Product Placement For Indie Films

A logo in the background can be a missed paycheck or a future legal headache, and most indie filmmakers don’t realize how often those moments show up on every page of a script. We walk through what product placement really is, how it’s different from sponsorship, and why both can impact your bottom line when you’re trying to get a project from concept to screen.

We get practical about identifying product placement opportunities in wardrobe, props, set dressing, locations, and dialogue, then we talk money: how screen time, camera focus, and even who’s holding the product can change what you charge. You’ll hear examples of placements that feel seamless versus placements that turn a scene into a commercial, plus a simple way to keep your choices aligned with character and theme so the story stays first.

Then we go into the part that can make or break distribution: permissions, chain of title, and E&O insurance. We explain when an email “yes” can count as approval, when you should push for a contract, and why skipping clearance can lead to blurring logos, reshoots, or getting blocked from major platforms like Netflix and Apple TV. We also share our outreach workflow using a tracker, LinkedIn, Apollo.io, and a product placement deck or shareable website, with tips on who to contact and when to send the email.

If you’re building a film financing plan that includes brand partnerships, product placement, and sponsorship, this one gives you a clear starting point and a system you can actually follow. Subscribe, share this with a filmmaker friend, and leave a review with the brand you’d most want to land for your next project.

Transcript

Welcome And What We Cover

SPEAKER_03 0:00

What's up, it's your grandma show, aka Showrunher, your filmmaking coach. I'm an EP and a filmmaker who probably watches more filmmaking content than actual films, and I hope that that makes sense. So I decided to start a freestyle podcast where I just talk all things filmmaking. No heavy edits, no overproduction, just real conversations about filmmaking, funding, faith, and the real business behind getting your project from concept to screen. If you want to know more, you can head over to showrunher.com. That is S-H-O-W-R-U-N-H-E-R to download free resources, watch pre-recorded webinars, grab some freebies, or book a one-on-one session. I am also available for hire. All right, now let's get into today's episode.

Product Placement Vs Sponsorship

SPEAKER_03 0:49

All right, today we're going to cover what is product placement. What is the difference between product placement and sponsorship? Um, because it is a difference, but both of them really affect your bottom line budget, um, where it can lower how much money um you guys need to raise or um bring in. Um and then how to identify product placement opportunities in your script. They are there more than what we know. And so understanding where to find them, how to find them, or how to incorporate them and really make um make it there when it really originally wasn't is extremely important. And then I'm gonna do a small presentation on how to find brands, how I personally find brands um through Apollo and LinkedIn, what that email, um, I think someone came in, what that email outreach um looks like. Hi, welcome. Um, what that email outreach and looks like with some examples, um, what to offer the brands when you're thinking about partnering with them on a product placement level, and then some real life examples and pros and cons and how to track um your success.

What Product Placement Really Is

SPEAKER_03 2:03

Um, so let's just talk about what is product placement. It is in everything that we watch. Um, product placement is when a brand appears in your film, either visually, verbally, or you are using it as to drive the narrative of your film. Um, if you use someone's product in your film, you can get paid cash for that, um, or they can give you the product for free. Let's give an example of clothes, which can help, you know, when it comes to wardrobe. Um, product placement can also be location use. Hey, if I use your location to do our film, you know, your company name can be in our uh film and then shown in our project logos and things like that. Um, product placement can also be an exchange of marketing support and then co-branding campaigns. I just want to say that everything that we watch has product placement. So um, when you're watching films, movies, TV shows, even reality shows, so many of them just have brands there that are paying to actually be in your film project. Um, sometimes we uh work with different brands and different people, and we're like, hey, working across teams is sorry, we're like, hey, you know, we would love to have your product. Um, if you know, from the wardrobe side, but just remember that brands actually pay a lot of money to have their brands in your film. So this is not something that you have to um give away

When Placement Works Or Fails

SPEAKER_03 3:34

for free. So we're gonna watch a little snippet of product placement and how it's being used. Um, and then if you want to watch some more of these videos about product placement in your movies, just go to YouTube and type product placement in films, and you'll see how they are using uh the products in um some of these popular films. And the brands that we will see today have paid millions of dollars to have their brands with this in these films and with these characters.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Include selling out. Product placement in movies is everywhere, but does it always work? Some films nail it, making product placements feel like a natural part of the story. Others, though, can't help but make you feel like you're watching a long commercial. Today on Collider, we may dive into a few examples where product placement either blended in or totally took over, starting with Josie and the Fucky Cat, a movie that focused on a contourism. It follows brilliant Josie, Melody, and Val as they face their rock star drones. But here's the twist. They get caught up in a storm to brainwash America using subliminal messages. The movies over-the-top product placement, from McDonald's sponsored bathrooms to a team with four brand logos in one shot, aren't just for show, they're part of the satire. But did everyone get the joke? Let's talk about Wayne's World. This comedy is parked with so much product placement that it feels like a spoof. And guess what? That's the point. Wayne and Guard, who run a public access TV show, sarcastically declare that folks never sell out while holding up bags of Doritos, Pizza Hut boxes, and wearing Reebok gears. The irony makes it hilarious, but the brands are front and front, poking fun at the very idea of selling out now, eat off on the plastic. One of the most iconic examples of product placement in this movie is Rosed Pizzas. Not only does Elliot use them to lure ET in the househouse, but they become a memorable part of the story. This placement wasn't just a move, it actually made Rosis Pizza a star, hosting fails and making it impossible to separate the tiny from the film. The hunt for Twinkies is legendary. As the group of survivors moves through a zombie film world, Tallahassee's mission to find the last Twinkie provides comic relief. The scene where he finds a host of truck full of snowballs instead of Twinkies, perfect. The product plays when you're filled with the characters of touchdowns and adds to the humor, making it one of the movie's most memorable moments. Lastly, we have drastic worlds. This one's hard to ignore, mainly because of the constant occurrence of Merconi's bank locals. Sure, it's realistic to see luxury cars in a phone park setting, but when every main character is behind the wheel of a tiny Merconi's, it starts to feel like a commercial break. So when it comes to product placement, some movies get it right and make it part of the fun, while others can feel like they're trying a bit too hard. What's your favorite or least favorite example of product placement in a movie? Let us know in the comments, and we'll see you next time on Collider.

