25 tips for selling shorts

You’ve made your film – but how will anyone know? These 25 tips from Steve Ogden should help you catch some viewers in a crowded sea of content.

There was a time when just working on an animated film of your own could make you a media darling, renowned as some sort of garage Pixar. But these days, everybody and his dog is making and posting films online. Your work has to compete for exposure with a stupendous number of films. Simply releasing your prized production without a promotion plan would be like throwing a stone onto a pebble beach. So how can you make your brand-new film stand out – and earn you the new job, scholarship or award you want?

For years, I ran a website called AnimWatch, which was dedicated to recognising excellence in animation. During that time, I talked to hundreds of artists, and saw some really great films inexplicably languishing in obscurity. From that experience, and from talking to animators, directors and animation industry luminaries such as Chris Jones (‘The Passenger’), Josh Staub (‘The Mantis Parable’), Kevin Geiger (‘Henry’s Garden’), Adam Phillips (‘Brackenwood’), Three Legged Legs (‘Humans!’), DWA’s Roger Darnell (‘MTV Burma Viral’) and Hype’s Jessie Nagel, I have put together this list of 25 film and self-promotion tips.

This list is by no means complete – but taken as a whole, it paints a pretty solid portrait of the broad range of actions others have taken to promote their films successfully. Try several, and invent a few of your own. You’ll need to do as many as possible rather than pursue any one option. This is survival of the cleverest and the most active, after all…

01 KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE
Know what you are promoting and what you hope to get out of it. Are you trying to get a job? Are you promoting your studio? Your approach will be different if you are trying to win an Oscar or a Bafta than if you’re just getting your reel out there.
COST Free
TIME TAKEN: None, if you’re sure you know what you want

02 CREATE A SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT WEBSITE
Get your own URL. After all, www.myshortfilm.com looks more professional and is easier to remember than www.userweb.myhost.com/~Ogden335/myshortfilm, isn’t it? Don’t treat your website as an afterthought. It’s your first ambassador: visitors will judge your film based on the look, feel and professionalism of your website. Update it frequently.
COST: Domains cost less than $10 per year. Hosting plans vary. Go for unlimited bandwidth. CG Channel offers a special deal here.
TIME TAKEN: Two weeks

03 MAKE YOUR SITE EASY TO USE
Jessie Nagel suggests you include a wel-written one-paragraph film synopsis, low- and high-resolution images, easy-to-find contact info and a one- or two-paragraph bio on the key creatives. Also find a space for any news that raises your profile. For example, have you won an award, done anything for charity or been on TV…? And make the film or trailer easy to find. That’s what most people are there to see.
COST: Free
TIME TAKEN: A couple of hours

04 WAIT BEFORE YOU POST YOUR FILM
Posting your film online can get you a big audience – but many festivals refuse to accept films that have been on the web. Josh Staub believes his short was one of the first 10 films online at iTunes because it did well on the festival circuit first.
COST: Free
TIME TAKEN: Moments

05 GENERATE SOME PRESS INTEREST IN YOUR FILM
Unlike websites, whose content constantly changes, magazines such as 3D World, Animation and Stash present a more lasting record of your message. Address the editor, and briefly present one good reason why he or she would want to watch your film. Include one or two stills, and a link to the film or trailer. Don’t attach the film: if the editors want more, they’ll ask.
COST: Free
TIME TAKEN: A couple of hours

06 JOIN THE YOUTUBE ARMY
Some animators feel that to release work on YouTube alongside amateur content looks unprofessional, particularly for commercial projects. Others disagree. Three Legged Legs have enjoyed increased exposure through YouTube, although they lament the over-compressed quality of the clips on the site. “We want people to enjoy the details we put into our films,” says Casey Hunt.
COST: Free
TIME TAKEN: Moments to join and submit. A lifetime to master

