What I Learned From a Movie Premiere Last Night.

(Day T-8 Count Down to Worldwide Theatrical Premiere on April 23!)

Last night I attended a Memphis born and raised (by On Location: Memphis) short film "5th Step." The 5th Step refers to the Confession Step in the 12 Step Alcoholics Anonymous Program. Without giving it away, Angela Green created a lot of mystery and twists with the theme of confession. And it had solid acting and production value. For a micro-budget with strategic plans of growing Memphis as a film production hub, and a sold out attendance, I continue to enjoy transplanting to Memphis and seek to help the city succeed!

Angela graciously sold me promo space before the movie, which you can see here. I was especially excited for the audience enthusiasm for Vengeance Trail.

VIP EXPERIENCE

The premiere for "5th Step" had two tiers of tickets, General Admission was $20 but included a popcorn and fountain drink and the Q&A after the screening. For $45, VIPs got photographs on the red carpet, wine and cheese with a violinist, and a private mingle with the stars and filmmakers in the theater before the doors opened for General Admission. There was certainly enthusiasm from locals to sell out this VIP experience.

However, another premiere screening I went to, for the movie CRAPS, everyone got to mingle together inside the theater. I think there was a VIP experience, but I don't know the particulars. 

For Vengeance Trail's worldwide theatrical premiere next week, I'm treating everyone the same, but they have to purchase their own food and drink from concessions. We will have the red carpet experience, a cellist creating mood music, t-shirts for sale, Q&A with two actors and two producers. And prizes for best Wild West costume!

The primary goal for the screening in 8 days is to create a full house, enthusiastic environment to capture the energy of the crowd and their responses to the movie for marketing. So much to do, and so many tickets to sell.

MEMPHIS MEMPHIS MEMPHIS 

At last night's premier, I also got to interact with Linn Sitler and Sharon Fox O-Guin of the Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission. I asked them for advice about getting the press to come to my screening. They asked me a very important question; "Was it shot in Memphis?" Ahh, I get it! Memphis is fiercely loyal and they support their own. What makes my movie premiere interesting, outside the friends I've made here and Westerns fans? Well, I live here now, so that makes me a Memphian. It's also the reason I'm hosting the first theatrical exhibition here. 

Wait a minute! I've neglected the most interesting detail for local Memphians: the premiere is a first, and I chose Memphis, so let's celebrate! Next Tuesday, April 23 will be the...

WORLDWIDE THEATRICAL PREMIERE of Vengeance Trail, in MEMPHIS!

I'm adjusting all the materials, writing a press release with this important detail, and resubmitting the new story to all the press that ignored it first round. Excited and energized, and a little frazzled!

Ian Max

Excitement Brews as Memphis Gets Plastered with Vengeance Trail Posters!

(Day 11 Counting Down to Memphis Premiere on April 23!)

The last few days, I have been busy asking establishments if they have a classifieds section for displaying local events. I've had a mostly positive reception and some very enthusiastic; "I love Westerns" and "I'm absolutely coming to this [screening]." Very encouraging!

I've been plastering the poster at various venues. Some have obvious cork boards for local events. Others surprised me by taping a double sided poster to their front glass.  You can't assume, you just have to ask.

No one mentioned the guns on the poster, but I learned that if the guns aren't pointing at anyone it's more okay. And this is Memphis where everyone seems to have a gun. I was told today that the difference in gun laws between Tennessee and California are "night and day." In Los Angeles, we worried that other parents or teachers wouldn't approve of our kids playing with Nerf guns, and Getty Images wouldn't approve footage from my "Nerf for Noobs" short film, when my DP tried to sell the footage.

Yesterday's successes:

• 1 out of 4 mom-and-pop coffee shops. The chains don't have a classified section.
• 2 out of 2 public libraries. Admin had to approve.
• 2 out of 3 bars or breweries. One owner doesn't like fliers and posters.
• 2 out of 2 pizza joints.
• 1 running shoe company.
• 1 video rental store with 30K movie archive. They didn't have the DVD so I gave them one.
• 1 out of 2 guns and ammo stores displayed the poster, but much interest from employees.
• 1 playhouse and 1 ballet company.

Today, I spread out south, including just across the border into Mississippi.

• 4 Western clothing stores.
• 1 film gear rental company.
• 1 Army surplus store.
• 2 Gun stores.

The last store I found by accident, actually a gun repair shop. We got to chatting for a long time because these guys were Navy vets and SASS (single action shooting society) shooters, and they knew all about chain guns, gatling guns and howitzers. My experience was from working as a special effects assistant on The Last Samurai and We Were Soldiers. Then I learned that one of the men worked as an extra on Andersonville. I earned my SAG card on that movie in 1993 after 51 days as an extra. Man, did we have memories to share. Set life!

And, I learned about the Bill Pickett Rodeo tomorrow at the Memphis Agricenter, 10 miles from me!