Spotting Real And Fake Brands

SPEAKER_03 6:35

All right. Um, so that was just a little preview on uh product placement. And I encourage you for your next film that you watch short film, a TV series, look in the background for the type of cars, the Apple computer, the Starbucks drinks, also the clothing. Um, product placement is clothing. It's just anything that helps really build the scene. If you're filming something in the kitchen, you will think of all of the things that you will have in your kitchen: blender, coffee machine, refrigerator brands, um, microwave, all of these things will be could be considered product placement in your film. Another thing is I want you to keep an eye out on when you watch your next film, is if a brand actually has, let's say, a deal with Doritos, um, and you know, they need to fill the scene with a bunch of different chips. Look at what the other brand name of the chips are. They're usually they can look something like Cheetos, but they're not called, they're not Cheetos, they're something that looks very similar to it. But if a brand has not paid for product placement, then they are not being featured into an actual film. Um, if so, there are other brands that they call close to that. Um, and they use it to help fill the scene. So don't only look for the name brands, look for if next time you are watching, hit pause and look at all of the branding that you see in the scene. Some of them are real, some of it is fake, and some of them are actual brands that we know of today.

The Main Types Of Placement

SPEAKER_03 8:10

All right, so let's just dive in a little bit on the types of product placement that there can be. You have your visual product placement where you can clearly see um in the example that we saw, where E.T. was the whole Reese's um scene, and that is actually a part of placement. Reese's paid um for it to be featured into that ET film. Um, and then you have some visual placement like MacBooks or you have a Starbucks drink. Those are visual things um that are being used in films, whether through characters or sitting on the table, um, you know, you have a shot, you have a scene, you notice a brand. Um, and then you have your verbal placement, where some people may say, you know, Uber or let's go to Red Lobster. And this is also another reason why I never encourage people that if you are using like a TikTok or um Instagram, you should not say those names for uh IP legal purposes, but also because they haven't paid you to verbally use their name. Anytime you say a brand name, you are encouraging um your audience to go out and support. It's almost like you stamp it. So, you know, you have your verbal uh product placement that can be mentioned in dialogue when you have films, and Insecure was really popular on that when it came to Uber. Um, and then you have your plot product placement where it's kind of built into the actual uh story film. If you want to feature a brand kind of like the hostess one that we just saw, where that's actually the story is built around this character having a love for the hostess. And so that is also a way of product placement, and then you have some lifestyle and location product placements. You may go film inside of Sephora, um, and then you want to showcase that location, and then last on the list is usually like event activations or built-to-sales where you may actually do a premiere for your film, and you may have um a wine brand on a drop-in repeat because they're actually helping um that premiere and helping your film through. Okay, you're gonna have a lot of people here. We would like to give out wine samples or drink samples. So an event or a bill to sell can also be product placement. Just remember anything that has a logo on it is considered product placement um from a brand, whether it's a verbal mention or whether it's actually showcased um in the actual film project.

Permissions And Blurring Logos

SPEAKER_03 10:44

All right, we have a question for my documentary. There are people wearing armor. Should I reach out to my product placement? Yes, so rule of thumb: if you are going to be using a brand or you're thinking about using a brand in your film, it is just usually on indie world, especially and in Hollywood, you do not promote people's brand for free. Um, so it always will be a blank t-shirt unless you have been given permission. Now, if you want to use this brand, I always tell people to reach out and ask because they sometimes say we don't care, and that is your permission. They sometimes say, sure, not only do we allow you to use our brand, but we want to send you some free clothing. They may have a new product or something coming out. The biggest reason why you want to ask so that you can get the okay is that if you're thinking about your documentary going through distribution, it goes back to that chain of title conversation. If you are now getting ready to do a distribution deal with Netflix, do you have the permission from that brand to actually use their product? And that is going to be the determining factor in whether you get ENO insurance or not. So if you do not have that approval, you will not be able to go through distribution. So I always tell people to send an email and ask. And if they say yes, then that is your permission to print up and include with your um clean chain of title to get your ENO insurance. But usually, usually it's blanked out in films if you don't have permission. Um, if they decline, should I have the logo blurred? Yes, you should have it blurred out, or just put them on blank shirts. That's the easiest way where people do not see like kind of a blurred out sign, because sometimes, depending on your insurance company as well, that can be a bit risky. Um, so you know, sometimes we can't get across things like Nike shoes and things like that. So you have to make sure that your team and your director is making that type of decisions to not, you know, pan over the Nike logo. Like, do you is it important that you show the character walking? Um, every decision that you're making is not just about um, you know, the talent and you know, okay, this is a good idea, but it's about making sure that your team understand what is the distribution um that we plan on having, and that may be a streaming deal and what they can and cannot do. So these are things as an EP that you must know so that you can tell your team, tell your director, tell your DP, your first AD, and people that um will be the department heads to not showcase that. So, yes, blur it out, or just use blank t-shirts from Walmart or shirts that you shirts that doesn't have a logo on the front part of it because you may be declined um a distribution deal.

