Latest / Bulletproof Screenwriting™ Podcast / BPS 318: How to Sell Your Indie Film and Yourself with Alec Trachtenberg

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BPS 318: How to Sell Your Indie Film and Yourself with Alec Trachtenberg · Bulletproof Screenwriting™ Podcast

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  You are listening to the IFH podcast Network. For more amazing filmmaking and screenwriting
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  podcasts, just go to IFAH podcast network dot com. Welcome to the Bulletproof
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  Screenwriting Podcast, Episode number three eighteen. Success is the sum of small efforts,
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  It's the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast, showing you the craft and business of screenwriting while
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  teaching you how to make your screenplay bulletproof. And here's your host, Alex
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  Ferrari. Welcome, Welcome to another episode of the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast. I
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  am your humble host Alex Ferrari. Now, today's show is sponsored by Bulletproof
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  Now, guys, today on the show, we have Alec Trachtenberg and
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  he is a sales specialist for filmmakers. He teaches filmmakers how to sell not
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  only their films, but themselves. And I thought that this was such an
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  important episode because so many of us as filmmakers don't think about sales. And
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  there's a dirty word when it comes to say as you think of the dirty,
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  sleazy sales guy and all that kind of stuff. And yes, those
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  people are out there, but you are selling, whether you like it or
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  not, every single moment of every single day, almost almost every single moment
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  of every single day, because every time you are trying to persuade someone to
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  do something like go out to dinner, who's who's gonna choose what movie to
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  watch? If you're a couple, you're selling that moment, that thing so
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  you're always selling. And I think that filmmakers really need to get that in
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  their head that they always have to be selling. How they can better sell
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  themselves as filmmakers and sell their projects to the marketplace. And Alec and I
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  dive in the deep end of the pool about sales for filmmakers. So,
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  without any further ado, please enjoy my conversation with Alec Trachtenburg. I'd like
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  to welcome to the show, Alec Trachtenberg. Man, How you doing,
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  Alex good? How are you doing? I'm as good as I can be
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  in this crazy mix up where are we live in and getting crazier by the
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  second. I'm excited to have you on the show. Man. You reached
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  out to me last year. Thank you for your patients. You reached out
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  to me last year about your new book The Name Lights, Camera Lights,
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  Cameras Cell How to actually sell selling techniques and sales techniques in the filmmaking world,
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  which is, like I was saying earlier, sacrilege. You don't talk
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  about salesmanship in arts and filmmaking. I'm an artist. I don't have to
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  think about money in sales. That's somebody else's problem. That's what most filmmakers
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  think, which is to their detriment. And as we were talking, both
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  The Rise of the Film Entrepreneur and Lights Camera Cell are great companion pieces because
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  they both go into very different I mean a lot of this stuff that you
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  talk about on Lights Camera Cell could easily applied to the Film Entrepreneur method and
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  vice versa. So I think they're really great companion pieces. But before we
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  get sorry a man, how did you get into the business. Yeah,
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  so, um, it's funny. I actually when I went to college,
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  I went to Oil and Merrymount, which is a pretty big film school.
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  But I actually did in major in film. I majored in Communication studies.
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  Um, you know, did some short films on the side. I've always
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  had an interest for producing, and then eventually I created. I produced the
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  future film UM called The Cabin, which with my director who's from Sweden.
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  UM. So it was a you know, a little indie film we shot
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  out in Sweden back in twenty and seventeen. Um it got picked up on
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  distribution domestically. Um, and they're also representing us internationally as well. Um.
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  But yeah, you know got to film onto Amazon, um, you
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  know, Hulu, all the different sites up there, and you know,
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  I've always had a passion for film. UM. But I also you know,
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  just working in sales myself, UM, working in a variety of companies,
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  UM. You know, helped companies like Airbnb, Amazon, um,
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  and kind of you know, driving more sales and awareness about their product.
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  I saw there was a huge overlap in you know, what I was doing
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  as a film producer and what I was doing in sales as my day job.
