Recently I have been spending a lot of time improving the Dutch version of my site, also moving it to a self hosted server and making improvements on it. You see I have been spending way more time on this blog than to the one I started with. Of course less attention is something you also see back in your results and I have been working hard on improving it. I decided to be more pro-active, so now make sure I have as many updates there as I do here and I’m slowly seeing the results. One thing I have also have been doing is contacting film distributors to put me on the distribution list, so I am aware of the latest releases. It also means I will receive review version of some releases. The good thing about it is that these are sometimes movies I probably would have never heard of or not given a chance. It also sometimes means I have more things to watch then I got time, but calling it a problem would be a bit too much. I also get invitations for press viewings, but as these are usually at times I am working I unfortunately can not go to those. This made me wonder:
Have you contacted film distributors about being on their mailing list and what are your experiences with them? Do you think a more direct relation with a film distributor can change your view on what you think of a movie?
I have contacted a fair few in Australia. A lot of the bigger ones don;t really give you the time of day. But there are a couple of great distributors who give me a lot of support through screeners and review copies of films. Unfortunately the city I live in is too small to generate many media screenings so I don’t get to many of them.
It definitely doesn’t change my opinions on films that they send me. I have given them scathing reviews if I think they warrant it. The only issue can be getting overloaded with films, especially if there is only one person writing for the site.
Dude, you must live in Adelaide like me!
Shame that the bigger ones don’t give you the time of day. They should know that bloggers can really help in promoting their movies in different ways.
I know the feeling of getting overloaded. There is one distributors which sends out lots of press releases and it is very tempting to request review copies, but I said to myself I won’t till I finish the ones I have or I will never catch up. It did make me wonder if I should start looking for a second writer.
Hi Nostra, hmmm no I haven’t done this though I have a couple of distributors emailed me if I wanted to review their films. I’m on the Press List of a Marketing company that works w/ film studios though, so sometimes I do have press access to some studio films’ marketing collaterals.
Cool that you got contacted. I do get that for independent films, but not for the bigger distributors. Now that I have been added to some press mailings I have noticed that that part of it is done by marketing companies, which of course is very logical.
I’m very interested how you did this? Whereabouts did you start looking?
I was in luck as in The Netherlands there happens to be a Dutch association of movie distributors. Their site had a pdf on it which basically had all the members, including email addresses on them. So I just fired away requests to be included on the press mailings referencing my blog and most of them added me. For those that did not have email addresses I looked at the local websites to find either a press or contact link and used that.
Hope that helps you Chris.
It’s not something I’ve really done so far, but that could just be because I have no idea how to go about it. I might do a bit of research and see what I can get involved with.
Read my response above, that would be a good start!
No. But it is a good idea. I will look into it. Thanks for the thought.
Worth investigating I think
I haven’t contacted distributors for review screeners because I’d likely be trying to get them to distribute my own films.
The screeners that I’ve received have often been directly from the filmmakers, producers or directors who’ve made them. Other times, they came from companies that found me or my writings somewhere….usually from an event like a festival or party.
A more direct relation with a film distributor would not change my view of a movie…but it would make me more aware of how I express my views of a movie, especially if it’s one that I may not have necessarily enjoyed watching.
Hahaha, well who knows they would…worth giving it a shot 🙂
Yeah, I have had quite a few of filmmakers as well. Completely understand that feeling about how you express it. Somehow you try to write it in such a way that they really understand why you weren’t a fan….even a bit more than you would normally do a bad movie. At least that is my experience.