Finding Placement Inside Your Script

SPEAKER_03 13:42

All right, where to find placement in your script? Well, you have to ask yourself, well, what do my characters wear? What do they eat? What do they drive? What are they using? And the best way to answer that is what do you use on a daily basis? What are you eating on a daily basis? And so what does your desk look like? What does your kitchen look like? What does your bathroom look like? What products do you see and don't see? Um, so you know, when you're cooking, like what products do you see when you're in your um living room? Do you have any branded products that you see from furniture, um, from shoes, when you know, talent first walks into their home? What is that? What type of jewelry do they have on? Um, so oftentimes when we're working with product placement, we're working with directors and wardrobe department, we're working with directors and set departments, um, because we're just trying to figure out how, you know, how does this character identify? If you have a character that is walking down the street, could they possibly be holding Starbucks coffee in their hand? Or could they be holding a smoothie, you know, drink in their hand? Or are they like a tea drinker? Whatever it is that you do decide to do, you want to make sure that if it's the character, if your character is very health conscious, then you don't want them to have something like a red bull in their hand unless you're trying to prove something in the scene with their character, versus they may have like a naked drink or a smoothie. So you just want to also make sure that the brands that you are picking aligns with your characters in your actual film. All right. Um, are there any stores, phones, apps, drinks, vehicles, tech, or clothing line that can be mentioned? Hey, you want to meet us um down at Dunkin' Donuts, or we're gonna go ahead to Linux Mall, or I can't find my Apple iPhone. What about the iMessage? WhatsApp? You know, these are all brands that you can actually potentially reach out to to help um fund your film project, just because it is a mention. Um, and I also want to point out that whether you're doing a mention or it's on the character or they're holding it in their hand, the prices can vary depending on what that looks like. It may be a different price to mention TikTok versus it is for the character to be walking down the street. And we see the Apple product in her hand, the entire walk. Those are two different cost um products, two different costs-wise in what you would charge the different brands. Um, the more screen time they have, the more it costs, the more that the camera is on the actual logo. Um, it does cost more, so keep that in mind. Um, when you look around your room or your office or even in your car, um, you know, think about some of the items that are in your car. Could any of those be replaced with real brands or partner with a company to be used into um even the air fresheners and you know what we put on our rearview mirror, those type of things, all those brands are considered product placement. So you have an opportunity in every scene for product placement. Um, and making sure that it just feels natural, it feels real, it feels part like in tune with the character. We just saw one of the examples where if it's too many brands, it can definitely now start to look like a commercial versus it's just very subtle. This is what they would use on a day-to-day basis. We're not trying to jam-pack so many brands into a scene because we're getting paid. Product placement money, you do not have to pay back. So you just have to make sure that whatever you and the brand have decided on that you are actually um, you know, if you guys decided on 10 seconds, then it needs to be seen. That product needs to be seen for 10 seconds. So, whatever it is that you guys decide on, you just have to make sure um that you fulfill that. But once you get payment, you do not have to pay that back. Brands do not own any of your um IP when it comes to your project. So, in a scene where your character orders coffee, can it be Starbucks or better? Can it be a local black-owned brand looking for visibility? Is it a mom and pop, you know, coffee shop in your city, in your area that you can use? Sometimes the bigger brands are harder to get in contact with, um, but they do have the most money, but they do have also the most requirement. Who is actually wearing that product, who is drinking that product? The difference in me drinking a Starbucks drink in the film versus Viola Davis are those are two different people. So with two different price points. So, another thing that I do want to mention that when it comes to product placement, it really depends and matters on who that person, that talent is. Um, because the bigger they are, the more money you can get, the more visibility that brand does have. So they pay top dollar for that.

Who Secures Placement On Indie Sets

SPEAKER_03 18:41

All right, who secures product placement? Um, if you're in Indie World, the executive producer is hi Alicia. I sent some notes to you as well. So if you have to jump off, I did just see your message. If you jump off, I've added some notes to your budget and your treatment and things like that. So go check it out when you get a minute. I enjoyed your script and it was visually really soothing. And so I had to read it a couple of times before I left some notes, but I have some notes in your folder for you. Um, all right, who secures product placement? Usually an indie world is an executive producer. The executive producer is does everything. Um, so you will actually be the one to oversee the funding of that. If you had, you know, a bigger project. You have sometimes a few different EPs attached. One may be working with product placement, one may be working with crowdfunding, one may be working with investors, but overall, you only have probably an Indie World one or two EPs. So it's up to the EP to find the funding for the film project. So you would be the one working with product placement. Um, and then sometimes those EPs work with the directors. Um, and hey, does this character wear new balance or is this character a Nike? You know, those are two different types of characters, or they may not dress down, they may dress up. So sometimes you work with your director to understand their vision. They may say, hey, it doesn't matter what drink is in the character's hand. So then you have flexibility in working with different brands to make sure um that that character does have a drink. If you have a writer, especially early on in the process, you may be working with the writer to make sure that the product placement is um in the film and the script early on. So you can kind of know what that looks like. We are actually shooting a short film, and we knew that uh red lipstick would be um really big into this short film. So we worked with the writer to make sure that they added the lipstick a bit more into the short film than what was originally there because we have now we can sell to the brands hey, we have five different places to actually use your red lipstick, and that increases the pricing that we will actually charge to brands. Um, and then sometimes some people hire uh strategic brand partners for their film. That can be you, you can have a PA. Sometimes people hire um line producers to help track the product placement and what does that look like within the budget? So, you know, if you're in indie world, this is just all you um because you're tracking um what you are speaking to with the brand, and you have to articulate that over to the director and the DP to make sure that they're incorporating whatever contract you and um that brand has come up with.

How Sponsorship Deals Actually Work

SPEAKER_03 21:35

All right. There is a difference between uh sponsorship and product placement. So you have sometimes you work with nonprofit organizations and sponsorships, and then sometimes you work with brands with strategic uh product placement. So sponsorship um is sometimes that logo appears um on the screen. The logo appears on marketing, just not in the film. So this uh brand sponsored this film. You may have um, I don't know, um, I don't know, Desani Water sponsors this documentary, which means that they have sponsored the entire documentary. Their brand, their water may or may not actually be in the film, but they're just a sponsor. They're not requiring that you know, you mention Desani, they're not requiring any of those things. They actually just want to sponsor your documentary and have maybe that logo in the beginning and um opening and the closing scene versus product placement. They want you to show their brand, they want you to either mention their brand um and they want their brand actually in your film. Um, sponsorships usually support the production, not so much the story. Um, you know, they just want to make sure it is filmed. They may offer, you know, your set all of the water that they need. So they actually sponsored all of the water for your cast and your crew. Um, and in return, they just want to have that mentioned on your film versus product placement is supporting the world, it's what the character is actually holding in their hand, it's what they're doing, it's what they're known for. Um, sponsorship may include cash. Um, it can, you know, be in, you know, barter services with locations and, you know, promoting your actual film. Um, and usually product placement is usually in-kind donations where they may actually give you uh the new balance clothing because they know they may have a new brand, um, a new drop happening, and they want the world to see it, they're okay with that. Um, but also they require screen time. And then sponsorship sometimes is you know, community-based nonprofit organizations. You have films on mental health, and they want to partner with you on that, where you know, you may do a screening at their location that you know, those are sponsorships. They don't necessarily have the money and the funding like the bigger brands, but they actually have the community. So if you're doing a mental health film, then you know, they may have um it may be a nonprofit organization that just specifically focuses on mental health, and they may have over 500,000 followers, and they can promote that, they can help you market that. So I always tell people work on both sponsorship and product placement. One is going to help market, you're gonna build community, you may do some screenings, you may, you know, put your short film or documentary on their website versus the product placement, they're going to give you the money, the funding. And it's also it's usually always tied to the character or the film directly. So it is a difference, but I always tell people to um get both, get some nonprofit sponsorships and also get some brands to cut you um some checks. All right. Any questions on what I have covered so far? Any questions?

unknown 25:09

Okay.

