If you’re following my blog you know that my neo-noir thriller film project Deterrence Theory is listed on Juntobox Films. Juntobox Films supports and collaborates with filmmakers to get their initial feature films made through juntoboxfilms.com; discovering, mentoring, and incubating the next generation of talent and growing that community.
Every film project must pass four levels to arrive at the assessment phase where the project is considered for 1 of 5 annual production spots. Some projects take weeks to pass the levels. Other projects take months to reach level four. In late April I posted my film project, Deterrence Theory, and was able to get it through all four levels in just 8 days. My project is now at the assessment level.
Many people have asked me “How do you Junto?” Meaning, how did you move up the levels so fast? I didn’t do anything special but I was very strategic. Below I outline my efforts. Hopefully it will help you as well.
- Gather materials for creator profile and project. I had standard logline (not a tagline), a 7-sentence synopsis and a 3-page treatment already written. I fine-tuned each doc specifically for Juntoboxfilms.com. I didn’t want to add a video initially but I wanted some type of key art so I did what Robert Rodriguez did for Desperado, took still images (mine came from the Internet) and used them for a storyboard. I also wrote out a list of the films I’d produced, written and/or directed for my bio.
- After my creator profile was created and the film project was live I contacted my support groups directly. I broke it down like this: my family and friends, my former work buddies, my indie film colleagues, my Facebook friends, my Twitter friends, etc. I drafted specific emails or DM’s for each group and I asked them to help me make a movie with Forest Whitaker.
- I explicitly asked everyone to FOLLOW and RATE my project. I did this after noticing that some folks were following without rating. Although my supporters were free to rate the project as they saw fit, I made it clear that I wanted high ratings.
- I reviewed the existing projects on the site and looked at the community profiles. I made a point to follow and rate every project that I reviewed. Also, I rated the projects on a curve, i.e., if I was waffling between a 3 and a 4 I gave the project a 4.
- I made a point of leaving positive comments and constructive upbeat criticisms (good karma!)
- I made a connection with those filmmakers with whom I felt a positive connection. We exchanged private messages, asked each other questions and sought answers.
- I used my blogs and social media to promote my project.
- I updated my project with new images, a video slideshow and tweaked my loglines and synopsis based on input from friends and Juntobox Creators
- I continue to drive traffic to my project page by reaching out to new Juntobox Creators and using social media, especially when I felt my project gaining momentum (people like a winner!)
- Outside of the Juntobox Films community I’m working on different elements of my project like star attachments. I keep the Juntobox Films team aware of any new potentially amazing developments with the project.
That’s basically it. My background in IT and PR helps me manage the tools I need to promote myself. The rest is just blood, sweat and effort! Good luck!