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  Very cool. And then you decided to write the book Lights Camera Sell,
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  which is I'm assuming you saw a hole in the marketplace for a sales
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  book and independent filmmaking. And it's not only sales of movies, but it's
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  also sales of yourself as as a filmmaker, a company, your career and
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  your projects and a script whatever any kind. And that's the thing that people
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  don't understand. Please let me know what you think is. People don't understand
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  that sales is in our lives every day, all the time. It's not
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  just the Weasley guy selling a used car somewhere. I mean, it's sales
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  of like what are we having for dinner tonight? You've got to sell you
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  what you want, and you know you gotta talking like, oh, I
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  want to go to this place. Well, it's constant throughout throughout the life.
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  And I kind of figured that out early on when I was even trying
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  to date girls in high schoo Well, I'm like, it was a sales
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  it was a sales presentation. You know. I had to I had to.
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  I had to I had to find, I had to prospect, I
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  had to find. I had to you know, provide value and like,
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  if you go out on a date with me, you will get this and
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  this and and look at how cool I am. All this kind of kind
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  of um sales techniques I was doing instinctively back then. Um, but now
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  as an adult, I kind of realized what I was doing. So,
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  um, do do agree with all that? Oh? I totally do.
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  I mean in every aspect of your life, whether you know, you have
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  a child and you're trying to convince your child to be you know, behave
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  in a public space, or you know, like you mentioned dating, I
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  mean, tender is like a prospecting platform. I mean, you know you're
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  going on these on these websites and trying to find your best match, and
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  you're trying to demonstrate value by the photos you post and the things that you
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  say, Um, and you know, sales presentations are those dates in themselves,
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  right when you're going out and you know you're showing what you can provide,
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  right. So yeah, I mean sales is such a important aspect of
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  everything that you want to you know, be able to do and accomplish in
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  the world. Yeah, and even as as a filmmaker, when you're on
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  set, it's sales all the time. You know. If you're a DP,
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  you're trying to sell your shot to the director. If you're a director,
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  you're trying to sell your vision for the film to the actors and to
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  the crew and working with it like it's you know, unless you're a dictator
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  and then that digitally generally doesn't work out very well. Um, but you're
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  generally always you're always selling, you know, like like ABC, always be,
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  always be a close, always be closing. Yeah that was from glenc
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  Clarg and Ross. But but you're always selling such a it's funny you kind
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  of harped on that idea. What the used car salesman. I mean,
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  there's so many negative connotations towards the words sales, and I think a lot
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  of artists and uh, you know, people in the film community don't really
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  want to align themselves with that type of you know, personality or a role,
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  right because you know, usually when you think of sales, you think
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  of being pushy or aggressive. Um. You know people tend to say,
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  you know, that's not for me, I don't do that, right,
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  but to see like deceitful, like being deceitful and things like that, like
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  I used car salesman right to screw you over. But you know, at
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  the end of the day, sales is really all about, like you know,
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  understanding value and you know, finding common connection with another person and figuring
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  out ways that you know, both parties can work together, um for the
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  benefit right. Um. You know you if you're an artist and you have
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  amazing scripts, so like if you're a writer, right, I mean,
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  you're providing value to a production company who you know would love your projects to
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  be able to produce them and put them out into the world. But it's
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  how you convey that and how you communicate it is really important. Yeah,
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  I mean I used to when I first launched indie film Hustle, I would
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  get some slack from some of my contemporaries because they just saw my unrelenting um,
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  just just sales, constantly marketing and promotions and and and just pushing and
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  pushing and pushing. UM. But I felt that I had a strong value
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  proposition, and I felt that like I'm providing a value I'm not. I'm
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  giving away ninety five percent of what I do on a daily basis. So
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  it's not even like I'm selling selling selling, I need you to give me
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  my money. No, I want to help. And I wanted to get
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  that information out there as much as possible. And I still do that to
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  this day. UM, And it's been it's been helpful, and it's it's
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  helped me grow into film muscle to where it is. But a lot of
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  a lot of other creatives they don't have that that they have that same kind
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  of block that you're talking about, Whereas like I don't want to be associated
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  with sales or snake oil salesman, which is literally one of the origins of
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  the bad sales, you know, the guy that comes into town, tells
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  you a whole bunch of lies, steals your money and sells you like,
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  you know, whatever oil to drink to get rid of cancer, you know,
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  whatever whatever that is. And I get it. I get and and
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  movies have not helped, by the way, Oh for sure. I can
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  name so many movies out there that you know, portray salespeople and not to
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  be the greatest people in the world. Right, They're a great villain.
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  They're a great villain. Will be right back after a word from our sponsor,
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  and now back to the show. But I think filmmakers, well I
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  think people in general are starting to come around to the idea that sales is
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  an integral part and it doesn't have to be dirty, it doesn't have to
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  be sleazy. It actually is all about providing value and convincing people that have
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  a problem and serving that convincing people that, like, if you have a
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  problem, what I'm proposing could help you. And that's across all business regards
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  to getting a job. In a job interview, your you're sales. You're
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  in sales and job interview the same thing. You know, you could be
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  the greatest director in the world. But you know, if you go in,
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  you know, with that conversation to that producer or that agent and you
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  don't you know, communicate that or build that rapport um, you know you're
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  gonna it's gonna be lost talent. You know, and nothing is worse than
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  wasted talent. Oh god, I know, and I see it all the
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  time in my in my line of work where I talked to a lot of
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  these great artists. Um that I see some great movies. I'm like,
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  but you're not gonna they didn't. They didn't get the sales aspect. They
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  don't get the marketing and promotions aspect of it. In your book, you
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  have um two great um kind of explanations of sales and how important it is
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  to to filmmakers. Can you talk about the Robert Rodrigue's example and the Quentin
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  Tarantino example in your book? Yeah, so Robert Rodriguez, Uh you know
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  it's actually his his father was in sales. Um, I don't know that.
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  I do not know that. Yeah, yep. And um, so
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  for him, you know, he didn't have any sort of um, you
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  know, blockings to him being able to go out there and make a film
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  if you wanted to make one, right, so you know, he built
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  rapport with you know, the people around his community, like you know,
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  friends and and really kind of just grassroots went up there and made you know,
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  a feature film, right, and uh, you know it was like
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  I think it was like seven thousand dollars, um, you know, and
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  and he went out and talked to a bunch of just distribution companies, put
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  it out to festivals. You know, really, you know, just spearheaded
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  that whole that whole thing, right, Um, same Withentin Tarantino. Uh
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  so his producer Lawrence Bender. Um. You know, if it wasn't for
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  Lawrence Bender to be able to see that talent in in um Quentin's ability to
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  write, um, you know, he wouldn't have posed the question of him
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  to direct. Right. So he directed Reservoir Dogs um, which was unbelievable
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  movie. Right, really set the platform for you know, his his directing
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  career um as not only just an amazing writer, but as somebody who can
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  also um, you know direct like a film. So, you know,
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  being able to sell these ideas. Even Steven Spielberg too. I mean I
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  have an example where Steven Spielberg would just go on the universal tours and then
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  he would highly recommend you don't do this anymore, but if you would like
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  jump off to the tram and then uh you know, uh went to one
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  of the buildings of where all the producers are hanging out, and he would
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  just confidently sell them as if he belonged there, right, And then before
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  you know it, I mean he got introduced to Sin Sheinberg, who you
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  know was the head of Universal at the time and like president and you know
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  at that point that's kind of where your launch was. And if he didn't
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  have that kind of ability to build rapport and you know be aggressive to you
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  know, chase his dreams, I mean, we wouldn't be able to see
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  Et or Jaws or you know other amazing movies he's made. Now, what
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  is the sales mindset? So the sales mindset is really understanding that you know,
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  the value that you can bring to other people, but not only that,
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  being able to know how to communicate that value, right, So you
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  know, in terms of understanding like social cues, right, and like understanding
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  like what like like for example, if you met if there was a producer
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  right in front of you, like in the coffee shop, right, Like,
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  you wouldn't want to go up to the guy and start hounding him and
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  start selling, you know, pitching ideas, right, Like, you know,
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  there's a way to really you know, do it strategically where you know,
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  you set up an email to him or or somebody, get a referral,
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  find you know, a way to like to build it, like you
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  know, um, get in on the right you know foot as opposed to
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  just you know, being random and uh not really having any kind of backstrap
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  to what you're saying. Isn't it? Isn't it amazing how people online and
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  in person will walk up to somebody who and it's happened to me. Anytime
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  I'm out in a festival or a market or something like that, I always
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  get this to happen. I mean many of my guests have as well,
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  where you have a filmmaker or somebody come up and go, hey read my
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  script, Hey, um watch my trailer, watch my movie. How can
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  you help me? And it's kind of like this, like energy suckers I
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  call them, because it's just like what can you do for me? Me?
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  Me, me, me, as opposed to providing value and what can
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  I do for you? And how do you build that relationship before you start
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  asking for stuff? And it's not trying, it's trying to be authentic too,
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  because I don't know about you, but you know, my radar is
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  pretty honed now for authentic relationships and non authentic relationships and those and sometimes the
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  non authentic relationships are fine if there's an equal exchange of value and it's a
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  business transaction at that point, um. But if it's a you're actually trying
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  to build a rapport with somebody to truly try to help them with nothing in
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  return, and maybe a year I mean I've built relationships that I never asked
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  for anything three years down the line, maybe four years down the line,
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  um, and we actually built a real relationship. And then when I call
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  them like, hey, dude, can you can you help me with this?
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  With that, they're like, of course, man, after everything you've
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  given me, of course I'll resprocate. Um. So can you talk a
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  little bit about that approach, which is so it's it's the equivalent of walking
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  up to a pretty girl at a bar and like, you and I are
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  going to go sleep together right now, Just let's get in a car that's
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  not gonna work. That generally doesn't work. Generally doesn't work, and you'll
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  probably get someone called upon you, bouncer or police. So what they call
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  on sales is qualification process. Right, So in the first stage of sales,
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  it's considered prospecting, and that's trying to locate you know, the ideal
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  buyer, the ideal person that's perfect for your service or your project. So
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  you know, doing research is really imperative. I mean now that we live
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  in like the digital age, or any information you need is that your fingertips.
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  I mean you can type in someone's name on Google and find something on
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  page seven that you know you never would have known about, right, and
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  like you know, really understanding you know, their background, seeing like trying
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  to find like trends in terms of like, you know, projects that they've
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  worked on in the past, right, what they might be interested in,
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  paying attention to those things. And then when you're in those conversations in that
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  prospecting phase and you're qualifying them, you know like say things like, oh,
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  I noticed that you know, the last three films that you that you've
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  worked on involved in comedies. I mean it seems like comedy is something that's
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  you know interesting, you what's your favorite type of comedy? Right? And
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  then you know from there, as a writer, you can really try to
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  understand you know, Okay, maybe this producer is more interested in this type
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  of material, so you're not trying to sell him something that isn't going to
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  fit that box, right, So you know, really trying to understand what
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  value you can bring to what he's looking at or she's looking at at the
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  moment, NA, how do you how do you eliminate wasting time on people
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  who do not benefit from the value that you have in a project or service
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  that you're trying to give. So you're saying, like, so, what
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  do you mean by that, like like eliminating wasted type So like like a
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  perfect example. I think you kind of talk about it a little bit,
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  but it's kind of like doing a shotgun email to five hundred producers because you
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  find their their email lists on IMDb somewhere and you're sending comedy spots to you
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  know, Jason Bloom, Like it doesn't kind of knows before Yeah, so
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  yeah, I mean you know, like understand you know, having like a
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  target of just a few that you've done really hardcore research on. I'm talking
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  like looked at you know, their LinkedIn their IMDb profile. Um, you
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  know, saw connections. Maybe you have a connection common connection that you can
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  reach out to that can maybe you know, introduce to you in a warm
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  way as opposed to just you know, randomly, uh, you know,
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  sending mail right. So, um, I think it's really important to come
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  just to select few instead of just masse emailing you know, every single um
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  you know person out there, because that's not kind of garner in the same
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  results. Yeah. I get emails people asking me to produce their films and
• 18:37
  find financing for like they pay, like, can you help me get money
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  from my movie? I'm like, you obviously have no idea who I am,
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  what I'm capable of, because I am not your guy like you did
