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My Adventure in Theatrical Self Distribution: Part 3 of 4

12/14/2009 at 8:02 AM by Jon Reiss

More lessons from the trenches of self distribution.

Lesson 6: Get a publicist started early. But publicists can be very expensive. Since nearly everyone on our crew had deferral deals – why not apply this to the publicist. If you’re going DIY – people are less optimistic of their deferral happening after you recoup the costs for the whole film.

Think outside the box – someone who doesn’t specialize in film is a better option. Lynn Hasty of Green Galactic who does art/music/fashion and some film had done such a fantastic job for us on Better Living that I convinced her to take me on for Bomb It. She started in October for a Spring release (most long lead press needs 5 months at least). I guaranteed her 6 months of cash (½ cash ½ deferred) and she would adjust her work depending on our release schedule. This was very helpful when we got pushed.

2 Month Window further benefits: The publicist for the distributor saw how our short window was going to benefit the press for the DVD so he came on board to help the theatrical publicity.

Lesson 7: Hire an assistant earlier than you think you need one. I really could have used someone on board at least 10 hours a week to take care of a lot of the nitty gritty. Having an assistant would have helped me be more on time with our promotional materials.

For example – it took me a while to engage the printing of posters and postcards. Part of the delay was finding a decent paper stock for our limited edition posters on linen paper.

However I was able to get the printer to handle the shipping of all the printed elements to all of the theaters. I paid his UPS bill and I gave him $100 to hire an assistant to deal with the shipments. With James Debbs handling the print shipping and the lab shipping the trailers using my Fed Ex account I was able to outsource nearly all of the deliveries.

For all my griping about the STD, I do owe them a debt – I don’t know if I would have self distributed Bomb It on my own if I knew I was going to have to do it by myself. Again as in all filmmaking the biggest moment – is when you commit yourself.

Lesson 8: Theatrical is Dead - Long Live Theatrical. At first I was upset that some of my theaters in smaller markets were offering me less than a week run. But in retrospect it was one of the best things for the film. Except in a few cases we made much more money where the film played one or two nights instead of a whole week.

Lesson 9: Make a Budget and Stick to It – Within Reason. This is as important as in making your film. But you have to be open to spend some extra money when it makes sense within reason. When I found out how “cheap” a trailer was going to be produce – I paid the $1300. That's free publicity in every market.

Lesson 10: Create a dynamic website. And do it long before your film is done. Blogging and tagging is what the little bots out in cyberspace will recognize and enough recognition will start to bring you up in the rankings. Thanks to my wonderful friend and website savior Michael Medaglia and a lot of great blogging by producer Tracy Wares we're near the top of Google search on “graffiti documentary” even before our world premiere at Tribeca. Get Lance Weiller’s Filmmaker Mag article about this.

Jon Reiss Producer, Director