Press release distribution

[Arnie Schlissel]

[Aanarav Sareen] “a) Collect info and send it out via a mass e-mail application. “

Umm… wouldn’t that be spam? Probably not the impression you want to make.

What you really want to do is post it someplace like PR Newswire. I’m sure if you call or email them they’d give you their submission guidelines.

Arnie
Now in post: Peristroika, a film by Slava Tsukerman
https://www.arniepix.com/blog

[Aanarav Sareen]

As I mentioned, it’s a press-release. A lot of news organizations have a press email address for these purposes. So, technically: it’s not spam.

– Aanarav

Aanarav Sareen
premiere@asvideoproductions.com
https://www.asvideoproductions.com/techtalk

[John Baumchen]

Hire a pro.

They know the ‘market’ and it can make the difference between your message being read or thrown into the bit bucket.

[Mark Suszko]

Mass E-mailed press releases are best used for quick, short lead time notices of an imminent, upcoming event. Say, an upcoming screening or getting an award. That may be ok for sending to radio and TV outlets. For Newpapers, magazines, and the web, you need a different approach, one that’s a little richer in details and that has been customized with a “hook” that makes the copy worth using. And I think it should still come in a physical envelope, though you could herald its arrival with a short email announcement, perhaps.

If this was an important and big deal project, I would try to customize as many of the releases as possible, writing the hook to fit the interests and audience of each individual publication you’re trying to get coverage in. The ones that are tech-heavy camera fetishists will want to know all about the cameras you used and the logistics of the shoot. Editing-related mags would want you to talk about the edit. Producer-orpented rags will want to know how you arranged the financing and the intricasies of scheduling and getting shown. The local paper wants to know how the home town boy grew up to be a film maker, and anything about how the home town is covered in movies, etc. or they’ll use the issues raised in your film as a lead-in to discussions of the broader social implications.

You can run the gamut, telling the same story over and over from different viewpoints, giving different parts different weights, like Kurosawa’s classic film, “Rashomon”. How any single mass-emailed piece of semi-spam could do a good job at this beats me. If you can’t stuff like that, find someone who can and strategize about the markets on the micro-level.

[Mark Suszko]

And unlike me, be sure they spellcheck the work before they hit send:-)

[Aanarav Sareen]

Thanks, Mark! I think that makes a little more sense that doing a mass distro list.

Best,
Aanarav

Aanarav Sareen
premiere@asvideoproductions.com
https://www.asvideoproductions.com/techtalk