Getting an agent straight after graduation is not always guaranteed, and even if you do get an agent, it doesn’t mean you are going to get a huge role off the bat. So, instead of sitting around, it’s a great idea to start up your own project, write your own screenplay or film and maybe even star yourself!
Whether it be a film, theatre, installation or event, marketing your project is a lot more important than you may first think, to enable your project to thrive.
Here at the Academy of Film, Theatre and Television, we are focused on ensuring our student success in the industry, which includes teaching the business of acting, and pitching a creative projects. Therefore, we’ve put together some key advice we give the students for this project, when thinking about their budgeting and marketing.
Think about your audience
No-matter whether you are pitching the project or thinking about the marketing, always think about the audience you are talking to. Why would the audience be interested in your project or event, and why would it be worthwhile for them to invest or attend. Where do they go, what do they do, who ARE they? If you think about the type of target audience you are talking to, then you can start to apply this to your marketing. If they are a younger audience you can look at using perhaps Instagram and social influencers to promote your event, or for an older audience think about using Facebook and ‘What’s On Sydney’ websites or newspapers for example.
Social Media
Many people think that it is very easy to promote an event or project just by setting up a Facebook event for example, but that won’t guarantee your project to be successful. Facebook is a business, so it now reduces the reach of any posts you may share, unless of course you pay for reach. This can be done by ‘boosting’ or ‘sponsoring’ posts or events, which can help your post reach thousands more people by putting a mere $50 behind it. Consider what other platforms your project could succeed on, although don’t feel that you need to take to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Vimeo and Pinterest to promote your event- you won’t have time to make them ALL successful so stick to one or maybe 2. Facebook should most likely be one of them though as a great base.
Budget
Designers, printed posters and newspaper ads all cost money. Facebook can be free but due to their reduced reach, it is always a good idea to save some budget for social media. Always over estimate how much you are going to spend as the likelihood is, if you budget for the cheapest possible option, you will nearly always run out of money and could miss some essential costs.
Collaboration
Collaboration is one of the strongest ways to extend your audience. Collaborating with an established company and co-branding or just cross-promoting can help to build your marketing and spread the word to your target audience. Having an established named company in cahoots with your project is always appealing to investors as it demonstrates that you are worth backing and have support from other companies also. This can also involve inviting ‘celebrities’ whether social media influencers or people in the industry to attend your event and talk about their attendance before & during.
Find out more about studying Acting for Stage and Screen or enquire now.