CHAPTER 14 ESSENTIALS

• Marketing and distribution complete the filmmaker-audience relationship. The audience must be precisely defined for the filmmaker and marketing-distribution team to target them effectively.
• Audiences receive information about movies through publicity and promotion, which are free, and through marketing efforts and advertising, which cost money.
• As a student filmmaker, you will likely handle distribution yourself. Online marketing and distribution is highly effective, and some film festivals offer the opportunity for greater exposure.
• Studios distribute their films through a time-tested and sophisticated process of selecting the optimum date, theaters, and release pattern for each film. This process is undergoing constant change as new technologies and delivery systems offer audiences increased opportunities to watch movies whenever, and however, they want.