So you finally did it. You made that film that you were threatening to make. You’ve made a distribution deal, or at the very least have posted clips on the net. Soon your public will find you. Either way, your work is done and you can now turn your attention to your next project. If you posted it on your own, “they” will eventually discover you and if you have a film company handling your project, they’ll take care of all the heavy lifting from this point on. Well, that’s a good fantasy.

I’ve run the gamut when it comes to representing authors and filmmakers from self financed ventures to multi-million dollar corporate projects and, I am sad to report, the one common link among all the artists we work with is that, unless their names happen to be household names, not many seem to receive much support, even from the big boys.

If you’re a novelist you have to deal with the fact that most publishing companies have slashed their in-house staffs and their publicists are overloaded. Every month, up to thirty books are dumped on one or two in-house publicists. And in the film world, many deserving project fall through the cracks due to lack of public awareness.

Most projects have a window and this is one time you don’t have the luxury of learning as you go. Although you hope that your project will become a classic and continue to sell throughout the years, your book has a shelf life. You need to launch an effective campaign even before it’s been released. I suggest that author s who are publishing with a major house, view their publisher primarily as a printer and distributor and assume that all of the responsibility for securing media coverage for their book rests firmly on their weary shoulders.

The same is true in the film world, actually in the art-world in general. If your publisher, producer or distributor actually launches a campaign for you, that’s great, but don’t count on it. You don’t have the luxury of being wrong. If you assume the media relations will be done for you and it’s not, by the time you discover your error, it will be too late. So, don’t think your job is done once you’ve finished your project. See that as your starting point. Learn the basics of PR and marketing. Take control of your project.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2007

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www.AnthonyMora.com