Archive for the ‘About Us’ Category

One Fat Cigar – A Post For Film Fans (and why our site is a bit like a Terry Gilliam Movie)

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

We felt it was about time we wrote a post for those of you who actually don’t make films, but simply enjoy watching them – and finding out about how they are made – and provide an update for those of you who have been following us for a while!

It seems to us that the One Fat Cigar website is a bit like a good Terry Gilliam movie – you hear rumours which are ambitious and intriguing; you know there’ll always a major f**k up somewhere along the way (we’ve been delayed by reasons beyond our control) because there always is (in Gilliam movies someone important invariably dies by the end of filming, or the money drops out and they have to make a film about not actually making the movie, so let’s hope we’re not in his league); The thing is about a Gilliam movie – you know it’s going to be slightly quirky, on a tight budget that always runs over; most likely it will be something different to what you expect; but you hope that somewhere inside it there is some magic. And in the end, you’re not quite sure why you like it. But you just do.

Looking back at how this started – with limited funds, a couple of laptops, a diminishing savings account (fortunately we worked out of our flats to make ends meet), and support from some really positive film makers who said – wow, we want that! (and without whom we wouldn’t have started down this journey)- we think we’re doing ok. In terms of getting it out there it feels a bit like a Terry Gilliam movie to us. We hope for a similar kind of success on the screen (albeit slightly smaller!).

We’ve had to be extremely creative to make OFC work. We hope we (and you) are the better for it. Looking at the beta site now, we are thinking that there’s a great framework and blank canvas for some creative film people with some cameras and some vision to put their mark on.
All they need now is an audience. i.e. you!

So here’s our plan…

Some seriously exciting talent (film makers, actors, writers) will be on our site and tell you about projects they are working on. These might be production companies with deals with studios who have projects ‘In Development’, or more likely, independent films that already have finance and talent attached, or they might be low budget movies which require no finance, simply support and encouragement from people like you!
After all they are sweating blood to produce a film, but without an audience it means nothing so you’re pretty important. You’ll be able to hear about the hottest new productions – first… none of this playing around with reporters telling you the news… this is straight from the film maker themselves. Ask them questions, comment, review, get involved.

They will be uploading a wide range of footage from their movie – as they are making it. Think:

• Video blogs with updates on: new castings, casting calls, daily production diary, costumes, set designs, production schedules, post-production, , the distribution, the financing and the production itself, the special FX, the visual FX.
• Shots from the location scouting
• Pre-filming updates – who’s in, who’s out
• Interviews with key cast members and crew – maybe even a Q&A of questions you send in for them
• The Publicity and Promotion
• Festival Entry and Screening
• Announcing their next projects
• Announcing competitions to win props, screening tickets etc.

So what does it cost?
Well that’s the good news – film makers want you to know about their work so access to the site will be FREE for basic membership – i.e. anyone who doesn’t want to make a movie and show it on the site. You will be able to go on One Fat Cigar and follow your favourite filmmakers, actors, cinematographers and crew. Find out what they’re up to, where they are, and get an insight into their daily lives on set – directly in your newsfeed.

It’ll take about 60 seconds to sign up, or maybe less depending on how fast you type.

Over the next few months film makers will be uploading more and more film projects, and we’ll be asking you to help spread the word if you like what we, and they, are doing. As one of the first on the site we need your help to promote it, to give it gravitas, and help some talented people get their films out there.

OneFatCigar.com will launch before Christmas. Please sign up to our mailing list or follow us on Facebook and find out about some of the great films coming out, months before anyone else. We’re looking forward to having you on board and hope that our months and months of work will be something that you like.

With best wishes, and thanks again for the support,

Craig and Ross,
co-founders, One Fat Cigar.com

P.S. for those of you who have left comments or kind words or offered suggestions as to what you would like to see, we do read them all and really appreciate all your feedback. We take it all into consideration since we know that if you take the time to comment that it matters to you – we’re doing our best to make sure that it is a site that lives up to your expectations.


Tags: One Fat Cigar, site update, Terry Gilliam
Posted in About Us, Site News | No Comments »

How to market a film costing only ,000: Film Marketing Case Study: Paranormal Activity

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

How do you go about the film marketing for a small film costing virtually nothing. Of course there are all the social media methods discussed one the OFC blog (See our Film Marketing Sectiion)… however, we’ve heard about something interesting that Paramount are doing which is really quite exciting!

Instead of putting all their promotional resources into the film that might not work they have decided to ask film fans, to help market the film for them – much like we are hoping to do with One Fat Cigar. i.e. asking a community of people to help promote their film making friends by inviting them to become involved in the site, be updated on projects even before they launch, and then use this as a springboard for commercial success when the film is ready for release.

