A Screenwriter’s Survival Guide To Hollywood - Part Five

Photo Credit: Public Domain

If you missed the first 4 parts:

https://steemit.com/writing/@thegridzom/a-screenwriter-s-survival-guide-to-hollywood-part-one
https://steemit.com/writing/@thegridzom/a-screenwriter-s-survival-guide-to-hollywood-part-two
https://steemit.com/screenwriting/@thegridzom/a-screenwriter-s-survival-guide-to-hollywood
https://steemit.com/screenwriting/@thegridzom/a-screenwriter-s-survival-guide-to-hollywood-part-four

Promotion

Before I began my adventure in filmmaking, I worked with unsigned, independent bands and musicians in Florida to help them gain exposure. Besides all of the local, regional and national magazine reviews and articles, I also was able to get a handful of my bands’ music into network and cable TV shows and films.

The one thing, I quickly figured out is that once I got one really great thing to happen, more would follow. You just have to break the seal and gain momentum. The best way, I found to keep gaining momentum was to do a press release (nowadays “tweet” or “blog”), on the latest accomplishment like getting a band’s song used in a TV show, so that they’d be asked to be on the local music show on our town’s big rock station, etc. This happened again and again and at one point, I was handling almost a dozen bands because they all wanted the exposure, I was able to get for many of my clients.

It wasn’t always easy because it’s sort of a Catch 22. It seems like you have to already have something happening before something happens. I’m sure that everyone reading this has encountered this phenomenon at some point. It’s really strange, but as I said before, if you figure out a way to break the seal, then before you know it the sheep will follow. God bless the hero, who isn’t a sheep but someone, who in confident and willing to say, “Hey, that band is great!” or “Hey, this is the best screenplay, I’ve read in decades. We should produce it”.

Unfortunately, the one common thread that seems to be woven in the fabric of Hollywood is that most of the people, who are in the position to make these decisions live in fear and are afraid to make the wrong decision even if it could be the right decision. And honestly, I would rather not have to chase those people down anyway. The right producers, agents, managers, co-writers, etc. are all out there. The secret to finding them is to keep doing things yourself until it is so hard for you not to be noticed, that you get your big break and become an overnight hit (after years of effort).
The best way to get press is to find all of the media outlets that deal with your specific niche’ if you have one.
When we released “The Seer” which is sci-fi/crime/alternative lifestyle. We were able to get press from Lesbian and Horror (go figure) Internet media sites.

We didn’t have any “names” in the project, but since it was so different than whatever else is out there we didn’t need a name to get attention, although it’s always nice to get as much press as possible.

Another thing is getting hits or views to any trailers and articles you may have out there.

Until the current technology becomes obsolete, there are a handful of things you can do to gain a grassroots following:

1. Put your trailer up on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Keep track of where all of your uploads are so you can visit them periodically and see how many hits you’re getting.

2. Buy a domain name, and either build a website or space or just “point” the URL to your social media sites. At the very least, you’ll have an easy to remember domain name/URL to tell people where they can see your trailer.
   We bought www.the6monthrule.com and pointed to www.facebook.com/the6monthrule. It’s enough for right now since we are just using the page to get fans and trailer views.

You could even go as far as pointing your URL to your IMDB page. I have a friend, who did that. It gives people a quick glance of your credits and whatever trailers, you may have loaded on your page. If you do this, be sure to put up a picture of yourself and some contact info like an email address.

Get a Twitter account and “follow” others who may be potential fans, or attract potential fans. Then tweet your links and a short description.

Blogging-Get a friend who likes to write to start a blog and then have them interview you. Make sure they have a social bookmarking widget with the most popular bookmarking programs like “dig”, “stumble upon”, “Yahoo buzz”, etc.
Then open accounts with a dozen or so and “bookmark” your interviews and articles.

-Get listed on Wikipedia-

You’re not supposed to add information about yourself, friends, family, etc. Others are supposed to do it for you. I’m not really sure how logical this is since it leaves a lot of room for error. But maybe if you were to beg someone that is following you on Twitter to kindly add you to Wikipedia with info that is available to them via your website, you wouldn’t be breaking the rules, now would you?

-Online Streaming Radio & TV-

There are hundreds of these “channels” so find one that may support your niche and approach them about interviewing you on their shows.

-Traditional Papers and Magazines-

Although it’s nice to appear in an article one of these, it’s becoming harder and harder because of the costs associated with printing and distribution, but if you think you can swing it, go for it. As I mentioned before, it took us over a year to get into Curve Magazine, but it was totally worth the wait. Just hang in there.

No matter who or where you solicit for free publicity remember that there are probably dozens of people like yourself also trying to get their attention, so you need to make sure that your project stands out from the rest.

-Business Cards-

You should always have some sort of business card for your filmmaking. I have several cards: My main one that is generic with my name, email and phone number and then I have special cards made for each of the projects, I produce.
Whenever I hand someone one of these cards, they always comment. They’re always colorful and loaded with information about the project. The one below is from “The 6 Month Rule” starring Michelle Wolff. The artwork on the card was featured in the film and a picture of the cast.

You could also make palm cards and carry those around too, but I always seem to throw those away after a while, but I always keep business cards.

Copyright 2018 Linda Andersson/ The Grid Zom, LLC