Ian Max

19 Days of Vengeance Trail - Countdown to Memphis Premiere on April 23!

I picked up 100 posters to place around town. I'm very pleased with the quality and turnaround time from 901 Print Shop. 

Nearby, was an RV dealer that I had frequented for a while when caring for my father-in-law's camper. I thought about the foot traffic they would get from affluent types who might like Westerns. I wrote a note on the back offering one free ticket if they would publicly display the poster. Inside, they were friendly and interested, but had to ask corporate for permission. Either way, they said they'd share it among the employees.

This got me thinking. I need to ask mom-and-pop stores to display the poster. And, if I give away a ticket for each poster, that's potentially $2000. I will save that as a backup plan and see how many store owners will display the poster for free, willingly, and how many are ruthless entrepreneurs. 

Also, if each poster leads to one ticket sale, and I post all 100, I'll quickly and hopefully need to book a second  screening time. What a good challenge that would be -- first-world-problems!

So, now to brainstorm about 90 strategic places to ask for the poster to be displayed. On the way home, I saw this Western clothing store billboard:

So, I'm brainstorming a list:

• Western and boot clothing stores.
• Restaurants.
• Theater troops.
• Stores within a mile of the theater.
• Veterinary and animal feed stores.
• Equestrian stables.
• Motorcycle dealers, for those steel steed riders.

Then (NOSTALGIA ALERT) I'll plot a large loop around the county, like I used to do in Los Angeles in the 90s with a stack of headshot Lithographs, a copy of the Shoot Sheet from the Stephen J Cannel Building in Hollywood, and a Thomas Guide Street Directory. 200 miles later I would have snuck onto 5 sets and met one stunt coordinator. And the ratio of getting hired that way was one in a hundred, ish.

Ah, memory lane!

Ian Max

SNEAK PREVIEW of Vengeance Trail - First 12 Minutes

First 12 minutes of Vengeance Trail with live chat this Saturday, August 26 at 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern. Click on Notify Me for a reminder.

Hope you're not tired of me talking about my Western. My old partner thinks I'm putting too much time into it, but I keep finding new ai tools that can make little details better. I'm not being a perfectionist, but if a line of dialogue is covered by wind noise and there's a new Audio Enhance Tool, how can I say the movie it done if I haven't made the sound a little better. Right, Benny DeRose of Go Big Audio? After all, the sound quality is as, or more, important than the picture quality. And, I mustn't forget this Call to Excellence that crossed my eyeballs exactly a week ago.

I'm making my way through the movie with a fine-toothed comb, and I finished the opening sequence through the Inciting Incident, the event that will engage the reluctant hero and bring him out of hiding to face his giant. It certainly upsets his world, and it will upset you as well.

These first 12 minutes look and sound great! Like a real movie with a real budget! Which it is! NO DISCLAIMERS NEEDED! I'm very excited. A friend of mine just wrote this:

Bro how in the world did you get your footage to look like that? I've been using Topaz Ai and I can't get my footage to look brand new like you did. If you got a trick, please let me know, because we're trying everything, LOL!

I hosted a YouTube premiere of the Sneak Preview on Tuesday without much warning. A handful of people showed up and interacted in the chat. It was fun interacting with a few fans. And two days later, this video has over 1000 views, which is a better result than any of my videos for over 3 years!

Here are some comments from the Sneak Preview:

"This was really good!!! Great quality!!! Love it!!! Eager for more!!!!"

"Digging it!"

"Good stuff!! Made we want to be a cowboy lol."

"​Ohh, this is epic. I love everything about this."

How cool is that? 

So, join me in two days and let's Live Chat while watching the opening sequence.

Ian Max

P.S. If you worked on the movie or know someone who did, please contact me!

P.S.S. Subscribe here for the Eyre Films Newsletter. More info at Eyre Films. 

 

 

 

 

Are Billboards Still Valid? - Indie Film Advertising

First time for everything. I noticed a digital billboard near my house that said BLIP, so I looked it up. Blip Billboards sells freeway billboard space by the moment with a self-service model. And since I'm sharing the space with many other advertisers, the costs are super reasonable compared to committing to a billboard 24/7 for a month. 

I created an ad for Vengeance Trail, to start building awareness in my hometown for a theatrical screening at the end of Summer. I signed up to spend $20 per day and yesterday was my first day.

Each impression lasts 8 seconds and I got 117 blips. The billboard I chose is at the corner of two interstates. The goal is to get people to remember VengeanceTrail.com

Here are some more analytics:

The proof will be when I get a sale from someone who's not on my friends and family network.

I'm experimenting with Twitter and Facebook (Meta) ads as well, but the learning curve is steeper. Anyone have any experience? For the first while, I will be spending all my pre sales on grassroots advertising until sales take off.

Ian Max