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  obviously did not do your research here I do. I get Curry letters,
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  I get Corey letters from scripts. I'm like, hey, I want you
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  to produce this the I'm like, no, like where anything. It's not
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  like I'm I'm hidden. It's not like you can't really do much research on
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  me. There is a ton of stuff out there. If somebody really wants
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  to do research on me and they still don't do it, it's fascinating to
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  me. But I guess that's just laziness. Yeah, it's laziness. But
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  also, like when you are communicating to that person in an email sequence,
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  like by like mentioning those personal things about that you know individually, reaching out
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  is really important because that's going to show them that you know, you really
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  took the time to like, you know, look them up and care about
• 19:29
  them, right, you know, Like for example, Alex, if I
• 19:33
  was reaching out to you, you know, I would say, you know,
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  I love listening to your podcasts. Specifically my favorite, you know episode
• 19:40
  was with this person, right, and then kind of explaining you know,
• 19:44
  um, what what did you benefit from, like you know, listening to
• 19:47
  that particular episode. Um, that's going to show that, you know,
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  you're not just someone who's just randomly reached out to you who didn't really know,
• 19:53
  um, you know who who you talk to and all that. We'll
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  be right back after a word from our sponsor, and now back to the
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  show. And it's so true. I'll get I'll get email letters from PR
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  people who obviously have no idea who I am or what I do. And
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  then I'll get emails from other PR people or filmmakers who will do exactly that,
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  like like we've been listening to you for years this episode, in this
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  episode, and I've done this, and I've read that, and I take
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  those I actually take the time, if I have the time to actually look
• 20:30
  into those more closely than a blanket. Just you know, flat shotgun is
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  template email. It's it's fascinating, it's fascinating. Now the second the second
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  stage is discovery. What is discovery? So discovery is like the time where
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  like well, the first off, the prospecting stage. You know, the
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  whole goal of that is to schedule a time to be able to communicate with
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  that decision maker, whether that be like a thirty minute you know, skype
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  call or meet for coffee. Right, It really depended on who you're talking
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  to. For example, you know, if you're speaking to like another DP
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  and your director, you'll maybe meet them up for coffee, right, But
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  you know, um, if you're talking to an executive producer, most likely
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  you're going to be going to their office and that person's office or you know,
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  meeting in a common ground. Probably everything's gonna be virtual and you know
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  during the pen but um, you know that's well it's to really just you
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  know, get on a call with them and ask them questions. So discovery
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  is really that you know, where you're taking the research that you've done on
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  this person and then asking questions about what they specifically are interested in, what
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  they're what are their pain points, what are their um you know their goals,
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  right, and then collecting this information you can then you know, connect
• 21:44
  that to uh you know, your project or service, um or what you
• 21:48
  can bring to the table. But you know, if you go in there
• 21:51
  blindly trying to sell yourself right off to that, um, you know,
• 21:53
  then you're gonna, you know, have that used car salesman mentality, which
• 21:56
  has obviously not been effective. Now what what advice would you give on how
• 22:03
  to vet potential prospects so um, in the sense of just like making sure
• 22:11
  that they're so just making sure that they're a really great match. I mean
• 22:15
  obviously you could do research. Um, you could do research and things like
• 22:18
  that, but even going deeper, are there any techniques that you use,
• 22:22
  um to vet them to make sure that that you are a good match and
• 22:27
  whatever you're trying to sell them? Yeah? UM, So understanding like the
• 22:32
  job title of the person that you're speaking to, UM, you know,
• 22:36
  making sure that you're speaking to a decision maker. UM. So you know,
• 22:40
  anything like for a finance here for example, UM, you know,
• 22:42
  understanding if if the person you're speaking to is the one that could actually write
• 22:47
  the check or somebody who's associated with that person who you know you're they're they're
• 22:52
  almost like the gatekeeper in a sense, right, They're trying to understand,
• 22:55
  you know, what your projects about, and then they relay that information to,
• 22:59
  you know, the key decision maker. But the issue is, you
• 23:02
  know, the gatekeeper is not going to be able to effectively sell your project
• 23:06
  or service just as much as you can, right, So, um are
• 23:08
  as better as you. Right, So you really want to make sure that
• 23:11
  you know you're connecting with the right person right off the bat. How do
• 23:15
  you how do you use discovery to vet potential film distributors because, as you
• 23:21
  know, it's one of my favorite topics, um, the very if you
• 23:26
  want to talk about negative connotations the sales guys, can you imagine what the
• 23:30
  connotation is what film distributors? It's horrible? So what do you do to
• 23:34
  vet potential distributors for your projects? Yes, so, just as much as
• 23:40
  is like, you know, if a distributor reaches out to you about your
• 23:42
  project, and you know, I'm sure as an independent filmmaker, you're excited.
