Make Your Film Giftable
18 practical things to do.
Before we begin, an event! On December 16 Kinema is hosting a conversation featuring leading impact producers who will share what is working for impact campaigns right now. There will be a demo, case studies, and lots of time for your questions! Add it to your calendar here.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are behind us and I’m left occupied with thoughts about gift guides, gifting, and how consumption-y this time of year is. In the last week I perused a silly number of gift guides, clicked on one million Product recommendations / offers, and made more purchases in the last five days then I care to admit. Lost in all the shopping categories marketed to me are The Movies. Or maybe they’re not lost per se, but they’re confined to holiday watch lists and big theatrical campaigns. On IG, I saw only one film post something specific to Black Friday. One!
What about everything else? Everything that’s not a holiday movie or in theaters now?
We often say that every film is a small business. Well, every small business knows this time of year is crucial for increasing visibility, attracting new customers, and making money. Thus far, that is especially true this year. Online retail spend on Black Friday hit a new record high.
“But Ami,” you protest, “those people are buying Labubus.”
Sure.
Counterpoint… people are out here scrolling — with their wallets out — looking for unique and thoughtful gifts, and movies need to once more be on shoppers’ minds. So I say, make your films giftable.
I used to love gifting and getting DVDs. There is something so personal about gifting someone a film you think they’d love (or that they already love), wrapped up with a note about why you thought of it for them. There’s a growing campaign for the return of physical media, but until that happens, there’s a missed opportunity here for independent films. Just because the physical format lost popularity doesn’t mean our love of gifting movies disappeared with it.
In today’s newsletter, I’m sharing some holiday gifting campaign ideas for your film team to use, rework, and test, this year into next. I jammed on this with NonDē Chief Ringleader Courtney Romano who is filled with creative ideas and made me laugh a lot. (On an unrelated note, She and I also gabbed about how we have “internet friends” for the first time because of FilmStack — Courtney being one of mine. Everyone I meet via Substack is hard-working, deep-thinking, kicking butt, helpful, AND, importantly, nice. Tiny PSA to join in on FilmStack convos and reach out to someone new. It will lead somewhere interesting.))
Back to gifts. People love giving meaningful gifts, and your film is that for someone. For those of you with TVOD / rentals enabled on Kinema, gifting is easy peasy. The mechanics work just like any other retail site.
But the ideas shared below apply regardless of where your film lives, as long as people can rent, buy, or watch it somehow.
Two opportunities and 18 tactics
Opportunity 1: Run Your Own Gifting Campaign
This is where you have the most control. You have an audience. Even if it’s small (your cast and crew, festival audiences, the people who came to that one screening, your email list of 200 people), it’s enough.
These people have already seen your film. Some of them loved it. And right now, they’re thinking about the people in their lives and what might make those people happy. Your job is to show them that your film is a great gift idea, and make it easy to do.
An easy thing is to send a general message to everyone who’s already watched your film: “Hey, if you loved this, consider gifting it this holiday season. Here’s the link.” That works.
Another thought is to remember that you are solving someone’s actual problem? Someone’s “what should I give them?” question. But you’ll need to remind them of who might most enjoy it. Here are a few examples of generic people who might be on someone’s gift list right now and what pairing your film with a small, thoughtful item could look like:
The exhausted mom: pair your film with a bag of fancy popcorn or their favorite candy or a bottle of wine.
The friend going through a breakup: pair with face masks or ice cream.
The homesick college student: pair with a care package of hometown snacks or a cozy blanket.
You can be creative with these people-descriptions. Bess Kalb has a series where she offers gift ideas to hyper-specific people. Here’s an example:
My introverted 37 y/o mechanical engineer husband who holds the inexplicable belief that it is acceptable to tell a gift-giver that he does not like what they gave him. He returns 90% of all gifts. He is an over-researcher of every purchase, and so while I can choose something related to his hobbies (drumming, camping, drone flying, talking about crypto, hiking, reading reddit, legos, and dodging household tasks), he will inevitably inform me that he already researched that thing and decided it was junk because of [insert technical explanation]. Budget $50-$150.
You’ll know what makes sense for your film. The point is that when you get specific about who will enjoy your film right now and why, people don’t have to think about it. They can visualize that person and take action.
Send it with a short note: “If any of these people are in your life, maybe <film name> would be a meaningful gift for them.”