Paramount, has been doing something slightly more localised for a film called Paranormal Activity – screening the film in 12 towns – asking fans where to expand it next. Fans entered their postcode to vote for where the film should go and they could then see it in their region. The plan was that if the film gets 1,000,000 hits on the films website then they’ll expand it nationwide. They promoted it through social media channels such as Twitter etc. It did. Easily.

The film is a Horror Movie, so it was screened late night in cinemas, and was very well received much like The Blair Witch Project.In October the film had an $800,000+ box office.

It is now being marketed and screened not just the US, but also the UK. Quite a result for such a small budget movie.

How could something like this work for an Independent Film Maker on One Fat Cigar.com?

We were thinking how we could apply this to One Fat Cigar. We were thinking to do something similar on the OFC website through a regional petition mechanism where film fans can register interest to have the film screened in their region.  This has the advantage of allowing you to potentially distribute the film yourself, only paying for a small number of 35mm film prints showing in your local cinemas and then spreading it region by region as demand grows. Fans on OFC can petition to be able to see the film in their area, simply by entering a ZIP/Postal Code or similar mechanism.

Now of course, this isn’t going to work unless you’ve got an awesome movie. But what is you have? This could be an incredible way to market your movie and have distributors biting your hand off.

If you’re not already get signed up to our site mailing list and facebook pages do so – and tell your friends to do so -we’ll need a big community to make this work. If you would like this service added to the One Fat Cigar site please comment below. It won’t be there when we launch, but we can make it a priority for early in 2010 – which to be honest isn’t so far away!

Please mention this to your friends and get them to comment below… the site will be up before Christmas. We promise. Let us know how strongly you feel about this and we’ll see what we can do!


Tags: Film Marketing, independent film, indie filmmakers, Paranormal Activity
Posted in About Us, Film Distributors, Film Marketing | 7 Comments »

Indie Film Makers: Bring your films to the attention of film distributors!

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

At some stage in 2010 (hopefully sooner rather than later – depending on the number of high quality film productions that are put on the site) our plan is to provide access for film distributors to One Fat Cigar.com so that they can use us as a portal to find the best independent film projects which are currently in production.

One of the main intentions of the site is to allow you to promote your work from day 1 of script and provide your fans with daily updates as to your production progress, a behind the scenes look at your film making process as it happens, and an insight into your project.

With that in mind, our aim will be to provide regular updates to leading distributors on the highest quality productions on the website and felt that it was important to announce this early so that you can take it into consideration for your movies and production schedules. Here are some of the influencing factors that will be taken into consideration:

1. Production Quality – clearly this is the first on our list as we will need to look at each project to determine its quality, which will, of course, come across in terms of the behind-the-scenes footage production quality (although it doesn’t all have to be awesome quality, especially if it is a piece to camera) – this is a great chance to sell your film and showcase yourself to potential distributors.

2. Idea Quality – perhaps this could be number 1 on the list as fundamentally this determines whether a  film is good or not…does your film have something special about it which makes it stand out, and can you express this in your updates.

3. Star Names – although not the only exciting thing that gets distributors interested it goes without saying that the any decent names you have attached to the project the better, so make sure they are attached to your cast and crew, together with their filmography.

4. Fan Base – if you have a growing fan base and support then this will be important in terms of how distributors will view the possibilities to market your film. Although this factor will only be considered part of the overall possibilities for your movie it will definitely play a role in a distributor’s decision. A solid fan base will give an indication as to the marketing potential of your film.

5. The Pitch – what’s the opening description for your film… your pitch in a paragraph… we’ll attach this to anything available to distributors.

6. Buzz – How much buzz can you generate around your film… can you create interest and drive traffic to your One Fat Cigar page? Are you in the news? Create some traffic spikes on the site so we can understand why your film is generating so much attention. We’ll be monitoring it all. In your premium and pro welcome packs we’ll give you some ideas as to how to do this.

7. The Trailer – Create a killer trailer early in the post-production, ideally the first thing you do. The trailer is your visionary sell for the film. Excite us.

Our plan is to try to do as many things as possible to generate interest in your films. You’ll be able to help by making the content on the site as brilliant as we know it will be. It is difficult to market an average product. Give us something great and the speech is so much easier!

For more notes on Film Marketing check out Susie Tullett’s guide on our blog.


Tags: film distribution, film distributors, Film Marketing, indie film
Posted in About Us, Film Distributors, Site News | No Comments »