GENERATE BUZZ: Hold your own world Premiere

Just because your film is released on DVD does not mean your film can not have a world premiere. You want to create the equivalent of a musicians "CD Release Party" and doing it is surprisingly easy, inexpensive, and a good way to create a buzz about your film. Putting on your own premiere can be done in four steps:

Step One: Contact your local movie theater. Don’t contact the big chain theaters; instead look for the local one screen, second run, independent theater. These theaters will be more supportive and have the flexibility to work with you and can be 80% cheaper then big chains. Plus, you get the advantage of having a much nicer theater and supporting local cinema.

Step Two: Invite the world. Create a formal invitation and send it to your friends, family, co-workers, your mailman, supermarket checkout girl, and most importantly, local film critics. Make sure to keep an RSVP list and follow up with everyone to make sure they are going to come. If it gets stressful, have a good friend help you out. Give yourself and the people you are inviting enough notice to work it into their schedules. Everyone wants to be supportive, but might not be able to if you give them a days notice. Work with the theater to get it listed in the movie listing section if you want the public to come.

Step Three: Put on an amazing event. Decorate the theater, in a classy way, in a theme relating to your film. Greet your fans in the lobby. Introduce your film before it start (for those who might not know about it), say a few words and thank everyone for attending. In the lobby after the film, set up a table to sell your DVD to people in attendance and want to take a copy home with them. And how about autographing them as a collectors item.

Step Four: If all goes well, talk to the theater owner about having your film play as part of their regular schedule. Ask for an early or late showing for a week and see how the film performs. Offer to speak to the audience before each showing, split the DVD sales with the theater and to volunteer at the theater during your performance.

Having a world premiere for your film will do two things for you. One, make you feel good about the work you did and proud that it was shown on the big screen and your name on the marquee. Take that excitment and enjoyment and go make more movies. Two, give you a head start in promoting your film. Talk of the film will go on for about a week after the premiere. You need to continue that buzz in order to have success. Congratulations on your world premiere, now, let’s continue getting good word of mouth.

Estimated costs: $200-$800. There are a lot of variables in the final cost. The most expensive cost is the theater rental. Do as they say and shop around!