Why Brands Pay For Screen Time

SPEAKER_03 25:10

Um, you may ask yourself, like, well, how does this benefit the brand? Well, the brands are always looking for a new way to market, they are always looking for people to target um when it comes to their brand. You know, we have been around for the same products. Example, Doritos our entire life, and we know what Doritos are, but we have an upcoming new generation that may not know. You may have people that have never tried the Doritos brands. Um, you may have had people that forgot about Doritos and didn't know that they have a new flavor out. So reaching new brands, our targeted audiences is extremely important, especially if we're talking about like indie filmmakers, right? What do we usually thrive on in this indie film space? You know, it may be energy drinks because we're upper a lot. And so, you know, Red Bull may be having a new flavor that comes out, and they want to target to indie filmmakers who may be up working all day or you may be editing all night. And so again, they're consistently targeting new audiences. You know, marketing will never die out. So this is super beneficial to brands to consistently be the brand that people, filmmakers, are always thinking about. Um, you know, they can associate with the culture, they may have new drops going on, they may have new things happening, they may have a new mission. And so being a part of your film, depending on the conversation, may definitely benefit them. Also, when we're talking about brands, it lives forever. If we go and watch the ET film, we still see Reese's. Like it did, it doesn't die out. And so it's an ongoing marketing for that brand, whether it's 20 years from now, 30 years from now, 40 years from now. So that long-term visibility is what they actually love as well. Um, and it can be cheaper than traditional advertising, where that brand has to hire talent, they have to get a production company, they have to pay for the commercial. They may have to market that commercial during the Super Bowl, like certain things like that is super expensive versus, you know what, let's partner with an indie film uh and then you know have them advertise, have them post about us. We can also show that we are working with indie filmmakers in smaller communities, that it doesn't have to be big brands all the time. And then I think most importantly, that it creates and helps that brand storytelling without having like this big ad campaign. It just really is very subtle and it helps really build your character development. Um, and it just looks more natural to have, you know, a smoothie company brand that the talent is holding versus nothing. They're just standing there or sitting there, or with a, you know, a cup, a styrofoam cup. So it really helps elevate the film. Um, and so brands love being a part of that.

Legal Clearance And Distribution Risks

SPEAKER_03 28:10

Let's talk a little bit about legal when it comes to product placement and distribution. Um, and this goes to the question that was asked earlier. Should you reach out? Yes, you want to reach out, you want to get the okay. Um, or you guys may enter into a signed agreement where they say, hey, this brand is giving you these in-kind donations, free coffee cups or wardrobe. Um, and in return, you want to make sure that you're covering yourself that that brand has given you permission. And so always having legal involved, having contracts is super important. Um, I have a contact over at New Balance. They don't do agreements, they don't do sign agreements, they're not trying to sign anything with indie filmmakers, they just shoot an email and say, Yes, we approve. And not only do we approve, you know, we have some new products dropping, and we would love for you guys to go on our website, pick what products you want, um, and we'll send them to you so that you can have again, that is marketing. And so they may not cut you any money, but they are actually trying to give you that brand and they know that if their brand is in your film, that more people will see it and more people will like it. So sometimes it may not just be a signed agreement, it may just be a simple email that said, Hey, no problem, we don't sign agreements, use us in your credits, etc. So every brand is different. So I always just advise reaching out to the brands to see if you don't have that agreement. If you don't have that okay, when it comes down to distribution, you may not have a clean chain of title, you may not, you know, you can't get EO insurance. And that's where, hey, we're gonna blur the logo, or we have to cut a scene, or we have to reshoot a scene, um, may take into place. And sometimes that costs way more money than it would have cost just to simply send out an email and ask. So without permission, you can end up in a lawsuit or having to redo it or pull your entire film from streaming platforms. Every brand doesn't want to be a part of every film, every brand has their own mission, every brand has their, you know, who we want to work with, who we don't want to work with, and it is their personal preference. So, you know, we may feel that our films are amazing and brands may say, well, we don't think so. And so you just want to make sure that you have that permission from them. If you are unsure, you know, of what that looks like for you as an EP, I always advise everybody to have some sort of legal involved in their project. Whether it's in the beginning where you sit down with someone from Legal and let them know what it is that you will be doing, all the way down from product placement to distribution to working with talent to working with nonprofit organizations so that they can guide you so that you can make sure that you are covered when it comes to distribution and what matters the most. All right. Um, you also need that legal, you know, help to get it cleared with Netflix. We just kind of went over that. So if you're going to be showing any brand logos, if you're gonna be shooting at locations and you can see the logo of the storefronts, or if you're gonna be mentioning real company names, like girl, let's go down to the Nike store. Um, Nike did not give you permission. If you're going to be using music, um, if you're gonna be using images, a big one is, you know, when people are filming inside of their homes, you know, sometimes people have books and you know, certain things, you know, have that author, has that author given you permission to put their book in your film? So you just gotta be conscious of everything that's in your film project, and you got to be working with your department head so that they're conscious. And again, this is a difference between hey, we just was out shooting something this weekend, versus we want to really go through distribution, monetize, and be looked at up as a professional filmmaker that have to go and get clean chains of titles and work with legal um and get an EO insurance. So you just want to make sure you're always covered. But without that clearance, you know, your film can be blocked from getting released on major platforms. I'm not talking tube, just talking major platforms, your Netflix, your Apple TV, um, your Paramount, places where you know you may really want to stream at HBO. Um, and you needed to get that insurance for distribution. Um, all product placement agreements must be cleared. Um, you know, once you go to get ENO and ONO, ENO, sorry, ENO insurance, they actually look through your film and they kind of do this checklist of what brands do we see, what locations are there? Hey, do you have you have 12 brands in your film? Then we should have 12 agreements and 12 yeses. And if you don't have that proof, then you can't get um that ENO insurance, which qualifies you for distribution deals. All right. Um, another reason why you may want to, well, you should include legal into your product placement, that if their brand is featured and later your film gets some, I don't know, you know how things happen. Five years from now, things may come back up, or next year, you know, um, you know, your film may have some controversy and things with it. Um, and the brand is like, hey, we don't want to be a part of this anymore. Well, they have a signed agreement, so you know, they can't back out of it. Um, if you do not have those things in place, they could back out um and they could sue. So, you know, whether a brand decides to change their mind when it comes to working with you as a filmmaker, working with you um in your film, they can't as long as they have signed that. So it really does protect you as you continue on your film journey. Um, and then also profit sharing when we're talking about rights issue. If a brand gives you cash, you don't want a brand to come back and feel that they own anything or they can claim anything. And this is also with nonprofit organizations and sponsorships. Hey, it's very clear in the contracts and the agreements that we don't want any back end points, we don't want any ownership, we don't want to own any IP. And sometimes it's just best to make sure that that is written down um legally so that it can protect you in case you know things happen, people change their minds, people have new policies, you know. It's a new sheriff in town, a new CEO. And hey, we want some of this film money. You never know where things can go, but as long as you have it in writing, you will be good to go. All right. Any questions so far on the product placement? Any questions? All right.

