If you had 50k dollars to spend...

[tokenwhiteboy]

Would you spend it on advertising your completed feature length film or...

secure a couple B and C list actors?

The genre is horror/thriller

What is going to generate the most eyes / $$$? In your humble opinion?

 

[Sweetie]

Can you get your B or C list actors for that price?

Would your advertising gain any real traction for that amount of money? If you limit it to a few areas, sure.

I think you'd probably be best spend it on production value. It's really hard to tell as it depends on what's happening within your production.

 

[EuropeanDistributor]

Both.

You should invest the lion's share of that amount in a couple of names, and the rest for promotion, have a professional poster done, an effective trailer cut, fly yourself out to AFM and/or Cannes to meet with buyers and sales agents, and establish a presence on social media before, during and after filming.

You need to build an enticing package for buyers, but you also have to spend some money to let the buyers know that your movie exists.

What is your budget for the entire production?

For less than $50,000, you aren't going to be able to hire anyone really good, but it should be enough to cast a couple of known names and faces.

You have to get very creative, hire a couple of names for supporting roles, and try to get an up and comer, a semi-name for the lead, someone who you might get for scale, but for that your script needs to be really good, and the project needs to be something that actor really wants to do. Someone who might not be "sellable" on his/her own, but will bring value to the package and might be a bigger deal in the near future if his/her career takes off.

The same goes for the other names, instead of going after the usual suspects like Eric Roberts who's known for doing a hundred different movies every year and who buyers despise, you'd probably want to go after some actors whose name values haven't been diluted by appearing in countless of Z-movies.

To get these higher calibre B-listers, you need to offer them more than money, and that is usually a great script, a great role, a substantial role, no cameos, and a project that they generally really want to be a part of.

 

[rayw]

For $50k production budget you COULD be within the realm of favorable state tax incentives.

Lettuce see whatchugot in Michigan... http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40055

And what states are within sensible driving range, because it might make fiscal sense just to pop on over an adjacent state line...

Michigan - $100k = 27% refund
Ohio - $300k = 25% credit
Indiana - ??
Illinois - $100k = 30% credit
Wisconsin - $50k = 25% credit

Which "state" of Michigan are you in, North or South?
Because if you're in that "North" Michigan you might wanna pop over to Wis, shoot your film, and save 25% on your taxes for that expense.

YOU ARE NOT GOING TO GET ANY RECOGNIZABLE ACTORS FOR $50K - unless you already know them, in which case you wouldn't be asking the question.

Do you know how to spend $50k on advertising for your film?
I don't.
I want to learn how.
WHO... WHERE... is going to see that $50k in advertising?

And what is the production budget and what do you hope to shoot with that, location and cast wise?

What kind of horror/thriller is it?
Psycho killer horror thriller?
Medical mystery thriller horror?
Who's the target audience and how have you been engaging with them for the last twelve months?

Have you already shot the film?!
Never mind. I just figured out that if you're asking about getting actors for $50k you've most likely NOT shot the films.
Whew! Dodged that bullet!

What are the current distribution plans?
Direct-to-video? VOD? Direct-to-youtube?

Got a webpage, yet?

I think for an extra $50k I'd consider hiring a publicist. A PROVEN publicist with a verifiable resume.

 

[tokenwhiteboy]

Production budget is 150k approx with roughly 25% of that coming back in incentives.

The 50k is an arbitrary figure regarding a discussion about talent vs. promotion I'm having.

In the horror / thriller genre, name means nothing from what I can tell.

Just watched Maniac with Elijah Wood and can tell you his name did NOTHING for that movie. 24k at the BO for 6 million $ movie? Come on man.

The poster, trailer and all the other stuff that goes into making a REAL film are already in the budget.

I figure 50k put towards facebook and YouTube featured videos would go a pretty long way, especially since the script is top notch (according to coverage) and the production values are extremely high.

50k used to promote a movie in a quick and strategic flash can do wonders in my opinion.

And it IS VERY VERY POSSIBLE to get recognizable names for that much money. You just have to think outside the box.

Funny you mention Eric Roberts. People love shooting him and other B movie people here... and their films go NOWHERE.

 

[tokenwhiteboy]

Both.

You should invest the lion's share of that amount in a couple of names, and the rest for promotion, have a professional poster done, an effective trailer cut, fly yourself out to AFM and/or Cannes to meet with buyers and sales agents, and establish a presence on social media before, during and after filming.

You need to build an enticing package for buyers, but you also have to spend some money to let the buyers know that your movie exists.

What is your budget for the entire production?

For less than $50,000, you aren't going to be able to hire anyone really good, but it should be enough to cast a couple of known names and faces.

You have to get very creative, hire a couple of names for supporting roles, and try to get an up and comer, a semi-name for the lead, someone who you might get for scale, but for that your script needs to be really good, and the project needs to be something that actor really wants to do. Someone who might not be "sellable" on his/her own, but will bring value to the package and might be a bigger deal in the near future if his/her career takes off.

