Week 52! On Saturday, it will be one year since I kicked off my first 30-week distribution case study blogging challenge. At this time last year, I thought we’d be wrapping up the tour at the end of 30 weeks, release digitally and then be done. Now it’s a multi-year release… What we’ve actually had is two distinctive release phases, so possibly the weeks no longer make sense. Next time, the plan will be to compress all we’ve learned into under one year from start to finish. And of course, we’ll also start social engagement and release scheduling even before we start production.
This week’s tasks include a big push to prepare for our larger team to kick-off on February 1. Both the social media and publicity teams hit the ground running next Monday with six weeks until the March 20 release.
Tasks for this week include:
- finalize national partnerships — we are working on two primary partnerships which I will share more about in the next couple of weeks. These include joint promotions.
- prep bowling contest for testing to begin February 2
- complete graphics for promotions
- print & ship promotional materials to theaters
- finish prepping content, copy and style guides for social to begin Feb 1
- engage actors with publicity team for interviews & articles end of March
- finish booking the final theaters for opening weekend March 20
- continue outreach phone calls in theatrical cities
- prep digital campaign promo elements for June
- deliver the master drive to distributor for upload to digital platforms
Looking at the list, it seems like so much, but most items are moving along well. We are focusing first on the highest leveraged tasks which then make the rest easier.
If I were to summarize the priorities for the week, they are 1) saturate outreach in the theatrical markets, 2) nurture partnerships, and 3) finish masters for digital uploads — with partnerships being my personal most important focus.
Onward!
♡ Annie
Photo: Lisa Edelstein in filmPhoenix, Oregon