Opportunity 2: Get Your Film Into Other People’s Gift Guides
Don’t think Vogue (the big magazines start getting holiday list pitches in the summer). Do think about your film’s fans. Who are the people who are influential to your audience? Who are the people who watched and loved your film? Who has the best recommendations? Who runs that book club, that film club, that community group? A few of them, guaranteed, have a gift guide. Hey, your aunt, your friend, your neighbor probably has a gift guide too. Think newsletters, Instagram carousels, TikToks.
Make a list of the people you can easily reach (read: you have their emails or their DMs are open) who are (or might be) putting together a holiday newsletter. Ask them to include gifting your film.
The shopping intent behind a gift guide versus a movie watch list is an important distinction. People will approach your film on a gift guide differently. I don’t yet have strong examples of films in gift guides, but I did see this language in Hrishikesh Hirway’s recent guide re: supporting indie storytelling, which is one possible framing for how a film might show up on a gift guide:
Supporting Radiotopia. I love Radiotopia. It’s been my podcast home for Song Exploder, Home Cooking, The West Wing Weekly, and Partners. If you’ve ever stuck around to listen to the credits at the end of those shows, you’ve heard me say that Radiotopia, from PRX, is a network of independent, artist-owned, listener-supported podcasts. Well, PRX is a non-profit, and today is Giving Tuesday, so it’s a wonderful time to make a tax-deductible donation to support the kind of creative storytelling that’s the hallmark of Radiotopia shows.”
18 Tactics
Start with your inner circle. Text 10-20 people personally (your producers, closest supporters, people who’ve already championed your film). Say: “Hey, I’m running a holiday gifting campaign and starting with people who’ve already loved this film. Would you gift it to 2-3 people in your life who need to see it? <Specific persona, e.g., parents of toddlers, living in Michigan> would love it.”
Give them language to use. Most people want to help, they just don’t know what to say. Give them the exact language they can copy-paste when gifting.
Get specific about who needs your film. Don’t just say “gift to film lovers.” Give examples.
Make it a campaign, not a one-off ask. Send multiple emails, social posts, etc. with different angles. Don’t just ask once and disappear.
Create a gift guide from your film’s perspective. Imagine a gift guide curated by a character from your film. If your narrative is about a chef finding herself, what would she gift? Can you write the gift guide in her voice?
Build a gift guide for your film’s specific audience. Instead of “here are things my character would recommend,” it’s “here are things my audience would love” (and your film is one of them). Made a documentary about sustainable fashion? Create a sustainability gift guide, perhaps inviting experts to share their favorite sustainable shopping recommendations. Position your film as part of a curated experience, not the only thing being recommended.
Link directly to your film page in every email, text, and social post. Remove all friction.
Share gifts in real-ish-time. Post updates like “15 people have gifted <film name> this week!” to create momentum and social proof.
Highlight specific stories. “Sarah gifted this to her book club and they’re planning a discussion.” Make it feel real, specific to your project, and personal.
Create a public goal. “Our goal is 100 gifted rentals by December 31st. We’re at 47!” People can rally around a concrete target.
Incentivize early gifters. “Gift by <date> and I’ll send you exclusive BTS content.”
Create conceptual tiers. This could be a moment to bring back your crowdfunding prizes or create referral tiers. “Gift <film name> to 3 people and get an exclusive sticker.”
Write 3-4 different versions of “why you should gift my film” for different audiences. Test what resonates.
Thank everyone publicly and privately. Send personal emails to gifters. Post a public shout-out: “Thanks to you, 150 people will experience <film name> this holiday season.”
Welcome gift recipients directly. It’s very cool to get an email from a filmmaker. If you’re using Kinema, you’ll have their email addresses once they redeem their gift. Send them a follow-up note.
Invite gift recipients to future events. Turn gift recipients into ongoing audience members by inviting them to other stuff you have going on.
Ask for testimonials. Reach out to gift recipients and ask what they thought of your film as a gift. Use these for your next campaign.
Plan your next campaign now. This doesn’t end with the holidays. Valentine’s Day, graduation season, Mother’s Day. Pick another moment when gifting makes sense for your film and do it again.
The holidays are here. Gifting is on the mind. Would you try any of these ideas? What holiday campaigns (for films or otherwise) have caught your eye?
If you’re finding this newsletter valuable, share it with a friend, and consider subscribing if you haven’t already.
Love these ideas, thank you Ami!
I absolutely love this idea and it’s perfectly timed ahead of the holiday season, thank you Ami!!