TOTBO UPDATES | Jon Reiss Turns Over Several “New Leaves”

Jon “The DIY Guy” Reiss recently came out with his second update to his DIY Film Marketing & Distribution Primer: TOTBO (Think Outside the Box Office). It’s piping hot-off-the-press and I just had a chance to cover it.

Here’s an inventory of what’s included in this smashing new cut:

• 2 new online grassroots networks.
• 1 new hybrid distribution entity.
• 1 new content aggregator.
• 1 new DRM (digital rights management) outfit.
• 3 new appendices: 1) The “TOTBO Manifesto,” 2) information on the brand-spanking new UltimateFilmGuides.com, and 3) the “TOTBO Workshops.”

So I thought I’d summarize the content of the “Manifesto” portion since if you’re anything of a Reiss fan (the “Pieces,” as in Reese‘s?)

you’ll likely have heard Jon lecturing about these things in many different places (egs. interviews, blogs, the book).

Declaration #1) Know your film/know yourself:

DIY distribution is indeed a labor of love, but remember that the emphasis is always be on the word, “labor.” If you’re scarcely prepared to slog your way through the daily grind of self-distributing your film, you might want to delegate the job to someone else or reconsider your film’s priorities.

Declaration #2) Change your attitude toward marketing:

You’re an indie filmmaker who loves the art of making moving pictures but absolutely despises the business side of filmmaking? Well then, it’s time to change your attitude. Welcome to the new era!

Declaration #3) Determine your audiences and how to reach them from inception:

Bad news: your target audience isn’t simply “all film-goers in general.” Wrong answer! Good news: your fans are indeed out there, you just have to go out there and find them. Michelangelo’s dictum here applies: “The statue was already in the marble. I just had to liberate it.” Sorry, a loose paraphrasing from the original Florentine.

Declaration #4) When you have finished your film, you are half done:

Closely related to Declaration#1: always make sure to leave a significant portion of the budget for P&A, marketing, and distribution. Significant as in 50%! Most filmmakers are usually elated to have reached the post-post-production “finish line,” but the reality is that when your film’s “in the can,” your work’s just begun. Welcome to what Reiss calls “the new 50/50.” What’s the new 50/50? Google it.

Declaration #5) We must take back the theatrical experience and redefine it as live/event theatrical:

Indie filmmakers, especially, says Reiss, must stop being so doctrinaire about the theatrical experience! Classically-defined, this is what’s known in distribution circles as “four-walling” it. From now on, your new theatrical experience should be defined like so: any screening event which is conducted in front of a live audience. Period. So, yeah, that horror screening you caught the other night at your local graveyard? Yep. Theatrical experience. Having fun yet?

Declaration #6) Create products people want to buy:

The relationship with your audience doesn’t cease when the credits roll. New marketing techniques like transmedia: storytelling extensions via diverse electronic media, will ensure that your audience keeps their memorable experience in their front of mind awareness. For example: rather than screen your picture with its original soundtrack, how about inviting your actors to the next live event and have them read their dialogues live? You heard it here first!

Declaration #7) Digital rights are a minefield — be careful:

DRM is a very tricky area because the DRM field is in constant flux. But the key thing to remember here is this: why give away rights you don’t have to surrender?! Distributors and content -aggregators will always (craftily) attempt to lock down as many rights on your film and ancillary products as possible. That’s just what they do. Makes them who they are. But the truth is that most of them have no clue how to exploit (read: market and sell) your rights profitably, so why should you give them up in the first place? Always be like Scrooge when it comes to DRM!

Declaration #8) Entertainment companies must move beyond old ways of doing business:

Distribution companies and festivals should stop gouging the aspiring talent by penalizing them for mistakes. We’ve already mentioned how the field is in constant flux and how — as Reiss mentioned — staying on top of everything is a right chore. Reiss is not saying companies should tolerate this, but they shouldn’t be so damn cruel, either. Transparency is the “new normal.” Distribution companies which don’t act in good faith will be throttled by the twittersphere and blogosphere. Swindlers and sheysters, your days are numbered!

Declaration #9) Explore new ways to tell stories:

A feature film or documentary is not the only way to tell a tale. Skin a cat by thinking mobile. Think interactive. Think product extensions. Get inspiration from British crimewriter Val McDermid‘s famous Mini Cooper S Barcelona scavenger hunt from 2002-3 as a direct extension of her Mini Cooper S crime novel packaged with Fast Company magazine, a full-on transmedia campaign launched by Mini well before the term transmedia was existed!

Declaration #10) We must support each other as a community:

Reiss talks about the creation of his Ultimate Film Guides as a way to give back to a community that’s nurtured him from his filmmaking inception. It’s not about hoarding in the indie scene, folks. It’s really not. Others will help you shoot stuff. They’ll also help you market your stuff. And they’ll even talk you and your picture’s virtues up online when the time comes. But if you spurn them…

TOTBO‘s appendices and updates are only available to purchasers who get their copy from the TOTBO online store. This isn’t a cash grab as much as it’s your best way of getting full-time TOTBO email support, establishing a relationship with Reiss and his staff, and keeping abreast of all the happenings in the world of DIY/DIWO/DIFY. Just sayin’…

Full disclosure alert: I am not in the employ of Jon Reiss. Jon Reiss did not pay me to say these things nor write this blog. I have also purchased all my TOTBO books and materials independently. However, I do admire Jon Reiss for his methodologies and what I’ve gained from his works, various speeches, lectures, and books. And if that’s a conflict-of-interest, well, I guess I’ll just have to live with it.