Choosing Brands That Fit The Story

SPEAKER_03 34:59

Um, also, what I want to say when it comes to your film, let's talk a little bit more about how to find that product placement um and how to make sure the right brands actually fit with your film. So, you know, what is the theme of your film? Is it if it's about motherhood, then the brands that you want to concentrate on are baby brands, wellness, home goods, things that motherhood screens, you know. Um, you know, it can also be IKEA for the children's section and you know, safety things. You just want to make sure that you look at the theme of your project and then say, you know, what really works for this film? If you have a film about college students, then you want to focus on tech things. You want to focus on Uber Eats and Lyft and you know what do college kids need and what is in their actual dorm. You have Target and Walmart. They actually have sections that are literally catered catered to college students. So, you know, you may be partnering with Target or you may be partnering with Walmart to really kind of showcase a you know, a talent getting or that character, you know, going off to college for the first year. And now, you know, Target has decorated their entire dorm room. So, you know, always looking back at the theme. If you have, you know, LGBT queer into your film, then what LGBT brands actually support this? You know, you want to focus on that, whether it's can't say Target anymore, I don't think. So whatever brands that actually support and want to be a part of your story, then those are the brands that you want to uh venture off to. Um, whether it's ethnicity, black creatives, you know, when we're talking about different characters, you know, what about their hair brands? What about apparel that um, you know, in the you know, black uh scene and amongst black creatives that they wear that you can actually reach out to? Um, the biggest thing you want to do is create a spreadsheet with the brand name, um, the category, whether it's going to be a food uh brand or it's gonna be a beauty brand, a tech brand. Um, and then you want to figure out how you're going to contact them. And then most mainly, what are you asking for? Are you asking for product? Are you asking for cash? Are you asking for promo? So you need to know what you're asking for before you reach out to these brands so it can be very clear and making sure that your project, um, how your project actually aligns with the brands. So I have um I'm in the thick of product placement right now. I've been posting about it crazy for the last two days. If you have been um seeing me come up in your feed, but I have a short film and we're going to be focusing on product placement. So, you know, how do you find that product placement? Well, in your um folder in your school, you do have a um a product placement, a tracker that you can use. I'm actually have um an in-dail one, and you have a simple one. You can create your own. Whichever one works for you is going to be easier. But like this one is a simple tracker where you just literally list the company, the name of the person that you're reaching out to, what their position and title is, whether it's brand partnership, whether it's you know, director of marketing, um, you want to list their title, what their email is, and then what industry it's in, beauty, um, and et cetera, or you know, food. So you want to list the industry industry tech. So this is a basic uh product placement tracker that you can use. They have one that is more in detail. If you're more like, hey, I want some drop downs, I want to make sure that I know exactly when I reached out to this person. So I think trackers are really based off of your work style. Um, I'm in the process of trying to raise funding over the next six weeks. So I'm not looking for anything in detail. Usually, when I have more time to use and do product placement, I usually have an in-dail um product placement tracker. But also, you want to make sure in your product placement tracker that you have some follow-up system. When did you send that email? When are you planning to follow back up with that client or that brand? Um, because you want to keep up with how you're how you're doing your outreach. Um, also in your folder, depending on if you're starting and have more time to actually address product placement, then you can have your director actually fill out, you know, where they see product placement. You know, in the first scene in the bedroom, we are thinking an Apple Watch, we're thinking heavy technology for that character, or you know, we're thinking about them having, you know, a Sony uh Bluetooth or some type of digital clock that is Sony. So you can really start to list out some of the brands um depending on how much time you have. Um, you know, inside that interior bedroom, we're thinking about IKEA, we're thinking about Wayfair, um, where the character may notice, you know, a wayfare mirror um with a sticky note kind of taped on it. So you're kind of thinking about how to build out that product placement. Or you may want to just have your director fill out, say, you know, in scene one, we need some type of soda, and they may say it doesn't matter what brand. So that will help, but having a director help you as well um can help. If you don't have a director attached and you're in a development phase and you're just raising money, then you can stick to very broad um brands and then you're making some decisions yourself. But make sure you have some type of tracker attached to um your so you can have a system set in

