Finding an audience for a movie

I am working with a client who wants me to pull the the proverbial rabbit from the invisible hat.
Let me explain, an Indie Director has produced 4 movies, their are the odd clips on You Tube, they have never been released here in the USA but have been show at a couple of film festivals, one in Russia and one in India.
I produced blog for him for one of the movies, which he wants to change from SD to HD/2K, but need the funds to do so and it will be via Indiegogo, but firstly he wants me to find the audience with email addresses that will like his movie.
We are looking for 3-5,000 email addresses the Genre is a love story, but is centered around a ring of Russian Mafia.
I told him to release the movie in SD, obtain that following, via FB and other social media, then go to Indiegogo to upgrade it. The idea was not appreciated. Any members go any ideas?
Most appreciated:

That is one tough cookie to solve.

I think realistically, your idea is the only feasible one and even that will take a long time with no guarantee of getting that many emails.

People just don't like giving out their emails all over the show these days because of spam and scams.

You are being hired by this guy to do a job. Part of that job is to manage realistic expectations as opposed to impossible desires. I'm sure in a perfect world he might like you to find him a million bucks in funding too but the reality is that this would be unlikely to happen no matter how much he wants it.

Explain to him what you can and can not do, and what you are prepared to do (two entirely different things) and in a nice way explain that if he is not happy with that then he is free to shop around. Also explain though that the reality is that getting that many emails will take a long time and has no guarantee of success, and that there are unscrupulous people out there that would promise to get him the desired result, only to take his money and run.

This is all part of the job he has effectively hired you to do. To keep reality on the table. If he doesn't like it, then he can choose to go elsewhere, and if he gets too irate at you, you too can say.."right, you are on your own...best of luck...I'm out"

That is one tough cookie to solve.

Click to expand...

I didn't get what he was asking.

I told him to release the movie in SD, obtain that following, via FB and other social media, then go to Indiegogo to upgrade it. The idea was not appreciated.

Click to expand...

About the only thing I noticed that this, to me, seemed like a really dumb idea. It's no surprise it wasn't appreciated.

The first question you need to ask when marketing, "What's the budget I have to work with?" If the answer is zero, you're likely to be in trouble. It's akin to the director making his film without a camera. If that's the case, I sure hope you're working for a decent percentage of the sales and you're not trying to pimp off a polished turd.

We are looking for 3-5,000 email addresses

Click to expand...

This ain't going to help you much unless they're highly targeted, particularly to your movie.

Sweetie said:

I didn't get what he was asking.

Click to expand...

"he wants me to find the audience with email addresses that will like his movie."

What I take from this is that some nut job wants a guaranteed audience for a film that is not out yet, along with the email addresses for each of them.

I believe what the poster is suggesting is that they market a trailer etc for the film online, and ask people who like the trailer and would like to watch the full film to submit their email addresses.

As I say, that is probably the only realistic way of doing it, and it is not going to be easy, fast, or even necessarily work out, but it is the only option that I can think of, and the poster also, that has any real hope of achieving the email address collection goal.

There's plenty of spam lists you can buy from Russian hackers. I'm sure I could supply millions with a reasonable budget /wink

I believe what the poster is suggesting is that they market a trailer etc for the film online, and ask people who like the trailer and would like to watch the full film to submit their email addresses.

Click to expand...

It might work, but I think what you said earlier about people being reluctant to hand over their email address will turn this into a disaster. I guess it'll depend on the target market. But the real question.... How do you get them to watch the trailer in the first place and how to you get them to resist the "Immediate consumption or forget" issue? You could spend tens of thousands of dollars and only achieve a handful of questionable addresses.

I wonder how he plans to incentivize. It's getting harder and harder.

I do pride myself on being creative but I sadly admit that I had not considered Russian hackers...

Yea getting them to watch the trailer is a battle in itself.

The option to ditch the client is still open right?