Business
BusinessRob Hardy

The Best Aggregators for Indie Filmmakers in 2020

What are the best aggregators for indie filmmakers? How can you make money once your films are on major VOD platforms? And how can you maximize that revenue for years to come?

BusinessRob Hardy
The Best Aggregators for Indie Filmmakers in 2020

Audience Mapping, The Niche Filmmaker’s Secret Weapon

An “audience map” is a document that’ll help you create and communicate in such magnetic, compelling ways that when you release a new film, the folks in your niche won’t be able to whip out their wallets fast enough.

Audience Mapping, The Niche Filmmaker’s Secret Weapon
BusinessGuest Author

How to Crowdfund a Short Film in 2020

Best practices for Kickstarting a short film, as well as the common pitfalls that derail many filmmakers.

BusinessGuest Author
How to Crowdfund a Short Film in 2020

The Entrepreneurial Filmmaker’s Guide to Niche Research

In the Art of War, Sun Tzu tells us, “victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win." If your goal is to earn a living from your films, this is wisdom to live by.
The Entrepreneurial Filmmaker’s Guide to Niche Research

How to Find the Perfect Niche for Your Indie Films

The most comprehensive guide on the internet for niching down, and building a sustainable long-term business around the films you care about most.

How to Find the Perfect Niche for Your Indie Films

In The War for Audience Attention, Niche Down or Perish

In the war for audience attention, you can either niche down and win, or keep competing in the mass market and get dominated by Disney and Netflix.

In The War for Audience Attention, Niche Down or Perish

The Smart Way to Build an Audience for Your Films

If you care about maximizing revenue and minimizing work from your indie film marketing, here’s the smart way to approach audience building.

The Smart Way to Build an Audience for Your Films

Film Festivals Are A Brutal Game. Should You Play?

I poured my heart and soul into creating The Long Goodbye—along with $30,000 and 3 years of my life—and I’ve been rejected from every single festival to date. But this film has been anything but a failure.

Film Festivals Are A Brutal Game. Should You Play?

How I Found a Story Worth Telling, Then Crowdfunded 11K to Make It

There are two super frustrating parts of getting started with telling your own stories. The first is constantly feeling like you have no fresh ideas. And the second is when people tell you to work on "developing your own unique voice."

Ironically, both of these challenges combine into one magnificent feedback loop of bullshit.

How I Found a Story Worth Telling, Then Crowdfunded 11K to Make It

The Case for Self-Distributing Your Micro-Budget Feature

For many nascent filmmakers, a micro-budget feature is the first step towards forging a career as a feature film director.

The Case for Self-Distributing Your Micro-Budget Feature

One Year Later: What We Learned Distributing Our Micro-Budget Feature

In 2019—when filmmaking has long since been revolutionized by digital technology, when movies shot on smartphones open at Sundance, when there are festivals dedicated to vertical filmmaking, and when so many people are making features that the ‘mystique’ of it has long since dissipated—the one area that still seems to hide behind a shroud of secrecy is distribution.

One Year Later: What We Learned Distributing Our Micro-Budget Feature

Becoming a "High Agency" Filmmaker

There’s a psychological trait that will determine whether or not you “make it” as an entrepreneurial filmmaker. In the coming years, those who have this trait will thrive, while those who don’t will find fewer and fewer opportunities. And the best part is, you get to choose whether you develop it.

Becoming a "High Agency" Filmmaker

Why Indie Film Producers Must Find Their Niche & Brand Themselves

When producers start their careers and jump from horror to drama to doc back to narrative, they learn a hell of a lot, but they’re not developing a solid career path for themselves. They’re not giving themselves that opportunity to become known for something in the way directors do.

Why Indie Film Producers Must Find Their Niche & Brand Themselves

How to Build a Profitable Audience for Your Films

An audience puts you in charge of your own future. Instead of hoping and praying for industry gatekeepers to put you on the map, once you go through this process, you’ll be calling your own shots.

How to Build a Profitable Audience for Your Films