I promote my movies online. A lot. There is nothing new or even original about this. I make movies because I want them to be seen by as many people as possible. I am incredibly proud of the actors, the camera work, and everyone who helped make the movie. I feel I owe it to them to work hard and post the movie as much as I am able to. Here’s where I get confused; how can this possibly affect someone negatively? 
On Facebook, I am a member of over 400 groups where I post the links to my videos whether they be a short film, a Sonnyboo Podcast, a CELL PHONE MONOLOGUE, one of the Movie Cliché series, or anything from FRAMELINES. I post to all the groups because, bear with me, some people are members of one group and not the other. I am reaching more people by posting in more than one group and hoping people discover the movies themselves.
What am I supposed to do? Put my movie out on a single group, with a limited number of people, and then HOPE that everyone sees it, loves it, and shares it? Yeah, that sounds like a brilliant idea. Tell me how well that works for every single contest short done in your local community that no one else sees anywhere else.
I’m trying to imagine 20th Century Fox taking the approach of “Well, let’s not put our TV ads for X-Men on too many channels. It might be irritating…..” and yes, I see X-Men commercials every 10 minutes on virtually every single channel. So what? How the hell is anyone supposed to know their movie is coming out if they DON’T promote – a lot? And if you worked on someone else’s movie, wouldn’t you WANT it to be seen more?
I want my movies to be seen, so I promote – a lot. Duh. I simply do not comprehend animosity towards that. It’s not like I’m forcibly making people watch my movies against their will ala Clockwork Orange style. Why does this make anyone angry? I am not getting the problem because I don’t see anyone being hurt. It’s simple math – more posts in more groups = more views.
Personally, I see filmmaking as becoming an extension of local theater. People are making movies for local contests, they screen once maybe twice for an audience, post it in a single facebook group, then that work disappears and no one sees it again. I find that to be wasteful, especially in light of all the internet can do to get your movies seen anywhere around the globe. I post in London, South Africa, New Zealand, Poland, and in every single state of our union. And more importantly, I get “likes”, subscriptions, and comments from those other places.
Eh, my ambitions are not to get accolades from filmmakers in Central Ohio. I’m not sure what that would do for me. If placating my ego with the strokes of peers is of any value, I don’t see what it could be.
I make movies because I feel compelled to tell a story. I am equalled inclined to share that story to the widest possible audience. It’s good exposure for the cast and crew. Can someone, somewhere explain to me why that’s not a good thing?
“I have a bird that whistles and I have birds that sing.”
– Led Zeppelin
* ((please note, I do NOT post links to my blog on any of these groups – this is not marketable nor is it my intent))
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