Papadopoulos & Sons Director Q&A

Marcus Markou, director of Papadopoulos & Sons, came in for a Q&A session with our class. I found this session extremely useful as we learn a lot about the production and distribution of films however I have never actually spoken face-to-face with a director about the processes he went through in order to get his film 'out there'.

The top 5 things I took away from this session are:

1. You don't need a big budget to create a very popular film.
2. Targeting specific groups within your target audience is an extremely effective way of creating word of mouth e.g. Marcus Markou directly contacted fish and chip shop owners living in London.
3. Casting big names puts you at a great advantage as it immediately attracts the fans of that specific actor e.g. Stephen Dillane.
4. It is difficult to predict what proportion of the budget is spent on actors and locations as each actor/location varies.
5. Social media is a great way to spread word of mouth about low budget films as it is a below the line method and has an unlimited potential audience.