The Sleeping Room

Market

Target market

Horror genre fans and mainstream thriller audiences who enjoy a gripping story, told well through great characters and strong performances.

Characteristics of target market

The appeal for original ghost stories is a timeless one. Take for example classic titles such as THE INNOCENTS and THE SHINING. There’s the phenomena’s of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY franchise. Recent box office successes include THE WOMAN IN BLACK and THE CONJURING, whilst currently INSIDIOUS 2 and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES continue to hold their own at the box office.

Clearly audiences have an insatiable appetite to have the hairs on the back of their neck raised, and to be scared witless! These films are predominantly good stories, told well with great performances, using music and sound effects achieve their dramatic beats - and not necessarily A-list movie stars, big budgets or lavish special effects.

When a film succeeds on that rudimentary level, people tell their friends and encourage them to go and see it. We believe that THE SLEEPING ROOM holds the potential to truly connect with audiences and carry a timeless appeal.

Marketing strategy

There is nobody better placed to sell a film than its creators. By retaining UK sales and distribution rights, and raising a P&A spend through a separate crowd-funding campaign, we will have both independence and a growing audience, ahead of the films release.

We will structure a targeted marketing campaign around our world premiere, utilizing social media, PR, viral video and bespoke press events, leading towards a ‘day and date’ UK release across all platforms; cinema, pay per view TV, DVD and video on demand / digital.

We are also investigating the business case to exploit the film’s story IP rights, across key digital platforms, and capitalise on the great potential to reach an audience who sit outside mainstream media channels.

For example, a mobile app which allows the audience to probe into the backstory of the main antagonist, and the world of Mutoscope filmmaking, with the opportunity for users to create ‘What the Butler Saw’ style home movies within an app for themselves, captured on a hand held device, and the end results shared on social media networks, to ultimately increase the awareness, and discoverability of the film.

Competition strategy

THE SLEEPING ROOM is our second feature film release and so we have the benefit of experience on our side.

Every film is a unique offering to audiences and the truth is that nobody really knows what people will respond to. Traditionally the problem for low budget independent films is getting them seen. Sales companies and distributors are reluctant to gamble big money on a cinema release with an unproven product, and in most cases, nothing at all. So until a film is presented to a paying audience, how can we gauge its true potential? For an independent film to truly break out on the scale of notorious supernatural financial successes such as The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, studio backing is essential because this requires a huge P&A spend to position the film in multiplexes.

The only way to procure studio backing is by proving a phenomenal audience reaction to a film on your own, and some strong box office success. Financing our own small cinema release through crowd-funding, will provide THE SLEEPING ROOM with the opportunity to find out if the film can actually gain the necessary traction with paying audiences to break out. We believe that this film has the potential, and if successful, then it will certainly lead to an extended run and some newsworthy press.