Filmmaker's Real Power -
the Email List
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Today, social media platforms control your connection to your fans. But this was not always the case. Six years ago, anyone with a Facebook page could easily reach most of their audience every time they posted to their page. Then Facebook realized they could make money from the fan relationships that you developed. So, they changed their algorithms. Virtually overnight, people’s organic reach dropped to dismal levels. Now, if you want to communicate with all the people who follow your page – your fans – you as the independent filmmaker must pay Facebook to boost your content to them. Now Facebook controls your relationship with your fans. The same goes for Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and every other major platform.
What happens if your social media account suddenly gets shut down? All your social media marketing work has gone to waste! This is a very real story. The algorithms of many social media platforms are not perfect. Independent horror filmmakers promoting their movies often tell us that their movie marketing posts are blocked, or their accounts are permanently shut down because the analytics cannot distinguish between “real” content that requires “moderating” and the actual horror movie content. In fact, Twitter shut down our very own active @opprimetv_horror page for this very same reason, and Tumblr also shut down our @opprimetv account for no apparent reason with no explanation at all. Through this experience, we determined that Twitter & Tumbler were not effective at all for our corporate advertising. Many Independent filmmakers tell us that their accounts were also temporarily blocked or shut down because the analytics viewed the promotions of their new movies as “spamming.”
Imagine working hard to grow your fan base on a social media platform, only to have your time-consuming efforts stymied in an instant. Or imagine wanting to promote your movie but continually having your promotions blocked. Having an email list of your fans gives you control and access to your fans at any time, and allows you to promote your films solely on your own terms. OPPRIME.tv uses and recommends Constant Contact to create effective email marketing campaigns. The analytics we receive from Constant Contact show us that email is always better than social media (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) to communicate with your independent film fans.
Why A Filmmaker’s Email List of Fans is More Powerful than
Any Other Type of Email List.
One of the essential functions and privileges of the independent filmmaking community in our world today is to lift people beyond their everyday experiences. Your films also broaden the horizons of many people’s understanding and appreciation of the world all around them. That is why the filmmaker’s email list of fans is more powerful than any other email list. A relationship has been established, resulting in a sense of sharing in the filmmaker’s art. Filmmakers with great communication skills can more effectively and consistently express their personality and their art, goals, and vision, in emails to their fanbase. That is why we have found that email is the best medium to communicate consistently, reliably, directly, and passionately with fans.
The data from Constant Contact shows that the filmmaker’s emails are opened at a very high rate (View – see #1. Views below) by their fans. The data also indicates that when a filmmaker asks for financial support for their filmmaking through a subscription to OPPRIME.tv, fans also respond with high rates by clicking (Click Rate – see #2 Click Rate below) on the Referral Link.
1. Views – is defined as the number of people that open your email. The Constant Contact statistics that we receive show that emails sent from filmmakers to their fans are opened 80% of the time. Datareportal.com in their Digital 2022 Global Overview Report say that twice to ten times as many people will view an email as they will see a post on Twitter or Facebook.
2. Click Rate – is defined as the number of those reached via email that then “take action” in response to your email’s call-to-action. Datareportal.com says that for a generic email, the Click Rate will result in 50 to 100 times more people taking the action in an email compared to a social media post. Specific to OPPRIME.tv, our Click Rate is the number of times the fan clicks the film Referral Link contained in the email and subscribes. Over time, our Constant Contact analytics show that 70% of the independent filmmaker’s fans eventually click the Referral Link in the email and become subscribers.
The Magic – How the Filmmaker’s Email Fan List & Our Referral Link Earn Revenue Together.
OPPRIME.tv’s Referral Link – our “mobile buy button” – is a unique one-of-a-kind Internet point-of-sales (POS) payment system. It is our breakthrough technology that enables filmmakers to receive adequate compensation for their films.
Filmmakers ask fans to directly support them through a subscription to OPPRIME.tv where they can view the filmmaker’s film. The Referral Link can be put in the text of a message, and the communication to their fans can be emailed or posted on social media. The fan responds to the call-to-action by clicking on the Referral Link and becoming a paying subscriber to OPPRIME.tv.
Simple & Amazing – How the Math Works!
The subscriber pays $5.00 per month. The monthly commission royalty splits for each transaction are:
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$2.25 for the filmmaker.
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$2.25 for OPPRIME.tv.
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.50¢ for processing the payment.
You send out an email promoting a subscription to OPPRIME.tv through your film’s Referral Link, the cost to subscribe is $5.00 per month:
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We email your 500 fans, with an 80% open rate = 400
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Of that 80% (400) only 70% click on the Referral Link to subscribe to OPPRIME.tv = 280
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From that 70% (280), 70% click the Referral Link and subscribe to OPPRIME.tv = 196 people x $5.00 subscription
The total revenue for the email campaign = $980.00 per month
The total revenue for the filmmaker per month is = $441.00 per month.
We Will Do the Work of Inviting Your Fan to Subscribe and View Your Films.
We help you, the independent filmmaker, build your loyal viewing fanbase using email. Our expertise is creating effective email marketing campaigns with high email “open” and “click-to-subscribe” percentages using the Referral Link to your film with Constant Contact. As a filmmaker, your email list of fans is more powerful than any other email list. Let us prove it to you! Send us your email list of fans*. We will do the work to invite your fans to subscribe, so you can start earning revenue!
Email your Excel/Spreadsheet list of fans to filmmaker@opprime.tv. As the subject heading, use your full first & last name.
In the body of the email, include:
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Your film’s OPPRIME.tv Referral Link (copied directly from your filmmaker dashboard).
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Your PayPal, Venmo, or CashApp address.
In the Excel/Spreadsheet, the contact information must be in the following columns/order:
Column A: First Name
Column B: Last Name
Column C: Email Address
Make sure that your list of fans is in an Excel/Spreadsheet file type compatible with Constant Contact:
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XLS (Microsoft Excel)
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XLSX (Microsoft Excel Open Format)
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CSV (Microsoft Excel, Open Office Calc., & Google Spreadsheets)
*OPPRIME.tv does not and never will sell the email lists of your fans, or any other subscriber to OPPRIME.tv.
Filmmaker, get paid for your hard work. Start making money
from your films!
OPPRIME.tv is the only platform with the power to increase the profit for independent filmmakers. Let us prove it to you!
Go to our video-on-demand platform that streams award-winning independent films at www.opprime.tv:
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Click "Join.”
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Create your filmmaker dashboard.
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Click the "Filmmaker Button”.
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Upload your movie to OPPRIME.tv.
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Once your film is approved, you are on your way to earning extra money.