The Wild Dreamers
I officially submitted my film The Wild Dreamers to The Montclair Film Festival. As many filmmakers have advised, having a solid marketing strategy is crucial for success. I have come up with a rough plan that I will outline here for my own reference, but if anyone reading this has any suggestions or better ideas, please reach out to me at melvinthehemit@gmail.com.
Since my film was completely shot in New Jersey, I will submit to The Garden State Film Festival and Kevin Smith's SModcastle Cinema. There are regional film festivals I'll be researching. The most important thing is to find festivals that fall under children/adventure/drama. My film aligns with childhood trauma, imagination, and family bonds - so I will be researching local and regional festivals.
As much as I would love to submit to prestigious festivals like Sundance, the competition is fierce with over 17,000 submissions received last year alone! I am choosing to pass on these big-name festivals for now, but hopefully one day my film will make it there.
My plan after the festival circuit and a few screenings for the cast, crew, and industry friends I work with in NYC, (SNL and Colbert) is to explore different distribution options. Some possibilities include --
Creating a website to sell the film along with other related products.
Self-distributing through Amazon Prime
AVOD (advertising video on demand) is another option to distribute. TUBI, VUDU, CRACKLE provide a platform for filmmakers.
YouTube is another option but in order to receive monetization you need 1,000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours to start receive monetization.
There is still a lot of work ahead for this next phase, but I am open to suggestions from anyone who has experience or advice.
P.S.
In the meantime, I completed my latest screenplay. The story is of two aging writers who reminisce about their past during the course of one night, only to find that unresolved transgressions come back to haunt them. The film takes place in and around midtown Manhattan and Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. I am excited to start prepping and in due time, will show you the progression as I move forward. Thank you very much.
