Don’t Wait Until the Movie Is Finished to Find an Audience
Filmmakers routinely spend years making a movie and several weeks thinking about who will watch it. Reverse that.
Filmmakers obsess over production.
Which camera?
Which lens?
Which location?
Who plays the lead?
What does the poster look like?
Then the film is nearly finished and someone asks:
Who is the audience?
Silence.
Marketing should not begin when the trailer is finished.
Audience strategy should begin while the project is being developed.
I'm not saying the internet should vote on your screenplay.
I'm saying you should understand who might care about the story.
What communities naturally connect to the subject?
What organizations?
What cultural groups?
What fan communities?
What podcasts?
What publications?
What creators?
What locations?
What brands?
What conversations are already happening that relate to the film?
Start building relationships early.
If you're producing a basketball documentary, the basketball community shouldn't discover your film three weeks before release.
If you're making a horror movie, you should already know where horror audiences gather.
If your documentary concerns a social issue, organizations working on that issue should know the project exists.
Audience building doesn't have to mean shouting:
“COMING SOON!”
for eighteen months.
Document the process.
Introduce the people.
Discuss the subject.
Share discoveries.
Show behind-the-scenes decisions.
Let audiences feel like they found the film before everybody else.
This also creates information.
Which characters generate responses?
Which images get shared?
Which story angles connect?
Which communities lean in?
That data can improve your eventual campaign.
One philosophy I believe strongly in is that marketing should not be treated as something done to the movie after production.
Marketing should grow alongside the movie.
The earlier you develop an audience relationship, the less dependent you become on one expensive advertising campaign at the end.
You aren't just making content.
You're creating anticipation.
Film Faster Question: If your film premiered tomorrow, where would the first 1,000 genuinely interested viewers come from?
