UK Film Network

Social networking. The term is such commonplace these days and when we hear it, we all nod our head and say “Oh yeah, Facebook”.

Making Film

As a founder of social networks since 1999, I’ve been part of the evolution of connecting people online long before the term Social Networking was in common parlance and many years before Myspace, Facebook and Twitter had developed their platforms, to turn their services and websites into household names. Nowadays, their names are used in every day language; “I facebook’d him last night” or “she sent me a tweet”, as well as the many stories you hear in the media, like Jonathan Ross dropping in a Twitter keyword during the BAFTA Film Awards. On Facebook we’ve seen a variety of different viral games from films such as JUMPERS with Jamie Bell, which effectively setup an application to allow you to “jump your friends” to a different city and present them with an image of that city. Social Networking in the world of film, has had some early pioneers who are using it to good effect for publicity, marketing and getting the word out on their film.

Casting and Collaborating

Given that the film industry is effectively a people business, where finding the right person can be the difference between the film being a box office success or a production and investment failure, social networking comes into it’s own. I setup the Shooting People casting network in 1999, to enable filmmakers to post their requests to a pool of around 35,000 people, to resource their project quickly and effectively. In addition to Shooting People, there are others like PCR Newsletter, Mandy.com or even Gumtree for certain roles to fill. If you are looking for a bigger name, then the site whorepresents.com has all the facts and figures on how to find the agent representing Kevin Spacey, or Kate Hudson for example, to follow up and let “their people talk to your people” and see if a deal can be struck. Additionally, these are the places to find quality editors, directors, sound and lighting experts and resourceful people who are motivated to work on your film and help make it a great end product. Often collaborative agreements can be entered into, with many people getting involved without pay, but instead using the project to develop their career in unexpected ways.

Marketing and Advertising

When it comes to marketing and advertising, the effectiveness of social networking is still being tried out. I setup a Facebook group for my documentary Making It In Hollywood, which has around 700 people now, who have followed the progress of the film from idea phase, through to the location setting, film editing and finally making it’s way out into the festivals. The feedback I get is that it brings audiences closer to the action and the evolution of a film as it develops from a blank page to the big screen. By the time it hits the big screen, this audience have shared all the trials and tribulations and feel very much part of it’s development. In addition, those who are interested in filmmaking or performing, can see for themselves, that the challenge is not to be taken lightly but there are hints and tips that you can gather along the way to make the journey easier. The fact of the matter is that social networking, for the most part, is free. A little bit of effort in creating groups, setting up events, sharing links and updating status information, are all valuable channels to gain feedback on your production, as well as starting to spread the news. There are also many sites to contact journalists directly online in order to offer interviews to your cast and to submit trailers or screeners. PRWeb.com is one that I use often. If you submit your article and pay a small fee of around £80, the article will be distributed online to a wide variety of online news sites, who grab the latest stories to fit in with their online publication.

Now, the real power of the online networking comes in when you need to find the right person in an organisation of the various industry publications, magazines, newspapers and what will soon be known as “offline media”. Fortunately most of the offline media are also online, they are twittering, they are on facebook, they have myspace pages, and are generally contactable and approachable if you have an idea that’s relevant to them, and you are patient. For my documentary, I briefly met with the editor of Screen International in Hollywood, I kept in touch and contacted him again when I noticed he was in Cannes, and finally had a long interview with them in London which resulted in a nice little article on their back page. This was while I was still filming it. Peter Travers, another social networker, is the infamous editor of Rolling Stone magazine. He was given the trailer for the short version of the film that I took to Cannes. He said “Accent-tacular”, as a reference to my Glasgow accent which is rarely heard in the US and I now have a quote for the cover of the DVD ***** “Accent-Tacular” Rolling Stone Magazine *****.  I followed that up with an article on making film from you laptop which was featured in the .Net Magazine, creating another avenue to discuss the film. And then of course there is this article, which has planted the seed in your mind. It all helps to get the name of the film (Making It In Hollywood), in the public consciousness.

Another social networker that I met in LA, was film and theatre director Chris Dickerson, who was also a journalist and author. He wrote a full chapter in his latest book called “Poetry & Prose” of the weekend we filmed Clint Eastwood and Ennio Morricone at an exclusive party at the Italian arts centre in West Hollywood. Chris was very descriptive about the weekend and our adventures and as the book is now getting interest online at lulu.com, the self-publishing site, it has resulted in questions about the film and when it’s coming out.

Sales and Distribution

So, you’ve got your movie made, you’ve created a bit of online buzz about it. Next stop is the end game. The big players get the Sales and Distribution signed up prior to filming begins, that’s when there is clearly a lot of money at risk, but when it’s your first low budget film and you need to find someone who will be interested in your product, it’s a wide world. Fortunately, there’s online networking to come into play again. Apart from simply attending the market at Cannes, taking business cards, handing out screeners, there’s Cinando.com which I used to find out who was in town and to email them before going there to setup a meeting to discuss my projects.

As they say “everyone’s in town” so that’s the best target to meet, greet, connect and pitch. A lot of the time it’s a numbers game. The more people that see your film, through the festivals if you’re lucky enough to get it accepted, the more chance you have of getting a top distributor shaking your hand and offering you a small but handsome cheque. There are of course hundreds of festivals around the world and I’ve personally been looking at Melbourne, Hawaii and Hollywood Festivals. If only for the sunshine, sea and sand. Of course Withoutabox.com has become my best friend and I took out a promotional advert for £50 and I’ve had several festival programmers contacting me and giving me fee waivers to submit the film to their festival. It’s a great service and it is now moving into online distribution.

The main problem a producer has with online distribution, is once it’s online, it cannot be entered into any of the festivals. Well most have a rule which says it can’t have been shown online and only cast and crew screenings are acceptable. This therefore means that online distribution, for me at least, is a crossroads and perhaps something to try when the other avenues haven’t turned up any suitable opportunities. Though I have researched it, and at around £1/copy for a DVD print, a quick copy and paste of HTML from Paypal and it’s another avenue. It’s certainly a business proposition to consider for “no/lo budget” films. A little bit more cash on google and facebook advertising and it could well help the film sell in the low tens of thousands and make some sort of return.

Reviews and publicity

Of course, the free press that a film can get from journalists, reviewers and critics, all helps with the word-of-mouth. At UK Film Network (ukfilm.tv), I’ve pulled together a wide variety of film reviewers around the world in order to bring films to life online and support those who really deserve it. In the last few years, I’ve been to the Oscars, BAFTA, Sundance and Cannes to watch as many films as I can and write about them online, often way in advance of their cinematic release. Endgame and Five Minutes Of Heaven are two great examples of British films doing really well and then seeing a TV release, a mere 4 months from it’s premiere at a festival. BBC and Channel 4 were investors in these films, but I noticed that Endgame only had an audience of 80,000 and for such a great film, it must be a disappointment to the producers. The old adage of “nobody knows anything in film”, makes a lot more sense to me now. No-one can really tell what impact their film will have in the world at large. Any online reviews and publicity, can only help to increase the knowledge of the likely take up of the film, so I’m delighted to be able to be helping the community that is, in return, providing a lot of support, guidance and connections to help me make my own film.

Show business, there really is no business like it, none that I know but with the world at your social networking fingertips, it has really become an open market for filmmakers. What’s stopping you from Making It In Hollywood ?