet viewing usually works best in small chunks, you'll get more viewers watching whole short episodes, but many will just click off a longer video because they don't have an hour to sit and watch.

As your distribution seems to be strictly web, I don't think I'd go after print advertising. I would take the time to send screener DVDs a month or two in advance to every print magazine you can, and to every website you can a few weeks in advance. It's not too expensive and any passable review will get you exponentially more views than an ad will. Of course, if you're not confident it will get passing reviews maybe that could hurt you.
 
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SinEater said:
Is it going to be free to watch, or will you charge? Will it be ad-supported on your own website, or uploaded to Youtube? All of these things would have effects on my plan going forward. What is the length of the film? Internet viewing usually works best in small chunks, you'll get more viewers watching whole short episodes, but many will just click off a longer video because they don't have an hour to sit and watch.

As your distribution seems to be strictly web, I don't think I'd go after print advertising. I would take the time to send screener DVDs a month or two in advance to every print magazine you can, and to every website you can a few weeks in advance. It's not too expensive and any passable review will get you exponentially more views than an ad will. Of course, if you're not confident it will get passing reviews maybe that could hurt you.
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Youtube looks good, because that is what Josh Friedman used for Terminator: TSCC to get numbers and he gave away clips to view for free.

I have an account with CreateSpace.com where people can pay there to see the full production.

I have 31 minutes and change put together so far. I will build another scene within a week or two. Two additional scenes will be made from scratch by a 3D animator when I find one to add to our team. The production will then be brought to NATPE and shown continously on a DVD TV combo unit in a booth in front of TV programming execs, investors, and distributors from around the world by 2013.

I have a sales agent / entertainment lawyer in mind to help find distributors for it too.
 
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Nice start to a good thread. Enjoying reading. I wish you luck with your project Myth, and hope you keep sharing what you find works for your film.

Good info on Google Adwords Paul. I've been curious about them for other stuff but had not looked at them regarding film promotion.

As for print ads, I admit I'm a sci-fi fan and an over 35 dead tree collector but I have never heard of Challenger magazine.
 
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MichaelPaul said:
Nice start to a good thread. Enjoying reading. I wish you luck with your project Myth, and hope you keep sharing what you find works for your film.

Good info on Google Adwords Paul. I've been curious about them for other stuff but had not looked at them regarding film promotion.

As for print ads, I admit I'm a sci-fi fan and an over 35 dead tree collector but I have never heard of Challenger magazine.
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Two other magazines on the list with smaller subscriber lists are Analog and Asimov's Science Fiction.

The federal government encourages print ads with tax credits for movie production companies. How many independent producers take advantage of that?
 
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I think for such a NICHE product like IC2, magazines are a great idea. There is an underground aspect to printed fanzines that still appeals to those REALLY in the know. Its sorta like VINYL records to the hip DJ artists.
 
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I love your enthusiasm, but I wouldn't base all your plans on what Terminator:TSCC did. It was a fantastic show but it had massive brand recognition that IC2 simply doesn't. It had also had a season of episodes on a major network prior to the YouTube media push you talk about. While you can definitely learn from what they did, I'd also look to successful shows launched directly from the web. The Guild and Legend of Neil come to mind. Both started very low-no budget, but they've spawned multiple seasons and pull in a profit.
 
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I'm stll doing the printed ads to the nitch market to make more people out there aware of the series. Science Fiction fans who can't find enough sci-fi turn to something more specialized like magazines. And, it is a tax credit for promoting your business.

As we up production values, we will need more funding, not less. At NATPE, we will find investors and distributors. I have a list of actors with name recognition for IC3 who are known to work in low/no budget indie films.
 
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The print advertising tax credit you keep referring to, is it a film production tax credit, and if so what are the budget requirements? Tax credits for film are typically for budgets over x. At least at the state level. You made it sound as if it was a federal tax credit. Or is it a federal small business tax credit?
 
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When you file your Schedule C, you have a debits section called Promotion where you claim how much you spent on prints and advertising. That offsets your credits (profits) you make. That is how you get your credit. Just keep copies of paid invoices for advertising.
 
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It's not really a tax credit then, just a write off. It means that instead of paying taxes on $10,000, you're paying taxes on $8,000 because of your extra $2k advertising expenses. That doesn't mean $2k less taxes, but whatever you're effective tax rate (around 20-30% usually) of that $2k.

So if you were paying a 25% tax rate on the $10,000, that's $2,500 in tax leaving $7,500 in the bank for you. If you did you're advertising and write off, that means you had the $10,000, spent $2,000 on advertising meaning you're now taxed 25% of $8,000, paying $2,000 in taxes leaving $6,000 in the bank for you.

It's not an equal amount, but it's still a lot less. As a freelancer I write off all my gear and expenses. It's like buying the camera at a 20% discount because if I didn't buy it that 20% would go to Uncle Sam.
 
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PaulGriffith said:
It's not really a tax credit then, just a write off. It means that instead of paying taxes on $10,000, you're paying taxes on $8,000 because of your extra $2k advertising expenses. That doesn't mean $2k less taxes, but whatever you're effective tax rate (around 20-30% usually) of that $2k.

So if you were paying a 25% tax rate on the $10,000, that's $2,500 in tax leaving $7,500 in the bank for you. If you did you're advertising and write off, that means you had the $10,000, spent $2,000 on advertising meaning you're now taxed 25% of $8,000, paying $2,000 in taxes leaving $6,000 in the bank for you.

It's not an equal amount, but it's still a lot less. As a freelancer I write off all my gear and expenses. It's like buying the camera at a 20% discount because if I didn't buy it that 20% would go to Uncle Sam.
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You've got it!
 
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That's different. Your original wording was that it was a tax credit encouraging film production companies to use print advertising, which confused me.

You're talking about business tax write offs which we do take advantage of.
 
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Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC said:
What is your approach?

I'm in 3 groups with LinkedIn for science fiction and blog on Science Fiction & Fantasy World web site. I'm considering placing quarter ads in the top 10 science fiction magazines next year to get the word out on my new production.
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Hmmm...

Here's three ideas off the top of my head, never thought about this genre market, but I do know the potential audience is rabid and crazed for fanboy type material.

You could start your own meetup group in your area that pertains to your subject. If your a PT Barnum type of guy, you can run your own little circus. Start a cult.

Go to those conventions, set up a booth. Make yourself known on a grassroots level.

I'd pull a publicity stunt, say your doing a movie about little booger aliens that slide up peoples anus's and attempt to take over the world. You could take a slab of meat, cut it up, make it look like an alien, put it in an unmarked package, and send it around to your local news stations and media people. Make sure to include a reference to the title of your production.
 
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