Film Marketing - Homework Due March 12th, 2015

Here's a link to a May 2004 post that serves as a good introduction to marketing. Please read this post for our next class meeting on March 12th - and think about how all the aspects of "marketing" (as defined in this blogpost) are used by film marketers.

As we've discussed, we will be studying the marketing of motion pictures from the biggest budget to the smallest in this class.

And, as I mentioned in class, there are two books that I would like you to purchase for this course. Both have been translated into Chinese (to find copies for sale online click on the links that Yu-Shan Chen 陳宇珊 has kindly provided):

《定位：在眾聲喧嘩的市場裡，進駐消費者心靈的最佳方法》(Positioning：The Battle for Your Mind by Al Reis and Jack Trout)

《長尾理論》(The Long Tail written by Chris Anderson)


Obviously there are many things to consider when marketing a film. Here is a link to a check list of items to prepare and duties to perform for film marketers. This list (compiled by our friend Sheri Candler) is expressly for indie filmmakers - but many of the items also apply to bigger budget films too. Please read over these items and think about how the timing of each step will be important (e.g., some things - like posting a teaser trailer online - can be prepared long in advance and a delay of a few days will not hurt, while other jobs - like putting ads in the paper with the reviews you've received once you've opened - can only be done at the last minute and with great urgency).

For our next class on March 12th, please choose a motion picture or TV show that will be released after June 1st, 2015 and write a draft marketing plan. Think about the check list Sheri Candler has prepared and use that list to propose what you will do on specific dates leading up to the release of your chosen film.

Your plan does not have to be very long (one page is enough, this is just a first draft) but it should cover the major marketing activities that you might undertake.

You might also be interested in this link to a document that describes how a team of students working for an indie filmmaker might write a marketing plan for a film playing just once or twice at a film festival.

Please be sure your marketing plan includes a logline, some description of your core audience and information about when you would start and complete work on each aspect of the marketing of your chosen film.

You can use the internet to research when the movie is coming out and to see how other similar films (prior films in the series?) have been marketed. Please be prepared to discuss your marketing plan in class.

If you’ve already written a marketing plan - please follow the links in this email and read about marketing plans - then think about what marketing project we could work on together in this class.

NOTE: ALL ASSIGNMENTS FOR FILM MARKETING MUST BE NEATLY TYPED IN ENGLISH. YOU MUST ALSO SPELL-CHECK AND USE PROPER FORMAT (see my blogpost about how homework assignments must be formatted).