As a filmmaker your success depends on your ability to stand up and proclaim “I have a movie idea!” But the shocking (or not-so-shocking) truth is, everybody has a movie idea.Very few of these ideas will ever get made into a movie.
The trick is figuring out which idea actually has a chance of flickering across the big screen. And beyond imagination, which of your many ideas has the best chance for success? You may have heard a lot of different advice when it comes to filmmaking. In fact most industry veterans will tell you it's better to take action and do something rather than doing nothing.
Choose Your Movie Idea Based on Demand
While I agree that doing something is better than nothing, we are in a world flooded with cheaply produced backyard indies. As a result, I urge you take a few moments to consider your chances for making money. Before you turn your idea into a film, I recommend that you consider your niche audience and create a marketing plan for reaching them.
Niche movie marketing is simply taking the time to evaluate how your movie idea will relate to a very targeted audience. For example, the horror genre is very broad. It includes slasher flicks, stalker flicks, gore flicks, zombies, vampires, psychos and killer aliens. And using this example, if your movie idea is based in horror – Your next goal is to find niche within the genre.
Killer Clowns would be an even tighter niche. And Killer Clowns From Outer Space would be even tighter.
In the same regard, finding your audience niche is not solely defined by the genre. For example, you movie idea may lead you to a particular demographic, such as college students. In doing this, you may opt to focus all efforts on college publications and hosting screenings on campus. You might even break your movie idea down further.
Maybe you will choose to create an Amish Teen Horror and focus your marketing towards the Amish communities of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Idaho. In this context, your marketing niche would revolve around geography. (By the way, I do not recommend creating an Amish Teen Horror, as the Amish are not a culture who watch movies.) So what is the major benefit for finding your movie marketing niche for your idea?
Your Niche Internet Traffic
Many movie marketers have found out that trying to market to everybody is cost prohibitive. It is far easier to find your niche and concentrate all efforts to spreading word of mouth and encouraging audience engagement. In the years to come independent filmmakers will become increasingly dependent on internet traffic to drive movie sales.
If your movie website does not “speak” your visitor, then they will bounce off your movie website and never come back. It is significantly easier to sell your motion picture to someone who already loves the types of stuff you're selling. For example, a teen love story is not going to appeal to the same audience as the Killer Clown story.
When you choose an idea that already has an established niche audience, it is much easier to optimize your film website to not only attract your intended visitor, but convert these folks into a paying audience. These people come to your website because they are searching for your type of story. And the cool part? Utilizing several internet traffic estimators, modern moviemakers can find out how many people are searching for movies within a particular genre.
Find Community Around Your Topic
With the emergence of non-discriminatory movie distribution, you must remember that YOU are responsible for identifying your audience (and figuring out how to spread word of mouth.) This group of people (who know you, like you and buy your films) will determine your success. This means your movie idea has to be refined…
If you don't mind the idea of becoming “that guy,” creating several movies marketed to a well-defined target audience makes it much easier to develop a following of people who enthusiastically devour your movies. And once established, having a following provides you with the opportunity to really get to know your audience. Which makes it much easier to say: “I have a movie idea.” And if you want more info, grab this film business plan template.
