5 things to do to help your film distributor market your movie

By Meagan Warner

I've been the Social Media Coordinator here at Passion River for about two years and along the way I've learned how simple things can make my job a lot easier. 

My job: to reach untapped audiences, expand awareness of your film, grow your fan base and essentially increases your film sales. 

Help me help you. Here's 5 ways how you can.

1. Make a good movie trailer

I cannot stress enough how important this is. We love using your movie trailer to build up the hype before and during your release. 

Movie trailers are generally one and a half to two and half minutes long. With 5 second vines and Instagram videos now, you need to grab people's attention within the first 20 seconds of your trailer. Take the time to pick captivating scenes and choose good music.

Ever watched a movie trailer or commercial and gotten the goosebumps? That should be your goal.

2. Have high-resolution images

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. When promoting your indie film or documentary, I'm not just going to post some plain text. 

I want to show people your movie. It is the fastest way to double social media engagement.

I need high-resolution images of the cover art, any promo or poster piece and production/actor stills. Let's mix it up. Give people sneak-peaks. 

3. Provide excess graphics

I spend a significant amount of time creating new and original images. I can only do that with what you give me. I need graphics!

A big part of film marketing is showing off your credentials. 

If the film was an Official Selection at Sundance or any film festival, let's promote that. If The New York Times said your movie was "Captivating," let's promote that. But let's use those high-resolution images I just talked about to create some text-over lay graphics. 

What I need from you is copies of festival laurels, your title text, publication reviews, etc... in a png form with a clear background.

Let's have that continuity from the DVD cover art. Below you can see an example from When I Walk. The filmmaker provided the title text from the DVD cover, as well as the festival laurels. I was able to create the image on right and use it when promoting the film.

4. Maintain a decent social media presence 

In an ideal world every filmmaker would be kicking butt on their social media pages. They'd be updating fans on a daily basis of film news, increasing followers and engaging consistently. 

That's not always the case. 

But just having a Twitter or Facebook account helps. I like to "share the love" by calling out ("tagging") filmmakers via social media. When I can't tag you guys, it's kind of a bummer. 

This means that our over 7,000 followers (across all our social media) can't click on your page. You're un-clickable aka undiscoverable.

At the very least, maintain a Facebook and Twitter page. One of the first things people will do if they're interested in your movie is look for your social media pages. Impress them.

5. Keep us in the loop

We're hear to help you with your film marketing campaign. We will of course promote the release of your film and drive people to the sites they can purchase or watch the film. We will also monitor online discussions so we can promote any good reviews or coverage of your film. 

But we still need you to notify us when there's any news related to your film. Are you hosting a screening? Did a relevant and popular blog feature the film on their homepage? Are you being featured in a film festival? 

Tell us! A simple email indicating the latest news is extremely helpful. The more people posting about your movie, the more discoverable you become. 

Our marketing and social media teams understand and appreciate the value in creating good content. We don't want to report the news or sound like a robot. 


Your story is one worth being told and worth being spread. Help us help you.