Celebrate Your Hard Work By
Hosting A Premiere Event

Now that your film is complete, you are ready to show it to your fans. It's time to plan a premiere event!

The first time that a film is shared with the public, is called a premiere. And, as a side note, there is an "e" at the end of this kind of premiere as opposed to "premier" which means the highest quality of something.

Celebrate your actors and your accomplishment by throwing an all out premiere event to showcase your film. That’s right - roll out the red carpet! This phase will take all the stress of planning off your shoulders with ideas for:

• Who to invite to premieres (besides your fans)
• How to dress for premieres
• Where to hold premieres
• How to behave as the film makers at premieres
• And what your premiere event itinerary should look like

Don't get nervous! Premieres are a lot of fun and your audience will keep talking about the event for a long time to come.

Task 1: Get Everything Prepared For The Big Day!

There are two types of premieres that you can host. Have an online event or host a fancy in-person event.

Typically we host both kinds.

It works best if you have the physical premiere one weekend and the online event the next weekend. This makes it so that you feel much less stressed about hosting two events. Let one happen, settle a little and then move into the next event. 

The things discussed in this task are true for both kinds of events, so please don't think that some don't apply to a live streamed event! 

Who Should Make The Guest List For Movie Premieres

You can either invite everyone and his brother or keep it simple and invite the actors and their families. You decide the scope of your invite list.

Stress to your actors how important it is that their family and friends come to see them on the big screen for the first showing of the film at the premiere event. Try to get as many people who were involved in the project to be there, script consultants, wardrobe department and even the music composer.

These are all great personalities to have at the event in order to celebrate their contributions to the film. If you are trying to get as many people as possible to come, maybe even consider getting a blurb in your local newspaper!

The only thing that is a little different for digitally streamed events is that you want to invite EVERYONE to tune in:

• Use your newsletter.
• Text actors and encourage them to invite their family and friends to watch.
• Use anything else you can to get as many people to join your livestream.

How Should One Dress For A Red Carpet Premiere?

You can go formal or casual, again, it depends on the crowd.

If you want them to get a full premiere event experience, go formal. You can encourage your fans to dress up too but give them an out if they don't feel comfortable doing that  

As the cast and crew, try to dress up like this is the most important event in the film's making.

Think wedding attire.

If you have ever had a wild fashion hair, now is the perfect opportunity to cater to it. Be bold, be odd but always be modest.

Dressing in formal attire also helps your audience feel like this is the real deal and you are serious about what you are doing.

This isn't just something "the kids" want to do, you are someone who is committed to consistently producing quality wholesome entertainment.

Where To Host Premieres

A premiere is usually hosted somewhere that can accommodate a large crowd to see your film. As this is the first time that you are sharing the film, a lot more people may show up than you are expecting.

A movie theater is an ideal location but any place that has a projector screen and sound system will work well too. If you have a film location that can also be a party venue, see if you can use this for the premiere.

This adds a cool touch to the uniqueness of your film.

Try to have a place where the film will be watched and another area set aside for socializing and for a chance for the fans to chat with the cast and crew. 

Make Some Fancy Invites To Add Formality To The Event

Hosting a premiere is a little like having a wedding. You want everything to be as formal as possible. So impress your audience with special invitations. 

Taking a movie slant with a wedding invite template is exactly what you are looking for. If there is an option to have an image on the back, add your movie cover or a glamorous picture of the venue. 

Use formal language like "cordially invites you to join them". Don't forget to add a note about what to wear! 

Getting these official cards into peoples’ mailboxes is a great way to make them feel like this is a special event and they are being asked to attend as special guests.

Send out as many as you want to family, friends and collaborators. Have something similar to send out in your newsletter. Once again, express yourself as professionally as possible and touch your audience with the seriousness of the event.

Task 2: Take A Deep Breath And Be Ready To Enjoy Yourself

Foster An Attitude Of Decorum, Friendliness And Pride In Your Work

Let's start with what NOT to do at a premiere event:

• DON'T talk about the bad days that you faced during the making of the film. 
• DON'T be so aloof that you can't be approached to chat about your work. 
• Your actors MUST NOT stick to themselves because they are only comfortable with each other.

Here are the things you and your actors must do:

• Compliment (but don't flatter) those who contributed talent to the film. 
• Be friendly and dignified.
• Act like yourselves. The audience should be surprised that the bad guy is not so terrible after all. 
• Mingle with everyone. 
• Act like you know everybody there and thank anyone that you talk to for coming. 

This is the night that you must force yourself to be uncomfortable. It is good for you.

Besides: this is show business after all.

Premiere Event Itinerary

Remember, the fans are there to watch the movie so don't keep them waiting too long. They will usually want to chat and be friendly after they have experienced your accomplishment.

Maybe give a short speech about the making of the film and praise the actors for a job well done but keep it brief. Encourage the audience to move into the social room for a chance to visit about the film after the film is over.

Play your movie then move into the visiting stage of the event. If food is incorporated this is where you can start eating. If you have a red carpet and background, let the fans take pictures of themselves in front of the movie cover and so on. 

When hosting a live-streamed event, you can incorporate more content by dedicating a bit of time to conference-type speeches. Select a theme and have various speakers talk about different aspects of that theme after you play your movie. Also open a time for questions as this will give a live event a "meet & greet" feel.

Relax And Enjoy Yourself!

This event is not supposed to be work for you. This is the time that you are going to lean back and celebrate your accomplishment!

Enjoy yourself.

Keep things running smoothly, but don't stress it if things don't go exactly as planned. And above all: smile and have fun. It's like being in a play at this point: act like everything is going exactly as planned. 

As with anything that takes careful planning, it can be very stressful and irritating if things go askew, but remind yourself that it's not the end of the world. 

You will have a huge wave of relief after your premiere is over. This is the event that you have been anticipating the entire production, and it can feel a little sad once it's over.

The days leading up to it always make it feel like this is the most important day of your life. Then afterwards...things just go back to normal.

But don't feel like you are done yet! There are still many people who will benefit from watching your movie, so now it's time to distribute. Make people wait a little after your premiere before they can buy the movie. This gives you time to share pictures from the premiere and build hype before the film is actually available for purchase. 

Continue to use the tactics discussed in the marketing and distributing phase to get yourself out there. However, you are now officially done making this film. But we wouldn't let you go without a few parting words, so please review this final note contained in our: