Sep 24

Date: 4/29/10
Time: 5:25 pm – 8:30pm
Instructor: Allen Chou, President, Passion River Films
Location:
Jimmy’s #43, 43 E. 7th St, NYC 10003
Fee: $45/$50 after 4/22  (light appetizers included)
Register at: http://marketmymovie.eventbrite.com/
Note: Student and Group discounts available. Class limited to 30 attendees, so it will sell out fast.  Early registration highly recommended!

Description: Learn about film distribution & movie marketing strategies for your film in this unique seminar with NEW information lead by film distribution executive Allen Chou.  After the presentation, there’s a BONUS panel discussion with industry experts ready to answer your questions. Join us as we discuss current strategies on topics such as:

- How to find the best distributors for your film
- What film & TV markets you should attend immediately
- How to find & select a “legitimate” producer’s rep or sales agent
- How to use film festivals as a launch pad for releasing your film
- How to properly use Twitter, FaceBook, & YouTube for promoting your film
- Using Social Media Marketing to engage with your audience & building a fan base
- How can you give away your film for FREE & still make money?
- The value of your film in foreign markets.  Will it sell?
- Crowd sourcing & fund raising for your film
- The Pro’s & Con’s of DIY distribution
- Digital delivery with Netflix, Itunes, Hulu, & VOD
- Why everything we know about distribution has changed & will continue changing!


*Panelists*

Andrew Mer

VP, Content Partnerships for SnagFilms. Andrew Mer has been instrumental in building the SnagFilms library of over 1100 documentary films. SnagFilms library consists of single titles from individual filmmakers and producers to multiple titles from many of the most widely known and respected distributors, aggregators, and broadcasters including, Virgil Films & Entertainment, E1, Alive Mind, Cactus Three, ITVS, Sundance Channel, FilmBuff and IndiePix.

Andrew Mer has been an independent consultant to the film industry in development and acquisitions. His most recent client was AOL where he served as Chief Acquisitions Consultant for AOL True Stories, an all-documentary broadband platform. Andrew helped build and develop AOL True Stories’ slate of documentary films beginning with its launch slate.

Previously, Elixir Films engaged Andrew to head its creative development efforts. At Elixir, he was responsible for developing all film and TV projects as well as scouting for new creative talent and project opportunities. Elixir Films’ credits include the international non-fiction television series Long Way Round with Ewan McGregor. Before entering the film world, Mr. Mer worked in the art world as a fine arts insurace broker and consultant. Andrew Mer is an attorney who lives and works in NYC.

Company: SnagFilms


Mark Lipsky

Mark Lipsky heads Insight Cinema, a digital media and marketing consultantancy. Lipsky launched his career with positions at two of the most celebrated independent distributors; Don Rugoff’s Cinema 5 and Dan Talbot’s New Yorker Films. After a brief side trip to the majors with Paramount Pictures, Lipsky accepted a position at a quirky and anonymous company called Miramax Films. It was here where Lipsky cemented his reputation as a passionate and innovative marketer and where his efforts were acknowledged as the primary catalyst that transformed the company from industry oddity to industry leader. Uniquely qualified to address today’s increasingly chaotic independent film landscape, Mark Lipsky’s career has spanned across the intoxicating 80s to the go-go 90s through the calamitous ‘oughts’ straight to 2010. Bio continued here.

Twitter: @MarkLipsky
Company: Insight Cinema
Blog: Light a Fire!


Slava Rubin

Slava Rubin is a co-founder of IndieGo-Go – a funding platform for ideas, which empowers anyone with an idea (creative, cause of entrepreneurial) with the tools and process to raise money, develop a campaign, and offer perks. Thousands of projects in over 110 countries are benefiting from the service now. IndieGogo recently acquired Distribber, a digital distribution service providing access to iTunes, Amazon and Netflix while taking no rights or revenue share. Slava speaks regularly about the disruptive technologies impacting project execution, from funding to distribution. Recent engagements include Skoll World Forum, Sundance and Berlin Film Fests, SXSW, & Internet Week NY, while press includes BBC, AP, Reuters, and CNNMoney.

Twitter: @GoGoSlava
Company: IndieGoGo
Blog: IndieGoGo’s DIWO DownloadSupport Cancer Research


Catherine Branscome

Founder, Branscome International, a NYC-based sales agency and producers rep firm specialized in animation. The company licenses media rights worldwide, including television, home video, mobile and film rights, and is in its tenth year of business. Branscome International works primarily with animation producers, of all sizes and styles, randing from Academy-Award nominated animator Bill Plympton to multi-national clients such as Jetix Europe (now Disney XD Europe). Internationally, Catherine is best known for her role in the successful pre-sales financing of the animated feature film version of the classic branded property- “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie”. For the past 12 years, Catherine served as a member of the Board of Directors of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA East Coast).

Company: Branscome International


Ian Stimler

Founder, KimStim, a “niche” enterprising DVD company based in Brooklyn, specialized in releasing overlooked, under appreciated master works of world cinema to home video and theaters. Since its inception, KimStim has compiled a diverse and critically lauded series of works by such world famous directors as Francois Ozon, Alain Resnais, Laurent Cantet, as well as world famous animators such as Jan Svankmajer, Michel Ocelot and Tezuka Osamu. Ian also founded esteemed home media labels for Zeitgeist Films and Adam Yauch’s Oscilloscope Laboratories. He lives in Brooklyn.

