For UCLA extension student James Ayala, taking a class for the
third time has nothing to do with failure.
In fact, having the opportunity to learn how to market movies
and impress industry people, including directors and producers,
keeps him returning to a class titled “The Marketing
Challenge: Selling New Movies From the Sundance Institute
Filmmakers.”
The first time was for credit, but since then, Ayala has gone
back for Ira Teller’s inspirational teaching and the hands-on
creative work.
“I’m a child abuse investigator ““ that’s
my full-time job ““ but I love the creative world, and this
was an opportunity to actually create something for an actual
project,” Ayala said.
This past summer, after working on “Brother To
Brother,” Ayala’s poster was presented to and chosen as
the main promotional imag for the film by writer-director Rodney
Evans and distributor Orly Ravid.
“When actual directors come into the classroom and we
present to them, it’s amazing,” Ayala said. “I
never specifically thought (this class) would take me in this
direction. If your project is picked, it does open doors for you.
I’ve had a lot of offers. You become sort of a
celebrity.”
Under the guidance of Teller over the course of 12 weeks, Ayala,
along with 20 to 25 other students, uses newly acquired knowledge
to design posters and edit theatrical trailers for three or four
unreleased films per quarter ““ usually official Sundance
Festival entries.
Students screen a film and brainstorm ways to market it. As a
group, they discuss themes from the movie that can be mirrored in
the ad campaign and used to draw in a broader audience.
They work in groups or on their own to create poster designs and
trailers that, five weeks later, are presented to and critiqued by
the director and marketers of the film.
When the filmmakers like what they see, they contact the
students and use their work. But Ayala hasn’t been the only
student to benefit from the class.
Jake Odenberg graduated from UCLA in 2002 with a degree in
American Literature and Culture. He was in the process of adding to
his portfolio when he enrolled in Teller’s class. He wanted
to up his chances of getting into film school so he could get a job
in the industry.
He never applied.
Instead, he showed Craig Murray Productions (a trailer company)
a reel of trailers he had completed in Teller’s class. He
started work at the company as a trailer editor last week. Thanks
to Teller’s connections and the class projects, Odenberg used
a different means to get to the end he wanted.
He plans on taking the class for the third time this winter.
“The best thing about (Teller) is that he approaches
marketing from an artistic standpoint. He wants you to create a
work of art,” Odenberg said.
Both Ayala and Odenberg had no experience in marketing or the
film industry before taking the class, yet both managed to go far
in a short period of time.
This past summer, the class worked on “Brother To
Brother,” winner of the Special Jury Award at the 2004
Sundance Film Festival, “November,” to be distributed
by Sony Pictures Classics and starring Courtney Cox, “Winter
Solstice,” to be distributed by Paramount Classics, and
“Salt For the Earth.”
Teller is passionate about giving independent filmmakers the
opportunity to choose among many marketing designs. According to
him, the underdogs of the industry inevitably get beat by major
studio marketers who use “size, expenditure and marketing
muscle” to compensate for lack of originality. His goal is to
get his students to convey a theme and tell a story in the posters
and trailers they create.
“All you see is a bunch of heads (when you see an ad in
the newspaper),” he said.
Still, even though Teller may not be able to change the face of
marketing, he is confident the work his students create is equally
valuable to the work of big-budget studios, and is hopeful he will
have the opportunity to share his experience with more students in
the future.
“If you put a price tag on what the class creates, its
value in the real world would be approximately $250,000 of
advertising materials,” Teller said. “I would love to
see students from UCLA undergraduate school take this course.
I’d like to teach it in the undergraduate school
myself.”