Help List

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A comprehensive list of things filmmakers can do for free and some not so free. This info is from open sources, and reworked to my opinion of a step by step process for filmmakers to take. Filmmakers Should Form His/Her Own Opinion And System. If you would like to ad to the list, leave your suggestion in the comment box below

Ok, your film has played at several underground and independent film festivals. Now what? How do you get the rest of the world interested in your movie? Obviously, you need to have a good online presence. But say you’re not technically literate and/or, like most filmmakers, you’ve spent all your money on your movie and can’t afford to pay someone to create a nice website. With so many different, free, promotional tools on the web, it’s a crime for indie filmmakers not to take advantage of them.

So, we've compiled a fairly comprehensive list of things filmmakers can do for free (or for really cheap) on the internet to promote their films. First off...

Get listed on IMDB.com This is the absolute first step any filmmaker should do once they’ve completed their film. If you’re not listed on IMDB, then your film may as well not exist. IMDB does have some restrictions about what you can list, so check out their “New Title” guidelines. But if you’ve made a film and it’s played in at least one festival or it’s a film meant for general release, I’m sure you can get in.

Set up a Twitter and Facebook page Everybody but everybody is on Twitter and Facebook: filmmakers, producers, distributors --they're all there on, and the most important, the fans! Fans are on Twitter and Facebook, you want fans lot of fans. Sure, these sites are used for singles to hook up, but they've really evolved into legitimate, promotional tools for filmmakers.

Get a free blog The prevailing perception is that a blog has to be a personal diary of some sort. While blogs do lend themselves to keeping online journals, you can create just about any type of free website with any blogging software, e.g., WordPress, Blogger, etc. There are three main blogging platforms you can sign up for: Blogger, TypePad and WordPress. All three act basically the same way: You sign up for a blog “name” and are then assigned a URL within the platform’s system. Once you have your blog, you sign into your administration panel and talk about whatever you want. If you’re not particularly computer-savvy, I assure you getting a basic blog up and running is extremely easy and created for people without much computer experience.

Use free photo sites Upload production stills to Photobucket, Flickr, or MySpace. Now that you have your new website/blog, you need to fill it up with content, right? One of the best ways to let people get a good feel for your film is to have production photos or film stills for visitors to look at. Most websites have their own image folder that they upload photos to, but since we’re creating a site for free you can use this great photo upload tool. Your images will sit on Flickr, but you can link to those images to appear on your website. The only drawback to Flickr is that your images are limited to web-friendly display dimensions. But if somebody, such as a magazine or newspaper, asks you to send them a hi-res image for promotion you can send hi-res photos through YouSendIt.com or Maxvault If a publisher needs high-quality images to accompany a review about your film (or of yourself), try not email files larger than 10MB, as most email gateways will not allow files larger than that. Instead, upload your hi-res images to Maxvault and an email will be sent to your recipient who can then download the file from a private location at the Maxvault site. Also, make a note on your blog that hi-res photos are available for press and to contact you directly.

Use free video sites for your trailer Upload your trailer. Don’t think you have to have some kind of perfect trailer with dramatic music and quick cuts. Just put together a couple of key moments and scenes from your film, upload the trailer to all of the video sites that have proliferated on the web within the past year or so and “tag” the trailer with any and all appropriate keywords that will let people find your video.

And don’t just upload the trailer to one site and call it a day. None of these video sites (that I know of) ask for exclusivity. Different people use different video sites for their primary source of video, so it’s good to hit them all. The 2 main sites you need to hit are, YouTube and Google Video. For other video sites, just do a search for video and they’ll pop up and keep your eye out for what other video sites other filmmakers are using.

Finally, the best thing these days is that you can grab the trailer you’ve uploaded to and embed it into your own blog post. If you need help with that Film Makers Help gives free consulting and advise. Just ask right here on the forum

Pick a few good film forums I would pick a few for you, but it would be biased. So enjoy your research, and try and stay out of trouble. You can get in trouble when you cross-post, so be sure to read all the rules of any forums you sign up with.

Ok, so you’ve got your own website/blog, but how do you drive traffic to it? Well, a lot of it has to do with getting listed properly on search engines, but any tips I have on that would comprise another help list. What you can do, is find other independent, filmmaking blogs and leave legitimate comments with links back to your site. Don’t just leave a comment like, “Hey, check out my movie website” because that’s terribly obnoxious and it's actually considered spamming. But if you read a blog posting and have something serious to say about it, please comment away!

Send review copies to movie sites This tip isn’t quite so free since you’ll need to pay postage to send a DVD or tape through the mail. Do your research and find out which sites, like Bad Lit, are open to reviewing indie or underground films. Definitely be sure to review their Submission Guidelines for any fineprint that you may disagree with, first. Also, be sure you are submitting your film to a site that wants and needs your film --You don’t want to send a horror movie to a site that features only romance movies. Keep in mind that there are many sites devoted to horror films who will be completely receptive to your work.

Sell merchandise This is more of just a fun thing to do than a serious marketing tool. If you have a nifty logo for your film (of if you don't, try these guys), you can upload it to CafePress. From there, they will sell your swag with your logo on it, including t-shirts, coffee mugs, mousepads, etc. Heck, you can even sell a copy of your screenplay through CafePress’ new book-publishing program. Maxvault site also has merchandising features similar to CafePress. These features are available to you when you sign up for a free Maxcast video account. One caveat exists, however. You need to sign up through an existing member. For that reason, provides you with an affiliate link to sign up for a free account.

Look for independent distribution sites See Filmmakers Help Links Some are free and some use paid streaming video services with a pay-per-view (PPV) option that may cost you out-of-pocket, like Maxcast. The advantage to signing up for a paid Maxcast account is that you can then attach any fee you want to any video you upload. Maxcast also uses PayPal, so all profits can be directed back into your PayPal account.

With a PayPal PPV no buffering Maxcast player you can list your film on Fans Of Film for free

Now, even if you follow all these steps, it won’t mean that you’re going to make a million dollars overnight --Although, you could! The most important thing we're getting to here is having a professional online presence. In reality, it's not only important for all filmmakers, but for anyone with something to sell online. Remember, doing some marketing online is better than doing nothing at all.

Distribute your film on Fans Of Film

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