Using Apollo And LinkedIn Outreach

SPEAKER_03 41:06

place. Um, a brand that I love um to use when I am looking for sales leads. Make sure my computer is not gonna die on me. Okay, it's for sale leads. I love to use Apollo. Now I have signed up from them. Hold on, let me move this out the way. Not now. I have had a subscription with Apollo. I I have used so many different branding platforms, but Apollo by far is my favorite. They allow you to get multiple free credits, they also have training onboarding sessions if you are really into this thing. Um, they also have it where they send out the emails on your behalf. So you can, you know, sort through. I want to just do beverage brands. Well, they will get into the habit, they will send the emails out on your behalf for you. And then you can see, you know, how many of those emails were opened, how many of those emails came back. Um, and this is an example of having Apollo actually send out product placement emails. You can see if it bounced, you can see if someone actually opened up your email, you can see what time the email was sent, um, if they clicked in and if they forwarded the email. Um, and so you can see right here for this product placement that I was sending out um for a film, I can see that they actually opened the email. I can only see, and then I can see that this it was delivered, it was opened and they actually replied back to me or they forwarded. So it can kind of give you more detail if you use the Apollo platform in itself. Um, if not, um sometimes I don't want to use the Apollo platform because I really want to cater who I'm sending the, you know, the email to. So if I'm sending it out to Mac, then I may want to include that uh brand partner, you know, employee's name. I may want to include a joke in there. The only thing that Apollo doesn't do, it keeps it very generic. So you cannot customize your emails. So totally up to you, um, depending on how much time you have. But I've seen it work both ways well in having them send it out or me sending it out myself. But I tend to do old school where I send out emails myself, I customize emails myself, I schedule emails um in my free time. So today I sent out a bunch of emails, but I schedule them to go out starting early in the morning. Um, and so I do that in my free time. Really quickly, what I want to show you what I mean by you can find brands, emails, and contacts. So today I contacted Mac. Um, and you can look up who some of the people are in the organization. Of course. You want to find somebody that's in brands or marketing or partnership, or depending on how you're feeling, um, you know, sometimes I send it out to the CEO, depending on how big and small the company is. Um, or you know, you may want to send it to somebody that's in marketing because their goal is to market a product. So let's just um say you were to send it out to um fine, and if you have it a free version, it doesn't allow you to see all of the employees. So you just kind of got to work with what you have. But let's say I wanted to contact this person over in sales and marketing. What Apollo allows you to do is access their email so you will not get any bounce back. Well, they don't have an email. I didn't slide all the way over. Let me see. You can slide over and see who has an email. Um, so let's just say for this purposes, I'm gonna do global director experience, not somebody that I will contact. Um, I will contact somebody in brand, somebody's in partnership, somebody that's in marketing, a director, somebody that's in charge that can actually make some decisions. Um, and so if I wanted to contact this person, what Apollo allows you to do is access their email. You do not want to send emails to info at Mat Cosmetics, you want to send emails to the direct person so they can get that email. Sometimes when you send it off to generic emails, it just bounces around, it doesn't go to the proper person. So, what Apollo allows you to do is send it to the person that you're actually trying to send it to. You can actually get their emails, you can request their phone numbers and you can give them a call, you can introduce yourself on the phone. Um, also, what Apollo does that I actually like if you download the okay, I don't have it because I had some computer. Oh, it popped up. Um, if you download the Google Chrome and you are on any website, you can click this little right tab on the right, and it will start to tell you about the employees, a little bit about the brand, um, who it is that you could possibly contact. You can add them to your list. Um, you can start to immediately view some of the employees. Hey, this is the president and chief executive. I am going to either add them to um, you can add them to a list to compose all your emails later, or you can just click right now access email and it'll let you know who Elliot is and you want to send Elliot an email, or if you want to call Elliot, send them over your information, your pitch deck, etc. All right. So this is how I use my Apollo to be able to reach out to brands um in real time.

Pricing Tiers Decks And Websites

SPEAKER_03 46:53

Um, you know, when we're talking about product placement, how does it help? 2K can cover craft services. You know, if you are just starting with product placement, you may want to start small. You may not want to shoot for the stars and say, I'm gonna charge you guys a million dollars, two million dollars, because it happens. These brands and TV shows are paying so much money to be a part of these projects. But you may be new to product placement and you may are trying to get your feet wet, and you may say, Hey, I'm going to contact the local coffee shop down the street, and I may just charge them a thousand dollars to actually show their brand, because then you know what, that'll cover craft services, or we can buy some gear, or we can actually shoot in our location for free. Um, and so you may want to start off small. You may also want to start off small depending on your talent. You may not have any, you know, big name talent to be a part of your project, like a Viola Davis or Mel Gibson. So you're not charging $2 million for the brand to actually be into um to be into your film. Really quick, the pros and cons when it comes to placement and sponsorship is that you may get free gear, free locations. Um, but it can be forced. It can feel forced if you overuse it, it can feel like a commercial. It really boosts the character development and really makes it feel real when you are using brands into your film, but you know, it requires getting approval, so that may be tedious. Also, it can help you build relationships with real businesses. What I try to tell people if a brand is not, you know, ready to connect with you on this film project, that's okay. You want to get their contact information, stay in contact because you're going to make another film. So uh Ralph Lauren, I have been chasing them for a couple of years, and I finally got a call and they're like, hey, listen, these are the type of films that we're looking for, these are the type of talent that we're looking for. When you get that, give us a call back. And so I stay in contact. I send off, you know, once or twice, I send off a hello, Christmas emails, happy new year emails. Um, because everybody that you're building a relationship with right now, it may not be for this project, it may be for your future projects. So again, if someone tells you no or they're, you know, it doesn't align with where they are, keep their email. You know, can I keep you in uh my contact for future films? And if so, what type of films are you guys looking for? So you want to keep that connect open for your next projects. Um, and then again, you can repeat these partnerships with them. If you guys have an amazing partnership in this current film, then they're gonna want to partner with you on another film. Sometimes small brands may not have the funds that you see fit to actually um be a part of. You have um, I don't know, I don't know why I always forget this TV series product placement. Okay, I know I spelled that all wrong, but here we are. Um, so if we look at, you know, the TV series, to understand that brands spent over $236 million on season four alone just to have their brand featured in this film, it's absolutely crazy when you think about it because it has nothing to do with their, they don't have to pay this money back. This is all profit to them. And on top of other ways that they have profited from you know deals and et cetera, product placement is a way to profit. You can actually fund your entire film, you can make more money. Um, and so again, it's a very lucrative. I wish more filmmakers would, you know, jump into this area. But season four alone generated them over 236 million dollars from the vehicles, from accessories, and using the iTechs and iPhones. So this really works. So, you know, if you want to incorporate that and you're really good at reaching out to people, do so. Um, you can just do an easy email like, hey, my name is Michelle. I'm producing a film, I think it aligns with your film project. Here is our deck, here is our website, check it out. And can we set up a call next week? You know, be clever. You know, if you're reaching out to certain brands like a Mercedes, you may want to include a hee-he joke on like their car and how it actually um works with um your film, and you know, however you want to sound personable when it comes to uh sending off an email. You don't want a long email, you want to get straight to the point, and most important, you want to call to action because you want them to um say that they will work with you. So the main thing is to get them on a call. Um, outside of me telling you guys about all of the other decks you need, yes, you're gonna need a product placement deck because you're gonna have to articulate how it is you want to have their brand be featured into your film, whether that's through shoes, whether it's through professional attire, whether it's through snacks, you're trying to win over that brand to let them know that they should work with you in the area when it comes to your story. There are certain tiers that you can have if you're first starting off new. Maybe you just want like a 2000 tier where you know it's some on-screen placement. We can see the book bags, um, a verbal mention, maybe more, or hey, we're thinking about incorporating your brand into our actual film. I always tell people to include numbers, especially if you're not good with pitching numbers and you may feel like I'm asking for too much money, which you're not, um, especially when you see some brands have spent over $200 million on a season alone. You asking for $10,000 is not money. So, you know, but I get that sometimes when we're first starting off, it may be a bit much for us. So include the pricing on your deck. So when you send it off and they say, Hey, we would love to set up a call, you at least know that it's going to bring you in a minimum of $2,000. So they already know that um it's some cost associated with connecting. So these are decks, and you can build them out in Canva. You're including some of the same information that you have in your product um in your regular pitch deck. Um, and real quick, if you have been following me over the last couple of days, I have like cracked this Claude code where I had them work on an actual um deck for me. And I made it into I moved over from Canva and actually made it into a website. And this is our actual deck that is now in an online form where you can send a link, people can share it, and this is the same information as in our deck, but most importantly, what is in this actual website is brand opportunities. So we venture off into sending this over to brands. They can the name of this short film is called Knock Knock, and then you open this website. Hold on one second, I gotta figure out how to do it. I don't know if I can cut that off and talk. I don't know if I can cut that off and talk to you guys. So I am going to um just scroll a little bit so you can kind of see how the website looks on mute. All right. Okay, just so you guys can see that, and please feel free to go check it out. Um, you can go to the link and go through it. But instead of sending over decks, I now send over websites along with something creative for brands where we have pricing already in there. So just depending on how you want to set up your production, your project, um, and how you want to connect with brands to actually be a part of your product placement. Um, so again, you can either do decks or you can do links, you can do websites, you can work with Claude AI to actually build out your website. If you guys have somebody on the team that may be a little HTML coding friendly, it's not as hard as you may think. Um, and so I send that over to brands so that they can see what it is that we're offering and then what some of our tiers look like.

