This is a big question that has been asked many times by indie film makers and everyone seems to have different opinions about this topic. If you want your current indie film to become successful, you need to have an excellent marketing campaign. If your marketing efforts fail and you can’t sell your film, you may run out of fund for future projects. The most common path used by film makers is by joining various indie film festivals. However, you should know that blind submission to various festivals can be a huge waste of money and time. Most of the festivals feature only films that have been approved by a group of film critics and reviewers.
So, if you already fail in your film marketing, it won’t be possible to get a submission into any festival. However, there are some festivals that allow film makers to submit their works. But, such festivals can be inundated with many submissions that only a small percentage of films can be approved. Often, you need more than an above average indie film to get a second look from local film critics. These people will see only snippets of your film and if there’s nothing interesting about your film, it will refused for entry into the festival. Repeated refusals can be devastating for many indie film makers, because they are getting nowhere and no one can see their works. Even so, you need to keep the wheels turning to ensure that your dreams will eventually come true.
The indie film fans are close-knit society and often, without proper social network, you will get less recognition. You need to ensure that producers, directors, crews, actors and writers can contribute in building the network. They should spread the word about the film projects. You can ask your team members to have the trailers of your film in their smartphone, so they can be shown to friends, relatives and family members. You need to stop spending your money on unnecessary marketing methods, because this could end up getting you little results. Fortunately, the Internet has provided us with a lot of platforms to showcase our indie films with little or no cost. Before using the Internet for your marketing purposes, it is important that you have the right digital content.
You need to start by making an excellent trailer that can be represent your film. People should be hooked with it from the first second they see your trailer. That’s the reason why the task of making a trailer shouldn’t be given to a single video editor. It should become a separate project by the whole cast and members of the team. Post your trailer in YouTube and Instagram. Go to online forums for film making and film discussions. Let people know about your trailer and if you have done a great job with both the film and trailers, you should be able to obtain significant reactions from the people. The indie film competition can be intense at times and you need to know you can stand out.