In my 16 years of experience in marketing and film distribution, you can imagine how many business meetings I have had over the years. You can discover so much in these meetings, but what you don’t know is that I was new at some point in my career, and I had to learn new abilities to survive in the film industry. I am here to share them with you.
When you encounter an experienced film producer, a film sales agent, or a film distributor, they can easily spot an inexperienced filmmaker in selling and someone who has been doing business in this industry for a long time, but if you are reading this, you can trick them because you can learn.
I even made these mistakes myself, and today, I want to share some of the most common mistakes filmmakers make when selling their films. Let’s face it: Selling is hard, and it doesn’t come naturally to creatives and filmmakers, but it’s definitely a skill you can learn.
They talk too much and don’t know when to stop and listen. I know you get nervous when facing “important” people and want to impress them. The only way you think is correct is to talk about your project, but when you notice it’s too much, you don’t know how to stop.
Having between 50-100 slides in their pitch deck. Don’t pull out the long document that will take all the attention about your film; a slide deck is for later, not for 30-minute meetings unless they ask to see it at the moment. Otherwise you can send this information via email, it won’t be the only meeting if you do it right, it will be a follow up.
No asking questions. Are you sure they are a good fit for your film? Filmmakers show up to meetings, giving it all ready to give their film away and change everything in the script just because of the money, but part of the equation in these meetings is you, and they need to be a good fit. If it’s not, it will be a bad experience.
Not knowing their numbers doesn’t matter if your role in the film is something else; if you are selling, you need to know the film’s financial situation. You can’t show up to a meeting without knowing how much the budget is; they will ask you, and you must know this information. Giving wrong information might cost you the deal.
Don’t talk about money and drag that conversation long. You have the first meeting, and then a second, and the third one, but they don’t mention money, and you don’t either. You already waste some precious time. Be clear and direct, and asking questions doesn’t make you impolite.
They decrease their budget already in the first meeting. You have set a budget for your project, and in the first meeting, you are already thinking about where you can save money, so you ask for less. You have a budget for a reason; respect it! Plus, if you go down in the budget, it will look very unprofessional; this is people who want to trust where they put their money. If you can’t handle a budget, how would you be able to handle real money?
If you are more of an audio person and you want to learn more about these mistakes, I have a four-minute audio in which I explain them in detail.
And if you are wondering if you should trust me.
Hi, my name is Rosa Camero. I am a film producer and film distribution and marketing consultant. I have worked on more than 130 films on the production, distribution, and marketing side. My IMDb has 127 films, from blockbusters like The Twilight Saga and Divergent to independent films.
