Most indie filmmakers treat a press kit like a homework assignment. They compile everything the festival asks for, format it cleanly, and submit it feeling prepared. Then distribution never comes — and they blame the film.
The press kit was the problem.
A press kit is not a festival formality. It is a sales document. And the person reading it most carefully is not a programmer deciding whether your film fits their lineup. It is a buyer deciding whether your film can move units, fill a licensing window, or anchor a streaming catalog. That buyer has thirty seconds and a folder full of other submissions. Your press kit either surfaces a commercial case immediately, or it disappears.
Most filmmakers spend weeks perfecting their synopsis and director statement. The element that actually moves buyers gets treated as an afterthought — or worse, handed to the wrong person entirely.
The Mistake Almost Every Indie Press Kit Makes
The failure is not a formatting issue. It is a positioning issue.
Press kits written for festivals are written to impress. They lead with artistic intention, thematic complexity, and festival pedigree. They bury the commercial hook under three paragraphs of synopsis that describe what happens in the film without ever explaining why anyone would pay to watch it.
Distributors do not evaluate films the way programmers do.
They evaluate sellability. They are asking:
- What audience is this for?
- How do I market it?
- Does it have any elements — cast, concept, genre — that de-risk acquisition?
A vague, literary synopsis answers none of those questions. It signals that the filmmaker has not thought about the market, which signals that acquiring the film will be more work than it is worth.
Another common failure:
Production value is never surfaced quickly.
A film shot with experienced crew, recognizable talent, or high technical standards should make that clear in the first half of the document. Buyers are looking for signals that reduce their risk. If those signals are buried or absent, the kit reads as amateur by default.
The Materials You Actually Need
This is not a guide. It is a checklist. If you have these, your kit is functional:
- Logline + synopsis written around audience and commercial hook, not plot summary
- Director statement tied to the film’s market positioning, not artistic philosophy
- Cast and crew credibility signals — recognizable names, prior releases, notable sales or awards that transfer credibility to this project
- High-resolution production stills that media can actually use (minimum 3–5, clean, usable without permission delays)
- Festival selections and awards listed only as market validation, not as the centerpiece of the pitch
- Your trailer.
That is the complete list. Everything else is optional.
Even with all of this in place, none of it closes a deal as fast as one asset does.
The Movie Trailer Is Your Lever
Before a distributor reads your synopsis, they will watch your movie trailer. Before they review your cast list, they will watch your trailer. The trailer is doing the work that every other element of your press kit only supports.
This is not a preference. It is how acquisition decisions actually move.
A movie trailer must deliver tone, pacing, genre, and audience signal in under two minutes. It simulates the viewing experience faster than any written description can. A buyer who watches a well-cut trailer knows within 90 seconds whether the film fits a slot in their catalog, whether it can be marketed to a specific audience, and whether it is worth the conversation.
For a distribution-facing trailer, 90 seconds is the sweet spot. Anywhere from 75 to 120 seconds is acceptable. Longer than that and you are asking for attention you have not earned.
Placement matters as much as length. The trailer should be the first substantive element in your press kit — above the synopsis, above the director statement, above everything except your title and logline. If a buyer has to scroll to find it, you have already lost ground.
Why Trailer Editing Is Not a Filmmaking Skill
This is where most indie filmmakers make a costly assumption: that a talented film editor can cut a great trailer.
Film editing and trailer editing share tools. They do not share logic. A film editor is building narrative coherence over 90 minutes. A trailer editor is executing a sales pitch in 90 seconds. Those are fundamentally different problems.
A trailer editor is executing a sales pitch in 90 seconds.
An effective distribution movie trailer requires three things that have nothing to do with editing technique:
- Positioning strategy: what is the hook, and who is it for.
- Audience targeting: what does this audience need to see to feel confident in the film.
- Hook design: what is the first five seconds doing, and why.
A movie trailer that does not answer those questions may be beautifully cut and completely ineffective.
Distributors react to perceived sellability. That perception is created or destroyed in the first few seconds of your trailer. If the opening does not immediately signal genre, stakes, and tone with clarity, the rest of the trailer is fighting a losing battle.
What This Means for Your Film
If you are preparing for a festival run with distribution as the goal, the trailer is not a marketing asset you will figure out later:
It is the leverage point the entire press kit is built around.
Every other element, your synopsis, your director statement, your stills, exists to reinforce what the trailer already established.
If your trailer is not doing that job, the rest of the kit cannot compensate.
That’s why I specialize in cutting trailers specifically for distribution contexts, designing them around the positioning and hook logic that moves buyers. If you are heading into a festival cycle with a distribution target, I recommend you watching some of my trailers at my home page so you can grasp how a movie trailer designed for distribution looks like.
MAX-Q Studio 