Caught Between a ROCK and a HEART PLACE

58 days, 5 hours, 40 minutes left . . . . .

. . . . til Christmas (at least as of this writing!). In this new blogosphere, linking, internet world we're living in, self-distribution of your film takes a lot of "reaching out and touching people" to create awareness for your production. The easy part is making the film.

Today I found a great site that you should check out: http://www.ChristmasFlick.com. They boast the most comprehensive, all inclusive Christmas movie database on the web. And after surfing around on the site, they really do have listings for the popular as well as the more obscure Christmas movies. So if a DVD is on your list for the holidays, check out ChristmasFlick.com and get the info you need to find a great flick. Speaking of great flicks, don't overlook ROCK and a HEART PLACE as a wonderful stocking stuffer!

- Michael

Word is Getting Out!

For independent filmmakers like yours truly, location, location, location is no where near as necessary as network, network, network. We don't have a big publicity "machine" in our arsenal - just family and friends and we lean on them to spread the word about the ROCK and a HEART PLACE. So, you never know where that "word" is going to end up. Yesterday it ended up as a note in my email inbox that a friend works for NJ.com and has published info about the film in her blog. Thanks Maureen! Read about it here.

And that qualifies for the Top 10 Distribution Tips to Market your Independent Documentary on DVD - TIP #2: Network your film to whoever you can. Start with your small circle of friends and family and build out from there. Make your email signature a link to a blog or website. Ask everyone to link you to 5 other people. It WILL grow. Hard work, but hey - isn't it worth it? - Michael

Public Thanks

I was fortunate to get tickets to the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band sold-out concert at Madison Square Garden this week. No matter where you sit for a Springsteen show, it's always a great night of music and fun. And of course, we're very grateful to Bruce for granting permission to use part of his performance with Holiday Express in our documentary. It was sheer coincidence that one of the shows we decided to record that year for the film was the Holiday Express benefit for the families of World Trade Center victims in 2001. Our cameras were rolling as Bruce Springsteen was introduced by Gary US Bonds. Talk about a surprise! Bruce has always been supportive of Holiday Express, and we appreciate his generosity in permitting us to include his performance in the film.

Speaking of performances, seems like I wasn't the only one to see the band at the Garden:

Today's the Day!

At long last, ROCK and a HEART PLACE is available on DVD. It's been quite a time coming, but we now have (quite a few) copies for sale on our website and Passion River will be taking them to other online retailers. We'll be hitting the streets with the discs and are planning to make the DVD one of this season's best sellers. Watch these pages for updates on our progress. - Michael

It's Always Something . . .

Just when you thought things were going smoothly . . . We had a lot of discussions between our design company - IDS Live - and our replicator - Magtek in getting all the elements of the wrapper and label artwork on time to meet our replication deadline. And thanks to Andy at Magtek and Michael at IDS - we did it. Then we discover that the bar code on the packaging is not reading properly in some buyers systems. So, Passion River, our distributor, had to assign a new bar code and thanks to the quick turnaround from Andy, Magtek was able to affix the new bar codes over the incorrect ones in time. We're still on target to ship the pre-orders that have come in via the web site and send out the screeners promised to a number of people for review. Thanks Magtek! - Michael

Outreach is Working

I received a great email today from our friends in Hunstville Alabama - home of the Volunteer Center of Madison County. We had a test screening there last summer and things have really progressed.

Roz Stevenson, now the Executive Director, wrote me:
"Since we met, we've established a Youth Volunteer Corps Program which
launched Jan. 13, 2007, and now has almost 300 members (ages 11-18) who've
donated over 1800 hours of community service.  Our YVC Projects are lead by
the youth you met at our training as well as about 20 you didn't meet.
We've also "won" 5 AmeriCorps VISTA members through the state of Alabama and
the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) to establish a new
Community Connections program linking a low-income neighborhood and it's
middle and high school to capacity-building volunteer opportunities that
will empower youth and adults to impact their community through service.
Since ROCK AND A HEART PLACE is the embodiment of what we're teaching these
groups, could we beg another copy to use in this regard?"

ROCK and a HEART PLACE has touched a nerve in Huntsville and with it's imminent release, we're hoping it has the same effect across the country. Thanks Roz. - Michael

And the winners are . . . . .

In celebration of the International Documentary Association's 25th anniversary (congratulations), they have issued their Top 25 Documentary list. Take a look at it, and most interestingly look at the comments that follow the list lower on the page. Now, any time a list like this comes out, it's bound to be controversial. After all, can anyone really agree on the top 25 documentaries (of all time up to the present)? Of course not. For some reason, the IDA felt it necessary to compile a list. Interestingly, Hoop Dreams filed in as #1 Doc - a vaulted position for a film that had a difficult time getting made and coming to market. For those of you who are not "doc-centric", it's a starting point to go out and rent/review those films on the list. Draw your own conclusions.  - Michael

Top 10 Distribution Tips to Market Your Independent Documentary on DVD

Since this blog is meant as a journey of the life of ROCK and a HEART PLACE, we thought we'd share some of the real-world experiences we've had in getting the film to market with others - especially if there are other independent filmmakers reading these pages. In order to get your film out there, no one is going to do it better than you - the filmmaker. I know, you'd rather be making films and not marketing them. But marketing is what you should be doing even BEFORE the camera rolls. TIP #1 - select a good marketing/pr firm to help craft the marketing materials you'll need for your DVD. Items like sell sheets, the DVD wrapper and disc label, even artfully writing the copy for your DVD box should all be handled by professionals. You the filmmaker are much too close to the film to objectively target the key selling points your distributor will need. Thankfully, we found the services of Michael Lee at IDS Live to be the perfect match for us. Michael has assembled all the elements necessary to help market ROCK and a HEART PLACE and has worked hand in hand with Passion River - our distributor - to bring the DVD to market. So, when you're ready to get your documentary into the hands of buyers, seek out the services of a professional like Michael Lee to create the marketing materials you'll need. - Michael