Funding Strategy Beyond Placement

SPEAKER_03 56:01

All right, so this has been like a product placement uh one-on-one when it comes to actually working with brands to fund your project. We're down a rabbit hole of raising 65k for ours, so we'll keep you posted. But you can do this, you can work with brands, you can get money, you can get the things that you need to actually fund your films. As we're talking more about funding, I want you guys to understand that every filmmaker has something different that they like to do that they're good at. I have some friends that do crowdfunding, they're amazing at crowdfunding. I'm only good at crowdfunding if the entire team participates. Outside of that, it is so hard for me to beg for 45 days because that's what I call it. I think it's begging. That's just my personal take like donate, donate, donate. But you have some filmmakers that have such a huge support system, and the minute they drop their crowdfunding campaign, everybody is donating. You have some people that have a huge support system when it comes to investors, and so they don't need to work on product placement. You have some filmmakers that have a huge, you know, they are really good at applying for grants. So, what I would like to tell you as we're talking about funding is put your eggs in all of the baskets and see what works for you. Grants may work for you, um, investors may work for you, product placement may work for you. Um, you know, one or two of them may work. You may not, you may discover you don't like any of them, and you may just want to uh work and and do it, you know, guerrilla style and have everybody come together and shoot free for the weekend. But I just want to say that the possibilities of funding your film is endless. Um, and you always want to make sure you're leveled up when you're speaking to brands. So if you guys are interested in product placement, you can follow me more on the showrunner because I'm really digging into that for the next 40 days. But outside of that, I do encourage you guys to reach out to brands and see if they will love to be a part of your film project. All right. Sorry I kept you guys a few minutes over, but this was a end, you know, the in a little intro to product placement. I do want to set the expectation that product placement is very tedious, it requires a lot of emails, a lot of researching, a lot of following ups. So it's not something that you can just kind of get done in a couple of days. You got to kind of have a system of flow, 20 to 30 emails a day. Um, you know, thinking if if you have a script and you can get $3,000 per scene, you know, hey, I'm gonna pick a product per scene that can fund your film. Um, so you know, figure out how product placement could possibly work for you. And then I encourage you guys to jump into it. Do we have any questions on product placement? Any questions on product placement?

Live Q And A On Outreach

SPEAKER_04 58:57

I'm sorry, you probably answered it um and I stepped away for a second. Okay. I had a question about you had mentioned like if they respond in an email and they're like, Yeah, you can use it, it's fine. Would that work for is that legally binding? Like, would that work for a chain of title? Yeah, if they just said it in an email, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 59:19

You have permission, and then some brands that send you over a document. Um, they all have you know how they work, you know. Some brands may say we would love to be a part of your short as long as it maybe be in festival, but anything outside of streaming, we can't support. So if you really want to work with that brand, it's just really how they show up. And then if you have that legal person on your team, if they're serious, or if your legal person says, no, we prefer this, then you can reach out to the brands. Sometimes the brands are just more interested in giving over product, and so that's a real quick, easy. Hey, you have permission, the binding contract happens that they gave you permission. Example, new balance. So new balance doesn't sign contracts, but they give you permission, and they also have a link dedicated to indie filmmakers where you can go and pick through a certain list of items to actually fund to actually for them to send it to you. So then that becomes a contract. They agree to send you something, you have that in writing, you had the product, and so that should um suffice. Anything that really involves money and bigger checks, I do and I do encourage that you speak with legal and also have um some type of a contract agreement assigned.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:34

Thank you. And other than um looking for the person who does marketing or and or branding, are there any other folks to look for their emails um on LinkedIn to say, like, okay, this this is a might be a good person to send a pitch deck to?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:49