07 STAY ON MESSAGE – KEEP IT SHARP
When dealing with any promotional opportunity, be clear about what you are presenting. Sending anyone an entire unsolicited press kit is overkill. In the initial email or letter, no one needs to know who the second assistant director’s wardrobe assistant was. Any irrelevant or dull information increases the risk that your central message will be diluted and quite possibly binned.
COST: Free
TIME TAKEN: Very little, if you’ve already acted on tip 5

08 START AN EMAIL LIST
Let visitors to your site sign up for your email list. Use it to give them the latest news about your film, but only when there’s actual news to be shared: people will only unsubscribe. Don’t spam. Commercial mailing list management software such as SendBlaster Pro is readily available, as well as free-to-cheap online solutions like Your MailingList Provider. Others are available through Tucows: search for ‘mass emailer’.
COST: Free or low monthly fee ($2.50 per month for YMLP). SendBlaster Pro costs €75
TIME TAKEN: An hour or two should get you up and running

09 PROMOTE YOURSELF TO WEBSITES
Most of us have a favourite site where we can keep up with the latest in CG news and projects. 3D Total, CGSociety, CG Channel and AWN are among the best places to promote your work online. They all have news or project submission links. Contact them as you would the non-web press: do your search so that you contact the right person, and don’t attach your film.
COST: Free
TIME TAKEN: Hours

10 GET ACTIVE IN YOUR COMMUNITY
Forums are a great place to network with other artists and spread the news about your work. CGSociety’s CGTalk is the undisputed king of CG forums, but the other major CG sites all have respectable forums, too, as well as Polyloop and CG Arena. Get to know the community and play your part before starting to toot your own horn. Forum signatures are useful promotional aides if you keep the message brief – “Watch my film at www.example.com” is plenty.
COST: Free
TIME TAKEN: Weeks

11 KNOW YOUR BLOGS AND BLOGGERS
Most artists list Cartoon Brew and Drawn! as must-see blogs (although the focus at the latter is illustration). You probably visit the personal blogs of well-known animators. Contact them, and they might mention your project. A brief, polite and relevant email to the blogger is the way to go. Keep your promotions out of the comment sections.
COST: Free
TIME TAKEN: The moments it takes to compose a solid email

12 GO VIRAL AND START TO SPIRAL
Viral marketing is the gold standard of grass-roots PR. People forward your marketing materials for you, and your news spreads exponentially. Successful examples emphasise entertainment value over message; no-one wants to email adverts to their friends. It’s hard to predict what will go viral, but eHow has some ideas here.
COST: Free
TIME TAKEN: 10 hours (research)

13 ADVERTISE OR SET UP A BANNER EXCHANGE
The artists I’ve talked to don’t advertise, preferring the free options listed here. If you have the budget, click the Advertise link on your favourite websites or try Google AdSense. No budget? Arrange a link or banner exchange. Project Wonderful is a low-cost alternative.
COST: Free, or as much as you’ve got
TIME TAKEN: 10 hours (research)

14 ENTER YOUR SHORT INTO FILM FESTIVALS
Festivals are restrictive and costly, but can yield great dividends, especially for the winners. Chris Jones suggests: “If your film is successful at your first festival, it’s likely you’ll get invitations to more, and in most cases they cover the expenses. If it’s not successful, keep entering free ones until you start getting invitations.” And don’t forget Siggraph. See Withoutabox and Chris Gore’s book Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide (Lone Eagle, $22) for more.
COST: Free if you do it Chris Jones’ way; $1,000-plus otherwise
TIME TAKEN: 5 hours or more per week during your festival run (that’s correspondence, shipping and handling)

15 TRUMPET YOUR MOVIE’S SUCCESSES
Kevin Geiger says: “After winning our first award, we always made sure to refer to ‘Henry’s Garden’ as “the award-winning short film ‘Henry’s Garden’. Our festival acceptance rate improved from one in 10 to one in four.” The practice works just as well as an attention-grabber outside festival submissions. Don’t be modest.
COST: Free
TIME TAKEN: A few creative moments