• 23:45
  You're like, oh my god, my movie, Like everyone likes me.
• 23:49
  Right, But you know, just like in a job interview, you
• 23:52
  know, this is just as much as an interview for them than it is
• 23:56
  for you. Right, So you know, as you really got to make
• 23:59
  sure that it's the right opportunity and the right uh you know company for for
• 24:03
  the goals of your movie. So having a list of questions for that discovery
• 24:07
  call to really understand like you know, um, you know, what is
• 24:11
  the marketing strategy that you have in mind? Um, like what is the
• 24:15
  key demographic do you think that this would be for our film? Right,
• 24:18
  Like you know, females ages eighteen to forty who are into like horror movies,
• 24:23
  like, you know, really kind of you know, understand like what
• 24:26
  the what they think of your film and see if it aligns with what you
• 24:30
  think, right, and um, you know, if they if they make
• 24:33
  very big promises, you know, it's it's usually a very you know,
• 24:37
  um, a big red flag, I'd say, um, but you want
• 24:41
  really want to check to see if that person's genuine. Right. So the
• 24:44
  questions that you're asking and that discovery call is you know, most importantly,
• 24:48
  finding out if they're capable to get your film out there most importantly or if
• 24:52
  they're genuine and they actually are like you know, passionate about your project and
• 24:56
  you're not just going to be one out of you know, two hundred films
• 24:59
  that they're going to take to can next year to try to sell, you
• 25:02
  know, right exactly. And the Yeah, there's a couple of bigger independent
• 25:07
  film distributors who a chill remain nameless, who who pump out thirty releases a
• 25:11
  month, forty releases a month. Um, it's impossible to show tender,
• 25:15
  loving care to every one of them. It's just impossible. They're just a
• 25:18
  factory at that point. Um. So it's it's it's always interesting and and
• 25:22
  people filmmakers listening right now when you do get that email, which is so
• 25:27
  it's like I said, they like me, Oh my god, they like
• 25:30
  me. You feel like you've won something. Um. They a lot of
• 25:33
  times they use that as to their advantage. But you really got to bet
• 25:37
  them. You really got to figure out if they're a good match. Have
• 25:40
  they seen your movie? A lot of times they haven't even seen your movie,
• 25:42
  right, yep, yep. That's the biggest thing, is like what
• 25:45
  was your favorite part of the film. That's like one question that you need
• 25:48
  to like if you If you do ask that and they don't answer that,
• 25:52
  that's like hang up, Like, don't even like continue the conversation. You
• 25:56
  know, how do you sell something that you haven't watched yourself? You know,
• 26:00
  I mean it's it's ridiculous, but that is the world we live in
• 26:03
  with distribution. So how do you demonstrate value to a prospect, potential procect.
• 26:10
  Yes, So there's a lot of ways to demonstrate value. Um,
• 26:12
  you know, as a filmmaker. So you know, one thing, you
• 26:15
  know, like your demo reel for example, that's an example, is something
• 26:19
  that's like a collateral that's selling your services and what you can bring to the
• 26:23
  table. Same thing with headshots, um, you know, sales decks like
• 26:27
  pitch decks of a film. Um. And making sure that you know,
• 26:30
  when you're creating this collateral that is very professional looking because you know this is
• 26:36
  going to be in the hands of decision makers and buyers and um, you
• 26:40
  know, other people in the industry, and you really want to ensure that
• 26:42
  you know, you're putting great stuff out there that really reflect your professionalism as
• 26:47
  well. Now, how about for screenwriters? How how how can screenwriters provide
• 26:51
  value? Yes? So for screenwriters, um, you know, having having
• 26:56
  those those scripts, uh, you know, for a variety of different um,
• 27:00
  you know, like genres. So for example, if you know you're
• 27:03
  a community comedy writer, right and then like drama having kind of like different
• 27:07
  variations there, um, if a producer requests it, but also you know,
• 27:12
  um getting out there, uh like like like with like film festivals as
• 27:18
  well, like if your film has won any like screenplays, that's like you
• 27:21
  know, the screenplay contest that daminishing value as well. So as far as
• 27:25
  it should, should you also create I mean pitch decks and stuff like that
• 27:29
  for screenplays or is that overkill unless you're actually trying to produce it? I
• 27:34
  think there's never any hurt in doing that. I mean, you know,
• 27:37
  it's it's really any way that you can put a visual aspect to the project
• 27:41
  to make higher decision maker really kind of see it. I think is always
• 27:47
  great things. Um, I think that that's definitely recommended for sure. And
• 27:51
  it is this kind of like value base is kind of like value based selling.