Company: KimStim


Innes Smolansky

Innes Smolansky is a transactional entertainment attorney with over 10 years of entertainment law experience who represents individual producers and production companies, investors, writers, directors, performers and composers in independent motion picture production, documentaries, television, international co-productions, book publishing and personal management deals. Specific expertise includes representing young filmmakers on legal and business transactions for low budget films. Ms. Smolansky was born in St. Petersburg Russia and studied at Brown University (B.A. magna cum laude); University of Pennsylvania (J.D.); University of Paris X (Diplom D’Etude Juridique Europeenes).


Bring business cards and lots of questions for this special event.  Limited seating- event will sell out.  Early registration recommended.

For more information, please call 732-321-0711 or email Info (at) PassionRiver.com

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Aug 21

Date: 8/31/09
Time: 5:20 pm – 8:30 pm
Instructors:
Allen Chou, President, Passion River Films
Josh Levin, President, Gallant Films
Location:
Latitude, 783 8th Avenue, New York, NY (3rd Fl)
Fee: $40
Note: Class limited to 35 students, so it will sell out fast! Early registration recommended.

Click here to register for this class today at: Film Distribution & Marketing Class Registration

For a description of this workshop, please click here: Film Distribution Class Topics

If you have any questions, please call: 732-321-0711

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Aug 21

Learn about film distribution and movie marketing strategies for your film in this NEW workshop taught by industry exec Allen Chou. This seminar will include new info and topics such as:

- How to find the best distributors for your film
- What film and TV markets you should attend immediately
- How to find & select a “legitimate” producer’s rep or sales agent
- Using film festivals to help sell your DVD
- How to use Twitter for selling your film and dvds
- 3 ways to use YouTube for marketing your film
- 4 social networking websites that can generate massive awareness for your film
- How to create and distribute a press release with FREE press release websites

Mar 2

Allen Chou is President of Sales and Acquisitions at Passion River Films, a NJ based film distribution company that distributes over 300 documentaries, arthouse films, and special interest titles for the US home video and international sales market since 1998. Many of his titles have landed retail shelf space in stores such as: Walmart, Barnes and Noble, Blockbuster Video, Hollywood Video, Movie Gallery, Best Buy, and many more… In 2005, Allen established a distribution partnership with Netflix, resulting in the release of over 180 titles on their site; as well as other retail outlets. Internationally, he has attended Film and TV markets such as the American Film Market in Santa Monica, CA and Cannes Film Market in Cannes, France, where he marketed and licensed films and documentaries worldwide to broadcasters and foreign home video distributors. Recently he started the College Speaker and Public Performance Program; as well as the New Digital Sales and Electronic Delivery division. Allen Chou received his BA in Film from the University Of Maryland, and also attended NYU.

Nov 5

Date: 3/19/09
Time: 5:40 pm – 9:00 pm
Instructor: Allen Chou, President of Sales & Marketing, Passion River Films
Location:
Hosted by our friends at Ralphie Boy Studios, 135 Grand Street (bet. Crosby & Lafayette)
Fee: $45
Note: Class limited to 25 students, so it will sell out fast! Early registration recommended.

Click here to register for this class today at: Film Marketing & Distribution Workshop Registration

For a description of this workshop, please click here: Film Marketing & Distribution Class Description

If you have any questions, please call: 732-321-0711

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Oct 17

Learn the trade secrets and nuts and bolts of film distribution in this unique seminar and workshop taught by distribution executives with combined marketing and title release experience from over 350 titles. Join President of Passion River Films Allen Chou and Expert Film Distribution Consultant Josh Levin as they discuss each step for getting a film to the right distributor and media outlet whether Theatrical, TV, DVD, or Internet. Join these experts as they share the secrets behind the real world of film distribution and marketing in this unique, valuable, and one-of-a kind seminar.

Sep 29

Josh Levin is a film marketing and distribution executive who has brought more than 30 feature films to the US marketplace, including top award winners from Cannes, Sundance, Venice, Berlin, Toronto and Tribeca. As Chief Marketing Officer for Film Movement, Josh learned how to get hard-to-place films in front of the eyes of filmgoers across the country “by any means necessary,” from theatrical premieres in New York City to library screenings in Butte, Montana — while also learning how to get filmmakers paid for their art. Working with films with tiny or non-existant marketing budgets is Josh’s forte. Since starting Gallant Films in 2007, Josh has also begun working in production financing and consulting. Josh got his MBA from Columbia Business School, and his BA from the University of Michigan.

Sep 29

Date: 12/08
Time: 5:30pm – 8:30pm
Location: TBA
Fee: TBA

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Sep 29

This Class has been Re-Scheduled. New Date TBD

Sep 29

Internet Film Marketing & Distribution Class Details:

Do you need help marketing your film on the internet? Are you self-distributing your film?

Discover how to use the internet to increase your DVD sales without spending any money on advertising in this new film marketing & distribution seminar taught by distribution executive, Allen Chou.   This workshop will focus on the following internet marketing topics:

- How to boost DVD sales with your own website.
- Top search engine strategies for creating awareness for your story or film.
- How to drive traffic to your website or theatre using internet social networking.
- Why keyword research will help you find websites that’ll help promote your film.
- The top 4 social media and social networking websites that can generate massive awareness for your film or project.
- How to optimize your website so you can be found on the “natural” results pages in Google, Yahoo, and MSN.
- Secret DIY On-line publicity strategies
- Viral marketing campaigns

Internet marketing consultants charge $500-$1000 for consulting fees. Internet marketing companies can charge $3000-$10,000 for a 3 month film marketing campaign. Maybe you want to do-it-yourself, or maybe you want to understand what a film marketing company will or will not do before you hire them. Either way, this class is a must if you’re producing, marketing, or distributing a film.

This internet film marketing and distribution workshop often sells out. We recommend early registeration. Don’t forget to bring your notebook, pens, and some extra business cards. It’ll be a great learning and networking experience!

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