Everything you need in an Electronic Press Kit (EPK)
Last week I shared a few different types of printed materials to use at film festivals. This week, I thought I’d follow up with a post on the essential components of the Indiefilm Electronic Press Kit. I will say that this is one thing where reasonable people can disagree, so if you think there’s something I missed, comment below and I might change the post to include it.
How people should access your press kit
Your press kit is not the same as the press tab on your website. The press tab on your website is primarily to promote your film to consumers and assemble the press that you’ve gotten for both your company and your film. The EPK is a kit to give potential reporters and reviewers of your film so that they have most of everything they need to do an article on you, or a report on you. Here’s what you’ll generally need to provide them. (Often, this will be behind a password firewall, that you’ll include on your printed materials.)
Synopsis
You’ll want to include a catchy summary of your film. This will be in lots of places on your site, but you want to make it easy to reference for the press.
A Running Festival Acceptance/Award List
This section will be on the press tab as well, but you should keep everything on a single page for your film. It’s essentially just a list of any and all film festivals you’ve been accepted to, as well as any and all awards you’ve won.
Trailer/Clips from the film
You should include your trailer and maybe a scene or two from your film to give those who are writing an article on your film the ability to do their job both easily and well. I’d also include a direct link to wherever the videos are hosted.
Full Bio of Cast/Crew/Production Company With Social Media/IMDb links.
Your regular site will have a lot of this information, but you’ll want to make sure you include the names, bios, previous credits, and links to public-facing social media profiles of all your key cast and crew. These would be the producers, directors, leads, and strong supporting characters.
Photo Gallery/Downloadable Zip File
Articles tend to come with a few photos, so I’d include around 10-15 photos including stills from your movie and headshots of key personnel. Make sure they’re high-res, but not Raw.
A Password Protected Screener
You should definitely include a password-protected screener for your film. In this instance, it’s acceptable to have something akin to an email for a password below it. Normally this isn’t something you’ll want to do to people reviewing your movie, but since you’ll probably hand the other password out as part of your printed materials that may end up in the wrong hands this one might be wise to include.
If you’ve got too much to do and wish you had templates for your printed materials, I’ve got your back. My resource pack is chock-full of templates including festival brochures, investment decks, contact tracking, form letters, and exclusive educational content to help you grow your filmmaking career. Click the link below to grab it.
