Introduction

This report concerns a project undertaken by volunteers working with the Film Festival Marketing Project (UCF's Film Producer class, taught by Randy Finch) for the Florida Film Festival (sponsored by the Enzian Theatre).

Each team was assigned a film that would screen at the Florida Film Festival (typically one screening at the Enzian and one at the Regal in Winter Park). Working with the Festival staff, and the various filmmakers, the volunteers were responsible for the guerrilla marketing of the films.

Our "street marketing" team included Ryan Dougall and Jacob McElroy. We were assigned a narrative feature film entitled Lovely, Still. The filmmakers were Nik Fackler (director) and Dana Altman (a producer).

The following blog is a report on what we attempted, what we accomplished and, most importantly, what we learned.

We hope that this proves helpful to any other independent filmmakers and marketing teams in the future.

Synopsis

Lovely, Still

Directed by:
Nik Fackler

Starring:
Martin Landau
Ellen Burstyn
Elizabeth Banks
Adam Scott


Robert (Oscar winner Martin Landau, Ed Wood) bags groceries at a supermarket and that’s as exciting as his life gets. Clocks have more varied routines than he does. Then he meets Mary (Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore), a beautiful woman who has just moved in across the street, and lonesome Robert finds a new, unexpected happiness opening up to him: there’s no doubt that they’re each other’s destiny. People may age, but the thrill of new love never gets old. Even as their warm, wonderful story unfolds, something frightening seems to be lurking under the surface. Are Robert’s bad dreams just dreams? Or are we glimpsing some horrible truths that threaten the precious world of romantic love? Adam Scott (The Great Buck Howard) and Elizabeth Banks (Zack and Miri Make a Porno) round out a perfect ensemble cast in this moving and disturbing story, a memorable tale of new love in the golden years, directed—ironically but very deftly—by 24 year-old Nik Fackler.

(from http://www.floridafilmfestival.com)

Distribution:

Since the film was made in 2008 it has been traveling the festival circuit, but has yet to be picked up for any type of distribution.

Writer/Director Nik Fackler- Biography:

Twenty four year old Nik Fackler began writing and directing short films during high school in Omaha, Nebraska. His work as a painter and filmmaker was quickly noticed by members of Omaha’s music scene, and before long he began directing music videos for many high-profile local acts. Lovely, Still (08) is his feature-directing debut.

When not working in film he plays occasionally in many local Omaha bands including The Family Radio, Coyote Bones and Flowers Forever.

Marketing

From the start, our team knew that marketing was going to be difficult. The audience typically associated with a film like Lovely, Still is predominantly made up of senior citizens. A strong majority of seniors have become laggards in regards to technology and do not use the internet, so the task of marketing through Twitter, blogs, and Facebook were strictly reserved to target those in the film community, student organizations at the University of Central Florida, and friends. Within the first week of viewing the film we set up a blog, Twitter, and Facebook Fan Page. We established a marketing plan outlining the upcoming months’ marketing goals. Input from the filmmaker Nik Fackler was desperately sought, however two weeks passed without a single response. The social network pages were updated twice a week and packed with exciting posts about the film. Posters, interviews with the cast, critic reviews, and various other links played a vital role in the quality of our posts. Each of the web pages was cross-promoted through each other. Luckily our team had access to the student organization database at UCF and used it to our advantage to send blast emails, linking recipients to out content. The response wasn’t as great as initially thought, but in regards to the Enzian Theatre’s capacity, the number of interested individuals wasn’t bad. Our team kept the social network content active and up-to-date and continued to send email reminders using the student organization database until the premiere of the film.

An entire month passed without a word from our filmmaker. A few weeks before the premiere we were contacted by a very enthusiastic producer named, Dana Altman. He wanted to set up a conference call with us and the director, Nik Fackler. The date and time for the call was set, but when the arranged date came, we heard nothing. Once again we were back to square one, without any approval, press kit, or promotional material from the Lovely, Still crew. We took it upon ourselves to design a flyer to hand out in the winter park area, grocery stores in the day time, Sunday matinee movies, craft stores, early-bird hours at restaurants…places the elderly generally hang out. Using Photoshop we designed a flyer using an image of the films poster we found online. The free SGA print lab allows up to twenty sheets per day, so our team definitely used it to our advantage. Using Google, we searched for local retirement homes and senior centers in the Central Florida area. We knew from the very beginning that our main target audience was the elderly, so emails entailing the synopsis, starring actors, location, and show time of the films premiere were sent to the senior centers we were able to get contact information from.