16 START EARLY - BUT NOT TOO EARLY
Don’t wait until you’ve finished your project to start promoting it. Set up your site as a hub to begin building buzz and a fanbase. Then work the forums and blogs. If you are over a year from release, however, you’re too early. People have short attention spans.
COST: Free
TIME TAKEN: An hour or two per week

17 TO BE OR NOT TO BE - THE POWER OF IMDB
If your project doesn’t have a website, to many people, it doesn’t exist. Likewise, to those who frequent IMDb, if your film isn’t listed at the site, it doesn’t exist. Take the time and fill in the details. Don’t wait for someone else to do it – they’ll get it wrong.
COST: Free
TIME TAKEN: An hour or two

18 STAGGER YOUR EFFORTS
Most people need to see a message several times before it registers properly. Work these tips separately over time, and drip-feed information to ensure repeat coverage. You’ll have more success than if you do it all simultaneously. You’ll catch people the second time that you missed the first.
COST: Free
TIME TAKEN: A few moments over several days

19 CREATE SUCCESSFUL FORUM THREADS
People respond better to a thread entitled ‘Charlie Bit Me: animated film WIP’ than they do ‘Check this out!!!’ Limit yourself to one or two images per post to keep it legible. Respond to new posts and post new information occasionally to keep the thread alive and bumped. However, needless bumping can get you banned.
COST: Free
TIME TAKEN: Moments

20 ARRANGE A PRIVATE SCREENING
Many theatre chains offer this service, and it’s not as expensive as you might fear – even at the screens in Soho and LA that specialise in this. Pricing depends on location, time of day, date and the seat-count requested.
AMC: www.amctheatres.com/meetingandevents
Cineplex Odeon: www.cineplex.com/CorporateSales/MeetingsAndEvents/Overview.aspx
Largest cinema chains in US, UK, and CA: http://ncam.wgbh.org/mopix/chains.html
COST: Free
TIME TAKEN An hour of phone calls and an hour of sending invitations

21 NURTURE YOUR FANBASE
A well-supported fanbase will spread the word about your film on their blogs, in the forums they frequent and on the email lists to which they belong. They want to help, so ask them. Supply banner graphics they can use to direct traffic to your website.
COST: Free
TIME TAKEN: Ongoing

22 GIVE IT AWAY – PEOPLE LOVE FREE STUFF
If you host your film online, will you stream it or allow it to be downloaded? With streaming, your bandwidth cost may go up with repeated viewings. With downloads, the video can go viral, which increases your exposure, though you give up control over where it goes. You may be looking for fortune as well as fame for your work but, unless you’re getting or depending upon significant advertising revenue, our advice is to label the film well and allow people to download it free.
COST: Free
TIME TAKEN: None

23 GET IT ONTO A COMPILATION
There are several DVD compilations that get released regularly. Being included on one of them can net you a lot of exposure, similar to a successful festival run. Try submitting your film to Stash or onedotzero – but be aware that you’ll compete for inclusion on the disc with film-makers and 2D animators.
COST: Free
TIME TAKEN: Moments

24 PUT YOUR SHORT ON YOUR OWN DVD
Nothing represents your film better than your film. You can give it out for promotional opportunities, and sell it through your site. You can burn your own, but homebrews are incompatible with some DVD players. A commercially duplicated disc is better if you can afford it. Disc Makers is one company that offers this service.
COST: $250 for 100 discs
TIME TAKEN: A week or two

25 MAKE SOMETHING EXCELLENT
Following these tips won’t help much if your film isn’t worth the time it takes to watch it. Word of mouth spreads faster when your film excels – that means having a great idea, arresting visuals, inspired animation, superb sound and clever promotion. Success begets success.
COST: Sleep, personal life, your immortal soul
TIME TAKEN: Five minutes and 25 character-forming years