Wow it’s been another long break in-between posts.  Sorry folks!  I have a good excuse though, because the wedding is only 8 days away. :O I’ve been going nuts trying to get some of my things done in time.  One of them was another DVD cover I need to finish in the next 8 (really 7 since that friday before the 22nd is going to be incredibly busy) days but I’ve only started it today.  That’s a pretty tight deadline for something like this given the changes, adjustments, critiques, etc. I need from the client.  Luckily they’re all very quick to respond, and I need that.  I’ve begun some preliminary work on a website for a film I’ll be doing in February as soon as I get back as well as some marketing for another film.  I look forward to doing the marketing on this because it’ll allow me to try and replicate some of the Standing Firm results I’ve gotten in the last 4 months.

I keep thinking about writing some articles on marketing and things to keep in mind when doing a film.  I’ve seen some horrendous titles coming from people lately, and some really simple missteps that are going to cause problems for people.  They’re issues that you can’t really fix later, and on films in this market, you can’t afford to mess things up.  Making your money back is tough, and you need to nail down the easy stuff first.  Picking a good title that’s marketable, is easy to remember, less likely to be misquoted constantly, etc.  It’s tough to do, but if you get it right it makes things so much easier.  Branding your movies name across the different social media platforms is another important step as well as your domain name being the best it can be.  All this stuff needs thought so next time I do a film I’ll have fun laying out a plan for all these things and doing it the best way I can.

We’ve recently passed 77,000 fans for Standing Firm on Facebook.  It’s amazing to think we were at only about 16,000 around the time the movie was released.  Granted those 77,000 don’t equal the amount of DVDs we’ve sold, even that 16,000 when we had it doesn’t even equal our current sales, but that’s ok.  Facebook pages for a film as far as I’m concerned is a glorified cattle car.  Perhaps that isn’t the most eloquent way to say it but that’s really the idea.  Grabbing and growing a list of people who’re in your target market who you can nab as a fan in hopes they buy the film, or if they don’t when they “Like” the film (which a lot do and simply forget or figure they’ll do it later) I now have the ability to remind them via a wall post or something else.  It’s been a really great way to consistently boost sales whenever I post a link to where they can buy.  I’ve seen direct results every single time.  The hope is slowly but surely more and more people who are fans will be reminded and eventually get the film.  The amount of fans we have will NEVER equal sales at a 1:1 ratio, but even at a 1:10 ratio, we wont’ be doing half bad.  It’s a slow burn…I accepted that a long time ago.  From what I can see in this market based on the lifelong sales of a lot of films, this is quite normal.  You’d be surprised what is still selling and how many every year even if they’re 10 years old or 5 years or whatever.  There will always be someone new who has never heard of Standing Firm, and might give it a look.  Yes this means my work on this film will never be done or the next film, but hey…that’s the game.  I don’t get to punt it off to some big distributor and just hope it continues to sell.  I need to be the salesman, the pitchman, or whatever you want to call it.  If I ever stop, the film will level out like any other and hit a mediocre average sales amount per month.  Granted, that will happen regardless but how fast and to what degree is basically up to me.  Unless I can’t put in the time anymore or I run out of personal funds to keep funneling into this in hopes of a return, I’ll continue to do it.  Time will tell just how well the film does.

So yea the wedding is super close and Denise has been moving in more and more each time she comes over.  We have her desk in the bedroom now with her stuff on it (that’ll be her working space), one of her bookshelves, and a few other things.  We cleaned out my closet today and got it organized, and over the last number of weeks it’s really started to feel like two people live here even if she isn’t yet, LOL.  I think it’ll be a pretty easy transition.  They’ll be some definite difficulties at first, and that’ll be normal, but besides waking up in the same place…things won’t be too different.  Both of us have gone grocery shopping together a lot buying what “we want” to have at my place.  Stuff like that isn’t even weird anymore.  I can’t wait to be married, then she doesn’t have to go home anymore at the end of the day.  8 days then it’s off to FL for Disney.  We’re hoping to stop at Sherwood Baptist on the way back to NY (we’re driving to FL).  I had the pleasure of spending some time with Stephen Kendrick in San Antonio this past October but the environment where we ate lunch was loud, had constant interruptions, and the topic we spoke about was heavy.  It would be nice to catch up in a less stressful place, but it’s incredibly difficult to get ahold of any of those guys (rightfully so).  I’ve emailed but those never get through almost, and leaving a message I was very careful to NOT sound like someone who doesn’t know him.  With the way their movies have taken off they’re absolutely flooded with calls and emails every day.  If you think about it pray that word gets to Stephen and that by some miracle we’re able to meet up again.  It would make the beginning of this year even more special!

Lots to pray for and accomplish in the next 8 days.  Prayers from all of you are appreciated!