Microbudget Movies:
Marketing

Marketing microbudget movies is always a challenge. You don’t have a studio backing you with the machinery already in place to put your product into the pipeline so you’ve got to hustle like crazy to find ways of exploiting your work. You also probably don’t have any big name “stars” that are going to help make your movie more attractive. What you do have is a movie that didn’t cost very much to make so you don’t need massive amounts of money to make a profit.

The most profitable microbudget movies are usually ones that have a lot of sex and or violence in them. Movies that are too “extreme” for mainstream taste can be niche marketed to a select audience. Conversely, religious films can make a ton of money because they also cater to a select audience. Anytime the subject matter is the most important factor in a person choosing to watch a movie, whether the content is topical, political or sensational, the production values and star power are of much less importance. It’s also easier for you to identify and target your potential audience.

If you just went out and made a great movie with a good story and strong performances your chances of making a lot of money are greatly decreased. It’s really sad, but unfortunately true. The general assumption is that if your concept was good enough to be a Hollywood movie someone in Hollywood would have made it. You can fight this perception if the technical quality of your film is also really strong because nobody really needs to know how much you spent. If it looks like a “real” movie people will assume that it is a real movie. Hopefully, if nothing else, you’ve created a great calling card to get your foot in the door for bigger and better things to come.

You have to be realistic in assessing what exactly you have just created. Compare your work to other similar films. Does it go toe-to-toe with Gone With the Wind or is it a notch below Night of the Living Dead? (Both very good movies in their own way but miles apart in prestige and production values.)

Well made microbudget movies that are “arty”, “quirky”, “edgy” or “hip” may enjoy some success on the festival circuit. If you’ve just created the next Clerks you may be on your way to fame and fortune.

The Internet has made self-distribution a viable option for virtually any type of movie you can think of. You should certainly build a web page, whether one specifically for this movie alone or a production company page that will encompass all of your future works as well. But don’t forget to market the web page. To build a “grass roots” campaign you’ve got to attract attention and generate enthusiasm that will hopefully build up some momentum of its own. Identify your potential audience and seek them out wherever they congregate. You can use “shills” if you have to that will go into chat rooms and other online communities and tell other people about this great “undiscovered” movie that they should check out. But of course “word of mouth” only works if you’ve attracted the right audience to your type of movie, otherwise it can horribly backfire.

Make a “trailer’ for your movie and have it on your web page and upload it to places like Utube. A trailer is still one of the best ways to advertise a movie. Make sure you’ve got some publicity pictures. If you didn’t shoot any on the set you can always grab frames from the finished movie and use those. The art on your web page or in your press kit should match the “look and feel” of your movie. You want to draw people into the world you’ve created at every possible opportunity.

If you manufacture and package your own DVD you can sell your movie on your web page or through a service like FilmBaby.

There’s all kinds of distribution in the world aside from mainstream theatrical release in the United States. There are distributors who just deal with “direct to video” product. There are distributors who only handle foreign markets. There are many cable television channels (although most of them are owned by a small number of large corporations).

It takes time, money, a lot of hard work and a very thick skin to successfully market a microbudget movie but it can be done. You have to be prepared for a lot of rejection and possibly some very harsh criticism. You can’t expect everyone in the world to fall madly in love with your movie no matter how good it is. Fortunately there is a market for just about everything under the sun but it may take a while to find where that market is and get your product well placed to take advantage of it.

At the end of the day if you don’t make a dime off of your microbudget movie it probably isn’t a disaster, especially if it’s your first effort. Chalk it up to experience, learn from your mistakes and try to do better next time. Hopefully you had fun making it and developed or refined some new skills that will serve you well down the line.