Yeah, like I've sent pitches decks to CEOs. Like I'm a like email person. I've all like my entire life, I've been sending emails. I've sent emails to the CEO of United Airlines. And then if I can't find an email, try to find something that is close. Is it the vice president of marketing? But most importantly, I'm really trying to focus on who has the seniority, who can actually make decisions, who can actually point me in the right direction. If you see somebody that may be in brand marketing, because some titles are really funny, like brand marketing director. Um, you may say to yourself, I don't know if this is the right person, send them an email and say, hey, this is what I'm doing. And can you point me in the right direction? Can you point me to the team or the department that actually handles these types of things? So when in doubt, send somebody, send it to somebody that you feel can be the closest, and then they will point you or forward you to someone else. Mainly you're thinking about brand partnership, right? They're partnering with you, with their brand. You're thinking about marketing because they have to market the company. So they need to market a project. You're thinking about somebody maybe um in the director, even filmmaking producer space or sales. Sometimes sales is really good, depending on how small the company is, because they're trying to get these deals done. They're trying to get their you know company out. But again, brand partnership, marketing, collaborations, anything that's kind of in that area is your best bet. And if you don't know, find somebody closest and then ask them to point you in the right direction. A tip that I love to give is I love to send emails for brand uh product placement during holidays because people out of office is on. So that gives me a cool reason to follow up with them. Like, hey, I'm out of the office for this week. I'm like, bet you reply back to me, I reply back to you and say, I hope you enjoyed your vacation. Now I feel like we're communicating. Um, I also like to send out brand emails, not on Mondays or Fridays. People are usually loaded on Mondays with real work that they have within the company. Fridays, people are tapped out. So Wednesdays and Thursdays are usually the best time that I love to send my emails. Um, also in quarter where companies have not utilized or spent all of their money, they have to figure out how to spend it or they lose it. So that is a good time to also um connect with them. So if you're thinking about sending some emails, I do advise during the holiday season, um, right before the Thanksgiving New Year kickoff, third quarter, because the people who can make the decisions usually go black because they have so much PTO time and they're off. Um, so you know, really pick how you're sending your emails and when you're sending them as well.

Turning Press Into Long Term Value

SPEAKER_02 1:03:45

Thanks. You're welcome. Any other questions?

SPEAKER_04 1:03:54

I have a question, but it's it's like not directly related to product placement, but connected to it a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:01

Yeah, and we'll close out if no one else has another question on product placement. Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:10

Um, I have a question. So I have a few um media opportunities that's coming up for uh a documentary that that I'm gonna premiere this year. And I was trying to figure out how can I how can I leverage those? Like um, what what's the best way to use those other than just like taking a link and of course like putting like we're featured in the news or look at us here?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:34

Like, what is a good way to maximize on those opportunities for what has been showcasing with you?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:44

Yeah, for like so the the um the the news opportunities are are folks local news wanting to talk to me about the film. And so I'm trying to see like, oh, how can I use that later? How can I I I feel like this must be an opportunity, like other than to promote the film, like how can I maximize on it?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:06

So I usually enter things like that into my IMDB profile as that's attached to the project. Um I put them on my pitch deck, I put them on my website, I use them in the film freeway, especially if I mention the project. I use all of my PR links to get other, you know, uh write-ups. So if I have four or five PR links in regards to a project, then I may hit somebody up on deadline and say, hey, you know, we have some ongoing articles, we would love to continue that uh conversation. Um, and so just trying to figure out creative wise, adding it to your website, adding it to your production company website, showing movement, showing that track on uh your social pages are is really important. So it can be used just in a different way, but put it in your pitch tag, you know, um put it on your film freeway. IMDB account for that project because it will live and people will eventually come back to it and watch it.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:07

Okay. Thank you. That's helpful.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:12

Any other questions?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:18

Okay.

Class Schedule And Claude Tip

SPEAKER_03 1:06:19

We have a QA session planned this Thursday. Come and talk about your project. Ask all the questions you want. Next week, we are going to pause, just take a mid-break, just to give everyone some time to catch up on some videos, on the treatments that you may need, on just a week to rest instead of coming to the classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. And then we will continue the week after. But if you have any questions, um the QA is 7 p.m. Eastern time. 7 p.m. Eastern time. So it'd be in the evening. If you guys have any questions, just let me know. Make sure you catch up on your videos. I will do the recaps today. And if you need any help before then, just kind of keep me posted.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:10

All right.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:13

Well, I will see you guys soon. Check on product placement. Most importantly, work with Claude. It has been killing the game. Uh for me. I'm pleasantly surprised with having that tool just for $20. The website that I showed you guys today, it built that entire thing. And um, you know, graphic design is not cheap, so saved a few thousands of dollars.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:40

Um C-L-A-U-D. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:43

It is C-L-A-U-D-E. Yeah. And you have to do the paid in order to do some websites and designs and things like that. It builds director sites, production sites. I've just been building nothing but sites for the production company and myself. So I was like, ooh, okay, didn't know this, but um, yeah, you can tell it to do what you want it to do, have your images and your texting and things like that, and it helps fill it in. So, again, always being creative, always thinking outside of the box as you're working with brands, investors, and companies on how to you know make yourself stand out. All right. Well, I will see you guys uh this Thursday. Come with your questions and I will come with answers. Make sure you tune in to the crowdfunding video this Wednesday, and then spend next week to catch up on your documents and videos, etc. Just to make sure you're doing all that you can do so that your projects are where you want them to be, or you're at a better place than what you started when you came into the program. All right, I will see you guys around. And if you need anything, let me know. Thanks, Michelle. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:55

Um thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:56

You're welcome. Alicia, make sure you check your documents. I didn't know exactly all that you wanted me to check, but tag me or um you can leave a comment and at me if you need me to check something specific. I think the only thing I have left for you is the pitch deck, which is very minimal. I just for the characters, um, I wanted you to make sure you guys are picking the person that will actually pay play that character, but just a little bit. But if you need anything or if I missed anything, let me know and I'll double check that. Perfect. Thank you. All right, do you have a good one? I hope all went well with your appointment. Yeah, it did. I'm just going through parameters. Listen, we are the same, you know. Life is lifing right now. All right. All right, thanks, Michelle. You're welcome. Bye. And that's a wrap.

Final Reminder And Share Request

SPEAKER_03 1:09:55

All right. If this has helped you think differently about your film, do me a favor share this to another filmmaker who needs it.