I can’t tell you how excited I was when I came across this post by Evan Shapiro.

You don’t have to choose one or the other, you can do both at the same time

This is what I usually see happen, someone starts out, makes a couple shorts or already works in the film industry maybe as a grip or in VFX or another department, but while also writing their own screenplays. Then you want to get the gatekeepers of studios and streamers to see your pitch. So you focus on who you know, you send query emails, you take all of your effort to get your project in front of the right people that will greenlight it.

OR

You decide to take the indie/micro approach. You let your follows know on social media of your goals, you build out a crowdfunding campaign, you set up some social channels just for your project and try to grow that.

But you should do both at the same time. Try to get your show(film or tv) in front of the gatekeepers AND build out your community. Here is why.

Planting a Seed

If you want to take the studio/streamer method with your film, by all means you should. There is nothing wrong with that. Some great benefits come from this even if no one greenlights your film. First, you practice pitching and reaching out to people, this is so important no matter how you try to get your film made. So much of getting a film made is talking about your film. Then it’s pitching, maybe you’re pitching to get cast attached, maybe you’re pitching to get certain department head crew attached, maybe you’re pitching to an investor or sponsor. Any time you can get that kind of practice in is always good.

More importantly, you are planting a seed. The more you query to studios and streamers and producers the more seeds you spread out amongst the gatekeepers of the industry. The more likely at least your name or project may be remembered when they come across you or your work after you’ve grown a community.

Growing a forest

When you plant seeds with the industry gatekeepers, what happens with your crop is out of your control. They choose to help something come of it or not.

However, growing a forest is every bit in your control and that is what growing a film community is all about.

As Evan Shapiro said in his article:

“If you’re an independent producer and not exploring your own direct-to-consumer operation based on building a community, if you don’t have a social media manager and community manager, if you’re not thinking about how to build your own audience and only rely on selling to gatekeepers and corporations that commission content, the next decade won’t look bright for you.”

So what the hell does that mean?

It means that the greatest value will come from community based audiences. We have already seen the biggest networks and streamers commissioning less work. They are focusing on bigger and better. If they have a billion dollars to spend they’d rather give 10 films $100million than to give 100 films $10million. What they are looking for when writing those $100million checks is a product based on an existing IP or on a filmmaker aligned with a cast that they believe will drive audiences.

This is why if you build a forest it is far more likely the gatekeepers will come to you. Not only have your shown that your IP has value, but that it is very likely your audience will follow you to the large platform that you make a film on.

Even if the gatekeepers don’t come, you have a forest that can sustain you and your career.

You share with an audience, you engage with a community

It’s important to understand the difference between an audience and a community. An audience is someone that you share your work with, usually with the main goal of them paying to consume that work so that you can make a revenue, aka money, to continue on your filmmaking career.

A community is taking the audience a step further and engaging with them. So how do you go about doing that?

Set up a consistent social media presence, run polls or Q&As, and interact regularly with your followers to build a sense of community. Previously I’ve talked about how you can use professional platforms and creative platforms in different ways to grow an audience and community. The idea is that you work different platforms for different purposes and engage differently based on those platforms. Think about LinkedIn and TikTok, you’ll engage differently and share different content with each platform because one is more focus on professional network growth and the other is focused on entertainment consumerism.

A small, dedicated community is far more valuable than a large but passive audience. Focus on nurturing engagement, sharing behind-the-scenes content, and involving your fans in the filmmaking process. For example offer exclusive perks to loyal supporters, such as sneak peeks of upcoming projects, live discussions, or limited merchandise to deepen the sense of belonging in your community.

In the past I’ve written about how to self promote to get yourself and work out there.

Where is the money buried in the forest?

Once you build a passionate community, opportunities for monetization will follow. You want to prioritize creating authentic connections with fans rather than fixating on immediate revenue generation. Create a sustainable engagement plan before focusing on monetization, offering valuable content consistently to keep your community engaged.

I know it sounds weird, but the ways in which you make money will just present themselves if you focus on building a community first. Okay sure, but how?! Imagine you are sharing your content and your films and even advice, someone from your community my come along and ask you how they can buy your film or if you sell posters or if you offer any kind of advice or consulting services.

Just keep creating, building, sharing, and engaging. Not only will your community come, they will support your career.

As that community grows, gatekeepers start to take notice. It’s much easier to take a risk on something they see as a “sure thing” than on something they are unsure of.

If the gatekeepers never come, it doesn’t matter because you’ve built a community that will sustain you.

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