The same goes for the other names, instead of going after the usual suspects like Eric Roberts who's known for doing a hundred different movies every year and who buyers despise, you'd probably want to go after some actors whose name values haven't been diluted by appearing in countless of Z-movies.

To get these higher calibre B-listers, you need to offer them more than money, and that is usually a great script, a great role, a substantial role, no cameos, and a project that they generally really want to be a part of.

I don't agree that you attack social media before and during shooting. What, you will get maybe 500 people to follow what you do?

Our plan is to get everything to the rough edit stage and then begin the marketing / advertising plan.

Yes, AFM is in the cards and plan B is self distribution.

I should have mentioned that our team has experience in production and distribution and the original question should be taken 100% as its own and not worry about anything else. We've got that covered.

 

[rayw]

Yeah, screw "marketable" talent.
No one givesash!t in the horror genre.
Seriously.

Spend it all on marketing.
Hire a publicist.
Cultivate some peeps, preferably some cult peeps.
Market the ever luvin' bejezus outta your film.

No one goes "Oh! Eric Roberts! I wanna see that!"
They will go "Haz boobies? I'll pay to watch it if it haz boobies."
Even the POSSIBLITY or POTENTIAL of no-name boobies are better than Eric Roberts.

And get them on the poster.
It's a $150k horror film.

I swear this shirt was a more interesting character than the antagonist was in 'Texas Chainsaw 3D.'

 

[tokenwhiteboy]

Yeah, screw "marketable" talent.
No one givesash!t in the horror genre.
Seriously.

Spend it all on marketing.
Hire a publicist.
Cultivate some peeps, preferably some cult peeps.
Market the ever luvin' bejezus outta your film.

No one goes "Oh! Eric Roberts! I wanna see that!"
They will go "Haz boobies? I'll pay to watch it if it haz boobies."
Even the POSSIBLITY or POTENTIAL of no-name boobies are better than Eric Roberts.

And get them on the poster.
It's a $150k horror film.

I swear this shirt was a more interesting character than the antagonist was in 'Texas Chainsaw 3D.'

Amen. Already got the boobs lined up

And every character is going to have their own poster... and action figure.

Merchandising baby. Don't leave a penny on the table.

 

[EuropeanDistributor]

In the horror / thriller genre, name means nothing from what I can tell.

Just watched Maniac with Elijah Wood and can tell you his name did NOTHING for that movie. 24k at the BO for 6 million $ movie? Come on man.

Not true. Names are important in ALL genres. The first thing a buyer or a sales agent will ask is "Who's in it?" that's the bottom line, whether it's action, thriller, horror, family, drama etc. Maybe the only exception being found footage horror, since it's common to have unknowns in these kinds of movies, but in that case the buyer might ask "Who directed it?" or "Who produced it?" so they can put something like From the producers of Paranormal Activity on the poster.

Regarding Maniac, I would say that having Elijah Wood in it played a major role in selling the movie. It's a re-make of a cult classic from the 80's, without a marketable name on the poster they would have had a hard time selling it.

Looking at the box office gross tells nothing, since it's a limited release. Maniac is the kind of a movie you sell territory by territory and it'll get released straight to DVD and VOD in most markets.

I don't agree that you attack social media before and during shooting. What, you will get maybe 500 people to follow what you do?

You can get way more followers than that if the movie is something that interests people, especially if it's a niche market, and horror definitely has it's hardcore fans.

Getting followers on social media is practically free, but it takes a lot of time.

You said that your Plan B was to self distribute, getting followers and fans online is crucial for that, how can you self distribute your finished movie is nobody knows about it?

If you get a significant amount of followers, that can also help you in selling the movie, to a point. A no name horror movie with 100k Facebook fans certainly looks a lot better to a buyer than a no name horror movie with no Facebook likes.

That way the buyer at least knows that there is an audience out there for your movie.

This is especially important if you go through an aggregator to get your movie on VOD services, since they rely on YOU to market your movie, they're just the middleman.

Having said that, having names in your movie is more important than Social Media.

If you're against getting any names in your movie, I would suggest that you lower your budget, since it will be very hard, if not impossible, to get $150k worth of sales for a no-name horror/thriller in this day and age.

However if I were you, I would contact sales agents and pitch the movie to them, throw some names around and ask if they bring anything to the table, this way you can get a dialogue going and they might tell you what names are good for your genre and budget range, and what names are not.

Believe me, you do not want to make your movie first and then start selling it. You need to make sure that the movie you make, the package that you have, genre, script, names etc. is sellable in the marketplace.

$50k is a decent amount for name talent on a $150k budget, you should get a couple of decent names on that.
Youd be surprised to hear who you can get for $15k a week.

And yes, definitely stay away from the Eric Roberts' and the Michael Madsen's, but there are plenty of other names who are willing to work who don't leave a bad taste in buyers' mouths.