Most films start out as love stories.
A love story between you and the film.
Because let’s face it, if you don’t love your own film, why should anyone else?
This week I’ll take it as given that you love your film. The question we’ll try to answer is how do you know if anyone else will love it?
I’ll show you three ways of testing your idea before you even start writing your script.
Ready?
Let’s roll.
Start close, start simple
The easiest way to test your idea is to pitch it to your friends, colleagues, and people whose tastes align with yours and whose opinions you trust.
It’s important to note that you are not looking for people to tell you how amazing you are and to give you a pat on the head.
You need people who will give you the truth.
This can be quite difficult to get from the people closest to you. It’s smart to build a trusted group of people who will give it to you straight and help you move the right projects along.
I try to find people who:
- tend to like the same kinds of stories that I like
- whose opinions I trust and respect
- who are not afraid to be honest
Not easy, but when you find them, hold on for dear life.
If your brand spankin’ new movie passes the test with this crowd, it’s a good sign.
If it doesn’t, it might be time to either refine your pitch/concept or try something different.
The professional test
This is my least favorite one, but it is the route that most people think they need to take.
Pitch your stories to industry professionals.
This can be a warm connection, a cold connection, or part of contests, paid feedback services, etc.
A lot of these fall into the “waiting for permission to make your thing” category.
I don’t like that.
It’s slow and often results in vague non-commitments. Like “it’s good, just not for us at the moment” or “we have something similar in development, but let us know if you have anything else.”
What can be helpful is to pay a professional script reader for coverage, but they usually need a full script to give you good feedback.
Professional feedback is useful if you’re trying to sell a script to a studio or production company. If you’re early in the development phase and want to gauge whether an idea is worth investing a ton of time and energy in, this route is not optimal.
The real-world test
This might sound a little premature, but hear me out.
You run a simple Facebook ad to test the waters on your idea.
I know “running an ad” sounds scary and VERY public, but it’s not that big of a deal.
It’s a great way to find out if complete strangers are interested in your film.
All you need is a logline and a poster mockup that catches the viewer’s attention. You can mash one up in Photoshop or even have AI help you create it if you’re so inclined.
The goal is to get something rough together that still feels like it belongs to a real movie.
You use these two elements to run a simple ad that drives likes for a Facebook page dedicated to your film.
Ideally, you want to run it for 10 days; aim for a budget of $500 for the whole campaign ($50/day max spend). This should be enough to give you an idea of how your concept performs.
It’s important that you run in it across every day of the week so you get a chance to hit as much of your audience as possible.
Once the likes start coming in, look for:
- How much does it cost you to get a like?
- You should be under $5; ideally, way lower. The lower the cost, the better it is for the marketability of your film.
- Comments/discussion on your ad. If people are connecting, commenting, and engaging about the film, that’s a great sign.
If it feels easy to get people excited about your film, that’s a great sign; if it feels like a struggle, you might need to rethink your approach.
If your audience trends younger, you can also use Instagram ads or TikTok. (Drive follows for a profile or sign-ups to a newsletter.) The idea is the same. Look for positive interactions, excitement, and a low cost of “customer acquisition.”
There is a learning curve to using these ad platforms, but:
- It's a skill set that will serve you well as you release your film.
- You can get started after a few hours of tutorials and messing around.
- Practicing the skill is what makes it stick.
After 10 days you’ll have real audience data that you can use in your business plan, when you’re pitching to investors and when you’re marketing your film. Incidentally, you’ve also acquired probably your first 1,000+ fans who are stoked about your film.
It’s a winning formula that helps you validate your idea, plus start building your audience.
And cut!
That does it for this week. Here are the key takeaways I want you to bring with you into your directing career from today:
- Testing your idea before you commit to spending years bringing the film to life can save you early on in the process.
- Feedback you get early on can help you determine the best path toward making your film.
- Running a simple ad can help you gather data, excitement, and early followers for your film.
As always, thanks for reading.
