Category Archives: Independent Film

Filmmakers: Gather Your Audience Early and Often

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Chris Dorr

Film festivals have long been powerful tools for indie filmmakers who seek audiences for their films. They serve as launching pads for that elusive big distribution deal that catapults an obscure filmmaker and unknown movie to fame and (sometimes) fortune.  … Continue reading →

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You Need to Build a Database of Your Followers

Posted on November 20, 2012 by Chris Dorr

Over the past two weeks I have had the chance to meet with some smart filmmakers and discuss how they might better think about and build their audiences.  And today, while catching up with my reading I had the good … Continue reading →

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When Did I Sign Up For This “Audience Development” Thing?

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Chris Dorr

Peter Kafka of the WSJ recently interviewed Robert Kyncl, the man who heads up the channel initiative at YouTube.  Kyncl was asked about what he had learned from his experience at YouTube thus far.  He states: “Lesson one: Audience development … Continue reading →

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Who Are Those “People With The Algorithms”?

Posted on October 7, 2012 by Chris Dorr

I am continually fascinated by what mass media business leaders think about the Internet. This was brought into relief for me recently while I was reading Steven Johnson’s new book, Future Perfect: The Case For Progress In A Networked Age, … Continue reading →

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The Film Experience Hackathon (and why you should attend)

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Chris Dorr

Yesterday my twitter feed brought news of an event taking place on October 13-14 in NYC that anyone interested in film should attend.  As described on its web site: The Film Experience Hackathon is a weekend-long event whereby hackers, filmmakers … Continue reading →

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A Cartoon Shows Filmmakers The Right Social Media Strategy

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Chris Dorr

Sheri Candler wrote a post aptly titled,  “Are you brave enough to shun social media?”  It is a must read for any filmmaker. Sheri develops and executes effective marketing campaigns for movies and works to help film artists gather their … Continue reading →

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Can Indie Film Achieve a Network Effect?

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Chris Dorr

In a recent post entitled Networks And The Enterprise, Fred Wilson explains how his firm Union Square Ventures invests in networks. He included this line. My uber goal of writing this post is to explain that the wired and mobile … Continue reading →

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Filmmakers Need to Find a New Lens

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Chris Dorr

Yesterday Sara Kiener wrote a great post on Hope for Film on the pros and cons of Kickstarting for Theatrical Distribution.  It led me to write this comment on the blog which I repost here in modified form. I have … Continue reading →

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99% of All Filmmakers Should Crowd Fund

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Chris Dorr

The original version of this piece appeared a year ago on  the Future of Film Blog at Tribeca Film.com, a blog I created and edited. There is nothing more frustrating and time consuming for a filmmaker than raising the money … Continue reading →

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The 1,000 True Fans Strategy

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Chris Dorr

In the movie business, the audience is usually described as either mass or niche.  Typically, Hollywood movies seek a mass audience and independent movies seek a niche audience. Today, there is a new way of thinking about the audience that … Continue reading →

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