Indie Film Distribution for the DIY filmmaker means taking that jack of all trades persona to some extent. Outsourcing is always a good idea when feasible and affordable, but often it’s not possible. Of course you know you need to invest in essential filmmaking tools and training. That’s pretty much a no brainer. You have to have and invest in the core skills, tools and training that are necessary to make movies people want to watch.
Non Film Related Tools and Training – Why
Regardless of what you’re craft, art or product happens to be the common thread is that you’re in business. For artists this can be hard to grasp. I know I’m married to a very creative and intensely artistic Belly Dancer and when it comes to anything that has to do with the more rote, mundane necessities of running a business she runs the other way.
Fortunately this has changed over the last year as she came to realize that there’s a subtle difference between being a Belly Dancer in business and being in business as a Belly Dancer. The difference between the two is subtle but very significant. In the latter case there’s a realization and an acknowledgement that “Business” is preeminent in the equation and to dismiss, or excuse the business related essentials, because it’s not pertinent to the art, or that it might compromise the art. Of course this is all nonsense because success is essential to the art. Ask Spielberg if the quality of his films have gone up or down with his success.
Our Recommended Non Film Essentials
Investing as much as you can in your education and training keeps you sharp, on the competitive edge and though this list could be a lot longer this are what we would consider must have for DIY filmmakers who are serious about being in business and successful indie film distribution.
Email Marketing
If there was any place to start this is it. You can’t be serious about audience aggregation and not have an email management system. If you use Outlook, Hotmail, Gmail etc for sending out messages to customers, or prospects then you are (as my ex-boss used to say) tripping over dollars to pick up pennies. If you are on the internet and in any capacity attempting to generate revenue and you don’t have an email management system, well then you’re not serious. So think big or go home. We recommend Aweber.
Basic Business and Marketing Training
There a lot of so called “gurus” out there. Some are worthwhile such as Rich Scheferen and some are not and in terms of building your business and we recommend keeping away from any offer that triggers your ‘greed’ button with promises of easy money. Now maybe some of these work. I resist these and don’t have any personal experience with them so I can’t say.
The only one of these I’d recommend and he’s a guru not by his own proclomation but by others, is Perry Marshall. While we don’t necessarily suggest filmmakers venture into Pay Per Click marketing, we qualify our position by saying that filmmakers not trained in Pay Per Click advertising should avoid Pay Per Click advertising like the plague because without knowing what you’re doing you could easily find yourself paying $3.00, $4.00 or more per click.
However with the proper training and a belief in your film, a properly configured and managed Pay Per Click campaign setup the way Perry Marshall suggests will protect you from waking up one day finding that your 50 cents per click cost have suddenly gone up to $5.00/click. I love Perry Marshall, he’s very creative and if he wasn’t so good at teaching Google Pay Per click he’d be a great filmmaker. To introduce you to Perry Marshall, here are a couple of links that will get you free help with Facebook which of course is a big favorite with Filmmakers, or you can just click here and check out Perrys blog.
- Facebook Self Evaluation Quiz – Is Facebook for You
- Free Webinar! 3 Powerful Tactics for Facebook Traffic
Note: links to external sites may result in a commission paid to Intentional Magic, or The Filmmakers Channel.in the event you make a purchase on these sites (unless otherwise stated). Of course, I will ONLY endorse what I genuinely recommend and believe is in your best interest, but please do not rely solely on my endorsement for your purchase decision.
Incoming search terms:
- essentials for filmmaking
- business course for filmmaker
- essentials of filmmaking
- must have tools filmmakers
- list of essentials for filmmakers
- I have no training in filmmaking
- film distribution services
- facebook diy filmmakers
- essentials for diy filmmaker
- diy for jack of trades business owner