The social network traffic started to decline, which was expected. Nevertheless, we created a Facebook event for the films premiere and blasted it throughout our trinity of social media sites. We had twenty people RSVP to the event and the Enzian holds close to two-hundred guests; we started to worry. The Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before Lovely, Still’s Sunday evening premiere was crunch time. We decided to attach Starburst candies to each of the flyers we passed out. It worked! To our surprise, when candy or some other object is attached to a flyer, people are more inclined to actually read it. Throughout the days leading up to the premiere we canvassed Winter Park (including the Winter Park Village) with flyers and assorted Starburst candies. We knew reaching out to the elderly and promoting the fact the show time was early on a Sunday evening was our only chance for packing the house…and it did! The film started at 6:30pm and by 5:30pm there was a line wrapping around the building. To test our marketing strategies we asked some of the people in line how they heard about the film. Some stated that they received one of the flyers while visiting the Winter Park Village others simply read the synopsis of the film in the Florida Film Festival program guide. At show time most of the seats were filled, which we thought was amazing considering the small niche this film catered to.

Final attendance numbers: 4/11 screening--158 attendees (137 tickets, 14 platinum passes, 7 other passes); 4/14 screening-- 107 attendees (82 tickets, 10 platinum passes, 15 other passes)

Calendar

-Feb 26: As a team, we watched the film, did some brainstorming, and came up with an initial marketing plan.
-Mar 1: Created a twitter account to post about the film.
- Mar 16: Made initial attempt to contact filmmaker; created facebook page and blog to post about the film.
- Mar 24: Contact made with a producer and the director via e-mail, but no progress made.
- Apr 1: Had a conference call with the director and a producer, did some brainstorming. They had no press kit (flyers, posters, etc.) but Nik did have the good idea to contact fans of the bands who provided music for the film.
- Apr 9: We attached Starburst to flyers and passed them out in the area of the Regal at Winter Park.
- Apr 11: We had our first screening, which proved fairly successful in terms of ticket sales.

[This differs somewhat from the initial marketing plan because of scheduling conflicts, delayed contact with filmmakers, lack of provided materials, questioning of potential success (craigslist really useful? etc.), and the general changes that come when a tentative plan becomes reality.]

Conclusion

We learned that some movies, regardless of quality, can be extremely difficult to market. It can be difficult to determine an appropriate target audience, and figure out what method(s) would be most useful for reaching that target. Also, not every filmmaker cares that much about a particular festival. They may also not have the funds or marketing materials to really push the film on the “street”. Also, as with most things, a divided schedule can make it more difficult to accomplish much.
Despite our setbacks, however, we consider this project a success. The most positive thing we learned was that if you believe in a project and really make a concerted effort, people WILL go to see your movie.

Appendix

Contacts:

Nik Fackler
(NikFackler@gmail.com )
Writer/Director

Dana Altman
(altman@northseafilms.com)
Producer

North Sea Films, Inc.

http://northseafilms.com/

2626 Harney Street

Omaha NE 68131

(402) 393-8700 office

(402) 393-8762 fax

Screening Attendance:
The premiere of Lovely, Still was held at the Enzian theater on Sunday, April 11th 2010 at 6:30pm. Our team arrived at 5:30pm and a line was already forming around the building. The theater holds roughly 200 guests and we counted 120 enter the theater before we went in. As we were seated we noticed additional guests trickle in.

Supporting Materials:

YouTube Interviews

Here is an interview with 24 year old Nik Fackler; Director of Lovely, Still.



Here is an interview with Academy Award winning actor, Martin Landau who plays Robert in Lovely, Still

Here is an interview with Academy Award winning actress, Ellen Burstyn who plays Mary in Lovely, Still

Lovely, Still (2008) Extended Trailer

TOP CRITIC Review of Lovely, Still

Toronto Film Festival: Review

Given that Lovely, Still spends the majority of its running time a sweet, almost fairy tale-esque love story between two seniors, there's little doubt that certain revelations towards the end subsequently leave the viewer reeling. The film, which casts Martin Landau as a lifelong bachelor who finally finds love with the kindly widow (Ellen Burstyn) across the street, has been infused with an almost egregiously ostentatious sense of style by filmmaker Nik Fackler, and it's hard to deny that his less-than-subtle choices do mute a few of the film's emotional moments. Yet it's impossible to deny that his approach makes a lot more sense following the aforementioned third-act shift, as the viewer is essentially forced to reconsider the importance and meaning of everything that preceded it (ie a second viewing would certainly be apt). And as uneven as the whole thing generally is, Lovely, Still is anchored by Landau's absolutely spellbinding and unexpectedly layered performance - as the actor's stirring portrayal is ultimately the most consistently captivating element within the proceedings.

Links:
Lovely, Still Blog
Lovely, Still Facebook Page
Lovely, Still Twitter
Nik Fackler Blog

Promotional Images:
Premiere Flyer: