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Truly Free Film

Brand? Oh…

As the democratization of film has made it possible for just about anyone to make a film, it has conversely made it more difficult for the individual filmmaker and his or her films to stand out. Online content platforms now offer a hundred times more films in their catalogs then the films cataloged by IMDb from the inception of film (1,764,727 titles as of 14 Jan 2011). So despite assertions to the contrary, branding is more important than ever.

Brand IdentityFilmmakers Are Brands, Their Films Are Products Though difficult for some in a creative pursuit to accept, in the words of Moonstruck (1987): “Snap out of it!” The music world has brands Madonna Louise Ciccone and Joanne Angelina Germanotta, known by their much more memorable brand names, Madonna and Lady Gaga.

Categories
Truly Free Film

Why Filmmakers Fail

As the manager of a group of 10,000 producers, directors and associated industry professionals, one can’t help but notice certain fallacies coming up on a recurring basis. So I’d like to briefly consider the question, what are some of the principal reasons fledgling independent filmmakers fail?

1. BUILDING IT ISN’T ENOUGH While a struggling artist can get by with little more than a canvas or guitar, film requires an enormous investment of time, money and many. “Build it and they will come” just isn’t enough; it’s perhaps the easy part.

Making films is akin to launching a new product. Statistics show that most fail. “All we need is money” isn’t the answer. It requires a marketing plan.