From my guest blog on IndieFlix.

Excerpt from 6 Ways to Make People Watch Your Movie – Part 2: Make Them Laugh.

We filmmakers need to get people excited about our films.  Rather than hoping to stumble across a successful marketing approach for a film, it’s better to plan one from the very start–ideally before you commit to making the film–and tweak it based on what really gets people to pay to watch movies.  “6 Ways” is about those things that motivate someone to say, “I’ve got to see that!”

So how do movies like Napoleon Dynamite or The Hangover rocket from obscurity to national reknown in the blink of an eye.  Is it the big stars?  The special effects?  The action scenes?   Actually, it turns out these movies are really, really funny.

From my IndieFlix guest-blog.  Read the rest.

From my IndieFlix blog

Excerpt from 6 Ways to Make People Watch Your Movie.

…So from the very start, we need to think about why people would watch our movies.  Well, why do people watch any movies?  If you look at films that have found audiences, it looks like there are about six basic motivators that are effective to get people to watch your film.  Studio films are well aware of them and use them constantly and usually in combination.  Indie filmmakers need to think about them just as much—maybe more, since we don’t have huge advertising budgets to cram our movies down people’s throats.  And indies should be aware that while the basic motivators for generating audience interest are the same whatever the movie, how we take advantage of these methods could be very different.

From my IndieFlix guest-blog.  Read the rest.

A post from my IndieFlix blog

Excerpt from From Fade In to Cash Out.

…My IndieFlix blog is about how independent filmmakers can develop their stories, make their films, build an audience, and recoup money to finance their lives and future films.  This is the only model that sustains film and filmmakers.  As a guy who’s been through the distribution wringer a few times now, I know that it’s not just finishing your film, or even getting a deal that matters, what really counts is figuring out how to turn the films into revenue to keep the cycle going.

From my IndieFlix guest blog.  Read the rest.