• 27:53
  When you're doing this kind of stuff exactly, you know, it's like
• 27:57
  the value that you can bring them for sure. Now, any tips on
• 28:00
  closing the deal? So as far as closing the deal, um, you
• 28:06
  know you really want to ensure that you guys are on the same page in
• 28:10
  terms of um, you know, the project, the service. Uh,
• 28:12
  and that kind of goes in with uh, you know, understanding like contracts
• 28:18
  and agreements. I mean, I would definitely recommend, you know, not
• 28:21
  doing anything without contracts as you can, you know agree. I've heard some
• 28:25
  horror stories on the podcast where you know, one person didn't get like a
• 28:30
  waivier for the you know, for physical parents on the film, and the
• 28:34
  distribution company won't distribute it because they don't have that waiver, and then you
• 28:38
  know, the whole project falls apart and you know, hundreds and thousands of
• 28:41
  dollars you know go to waste. So having those agreements in place is definitely
• 28:45
  important. Um, and yeah what what what what else? Closing deals,
• 28:52
  closing deals, tips and closing the deal. Yeah. And then as far
• 28:56
  as like, uh, you know the type of clothes, right, So
• 28:59
  there's differ are in types of clothes that you can do, like assumptive closes
• 29:03
  right where you know, you assume that you know that they're there their soul
• 29:07
  on your project. Let's say you're a DP, right and like you know,
• 29:10
  the producer you're speaking to, a director's speaking to, you know,
• 29:12
  has three other dps that they're you know, kind of talking to um.
• 29:17
  You know maybe like aligning your your projects and your background and your expertise and
• 29:25
  how you can bring to the table and demonstrating that value, you know,
• 29:27
  saying okay, So when when a shooting start, right, like, sometimes
• 29:32
  that confidence there can really help, you know, elevate you and show that
• 29:36
  you know, this is somebody who's really passionate and wants to work on this
• 29:40
  project now. And how do you handle objections or fears of your potential prospect?
• 29:45
  So there are different types of objections out there. UM. Objections come
• 29:48
  from anything from like time, Um, you know, let's say the person
• 29:52
  doesn't have any time to read your script or um, you know, they're
• 29:56
  not in need of your service, right, will be back after a word
• 30:00
  from our sponsor and now back to the show. UM. So, really
• 30:08
  understanding the type of objection that you're getting right off the bat is really critical
• 30:15
  because then you can really, you know, um strategize on ways to combat
• 30:18
  that objection. So think of objections as you're really welcoming. You really want
• 30:25
  objections in the sales cycle, because objections means that they're having that kind of
• 30:30
  dance with you, right, Like if you were a lost cause they wouldn't
• 30:33
  have been even interacted with you in the first place. Right, So you
• 30:36
  know it's just a matter of you know, demonstrating that value and reconnecting to
• 30:41
  their you know, propositions and uh, you know, goals and pain points.
• 30:45
  Um. And see how you can connect with both of them. Now.
• 30:48
  And what is relationship success? So relationship success is the last stage of
• 30:55
  the sales cycle. Um. That's when the sale has been done, everything's
• 30:59
  closed. But it's actually you know, everyone thinks that once you close the
• 31:03
  deal, once you get the job, once you you know, get the
• 31:04
  girl, it's like done with, right, But really, you know,
• 31:08
  it just starts at that point, right. So customer success is continually providing
• 31:12
  that value um. And and you know checking in with that person and making
• 31:18
  sure that you know you're delivering what you're what you want. Right. If
• 31:21
  you're a writer working on a contract term, um, you know, am
• 31:25
  I you know, getting these these edits and drafts in at at the right
• 31:29
  time, right, Um, Am I delivering on what I promised? Right?
