Back in March 2006, Docs In Progress® featured a rough cut of American Feud, an examination of the history and legacy of Liberalism and Conservatism in the United States. Now, just in time for the 2008 Presidential Elections, filmmakers Richard Hall and Simone Fary have released the film. American Feud has been playing some film festivals and specialized screenings (including upcoming DC-area screenings at The Blue Elephant Art Center in Frederick, Maryland on October 18 and at the Utopia Film Festival in Greenbelt, Maryland on October 25). But the filmmakers also know that the true life for a film such as theirs (which they refer to as a “talkumentary” because its focus is on different experts talking about ideas rather than on a narrative story) will be strongest with the educational, institutional, and home use market.
In keeping with the adage we repeat at every Docs In Progress screening, “Know your core audience and try to reach them first,” Hall and Fary have been hard at work doing just that. Through the power of social networking sites, link exchanges, reviews, and Amazon, they are targeting an audience who would love to hear more about what such experts as Noam Chomsky, G. Gordon Liddy, Donna Brazille, Kevin Phillips, and a dozen others have to say about the philosophies and labels which divide the U.S. into Red States and Blue States. For example, they have been taking segments of the film which tie into current events surrounding the 2008 elections and posting them as shorts on YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, and political discussion groups.
We recently caught up with Hall and Fary and asked if we could share some of their thoughts on self-distribution, marketing, and how the public can support independent film. Here’s are some of their tips, which can be adapted both by documentary filmmakers and those who love documentary film:
- Write about the film and link to its website on your website, blog or other appropriate site. Not only does it help spread the word, but Google takes sites that others link to much more seriously in its rankings.
- Post a link to it on your Myspace page, Facebook profile or other social network site.
- Embed any YouTube trailers for the film in your website, Facebook, Myspace etc. page.
- If the film is not on Netflix and you have a Netflix account, request the film. The more people that do this, the more likely Netflix will acquire the film. This is especially important for films without distributors. To request to Netflix that they carry a title, click: “Contact Us”, then “Click on Request and Suggestions,” then “Title request,” and then type your message requesting the film.
- If you like a film and it’s available on Amazon, help other potential customers find the title by doing the following to help increase its rankings and “findability” on searches and recommendations. While Amazon’s algorithims are proprietary, there are a few tips to increase a film’s visibility:
a. Write a good review of the film. b. “Tag” the movie with as many words as you can. To do this, scroll down to “Tags Customers Associate with This Product” approximately mid-way down the product page. This helps others looking for similar products find out about this one.
c. Suggest up to 10 keywords to Amazon. This is in the same section as the “Tags” section described above. When people search for certain words in Amazon the product will come up if enough people “tag” it this way.
d. Rate as “helpful” any other 5 star reviews that others have written for the film. Amazon considers not only the quantity and quality of the reviews, but how many other people have voted them to be useful.
e. Make a “listmania” that includes the film.
f. Make a “so you’d like to . . .” that includes the film. These are how-to guides on various topics such as “so you’d like to be a better citizen”, “build a house” etc.
g. Rate “listmanias” and “so you’d like to . .” guides that include the film as “helpful” so that they will show up more often in searches.
h. If the film is also available as an Unbox download, do all of the above for it as well there, as none of the information will transfer even if it’s the exact same content.
These recommendations were adapted, with permission, from the website of American Feud. Fary tells us that, since they began their targeted outreach campaign, sales and downloads of the film have increased.