• 31:32
  Am I bringing the value to you that I've originally proposed. Um.
• 31:36
  And then you know, finding ways to get referrals and you know, additional
• 31:40
  maybe like up selling in a sense, right. Um. So for example,
• 31:42
  if you're working with a particular company as a freelance you know, videographer
• 31:48
  or a filmmaker who's making like commercial videos, right, maybe there's a way
• 31:52
  to make additional videos for them, or you know, find out about their
• 31:55
  sister company that also needs video collateral as well that you can produce. Um.
• 32:00
  So that's really what customer success is really all about. Fascinating conversation,
• 32:05
  sir, It's always it's always good to uh to teach and instruct filmmakers on
• 32:09
  how to sell themselves and sell their projects because it's so so, so so
• 32:14
  important. Now I'm gonna ask you if you get questions, ask all my
• 32:16
  guests, what advice would you give a filmmaker trying to break into the business
• 32:20
  today? So I would say, um, I would I would think yourself
• 32:24
  as an entrepreneur. Um. I mean, at the end of the day,
• 32:28
  you know, the paradigm of shift of like film just to pass you
• 32:31
  know, ten years. Um, you know, it's really a self you
• 32:37
  know, um, promotional endeavor. Right, So really you know, think
• 32:39
  of yourself as a business and and go out there and get it going and
• 32:45
  don't wait on anyone else. Now, what is the lesson that took you
• 32:47
  the longest to learn, whether in the film business or in life long Uh,
• 32:52
  that's a good question. The longest. Uh, I'd say, you
• 33:00
  know, understanding that you know what you're passionate about, and um, you
• 33:04
  know what, like, you know, what you want to create might not
• 33:07
  align with other people, but that's okay because you'll find, you know,
• 33:09
  your tribe, just like you know, you you found your tribe of people
• 33:14
  that really, you know, agree and are you know, passionate about what
• 33:16
  you're putting out into the world. And um, and yeah, that's that's
• 33:21
  exactly how will end. And three of your favorite films of all time?
• 33:25
  All right, So i'd have to say I'm a big Scorsese fan, so
• 33:30
  I'd say Casino, good Fellas, and then I'll just don't want a random
• 33:36
  funny one rat Race. Do you remember rat Race? Oh? God,
• 33:38
  yeah, I remember rat Race. That was a while ago. Yeah,
• 33:40
  yeah, yeah, that's a very random. First time on the show,
• 33:44
  sir, first time rat Race is on the show. I know that film.
• 33:49
  It's like a yeah, it's a ton of different celebrities or actors as
• 33:52
  Stolberg, Mark what is his name? She even getting junior? Yeah,
• 33:58
  everybody, everybody, everybody was in that thing. I remember it was.
• 34:02
  It was a fun film if I remember correctly. And now where can people
• 34:06
  find, um, find more about you and how can they purchase the book?
• 34:12
  So yeah, you could actually go to Alex Trachtenberg dot com. UM.
• 34:15
  So I actually consult one to one um, you know, with not
• 34:20
  only filmmakers but entrepreneurs on really how to establish that you know, um sales
• 34:24
  mindset and follow the five stages of the sales process to really um, you
• 34:29
  know, get you know what they what they want right, whether that be
• 34:31
  a job, you know, connections so forth. And then my books available
• 34:37
  on Amazon, UM and uh, Barnes and Noble. It's lights camera cell.
• 34:43
  So I'm sure I'll give you the link. Yeah, it will be
• 34:45
  in the show notes. Alex. Thank you so much for being on the
• 34:46
  show. Brother. I really appreciate your time. Man, Thank you.
• 34:51
  I want to thank Alex so much for coming on the show and dropping his
• 34:53
  knowledge bombs on the Tribe today. Thank you so much, Alex. If
• 34:57
  you want to get links to anything we spoke about in this episode, please
• 34:59
  head over to the show notes at Bulletproof Screenwriting dot TV Forward Slash three eighteen.
• 35:04
  Thank you so much for listening to guys as always, keep on writing
• 35:07
  no matter what. I'll talk to you soon. Thanks for listening to the
• 35:10
  Bulletproof Screenwriting podcast at Bulletproof Screenwriting dot tv.