How a Detour in Marketing Helped Kelli McNeil-Yellen Distribute Her First Feature

McNeil-Yellen talks about selling out Slamdance screenings, attracting Peter Farrelly as an EP, and building an accessible set.

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Kelli McNeil-Yellen wrote what would become her first feature film in 2007. That movie, Daruma, a microbudget comedy about a disabled father, is just coming out this month. Along the way, McNeil-Yellen — who studied theater at USC — took up a marketing career. “At the time, I was really resentful because I always felt like I was on the outside looking in,” McNeil-Yellen says. “And now that I'm on this side of things, I cannot believe what a gift this education [in marketing and PR] was.”

McNeil-Yellen wound up producing and self-distributing her film, which was directed by her husband, Alexander Yellen. And her marketing background helped her sell out two screenings at Slamdance, get written up in the trades, and attract invites to the White House. I was curious about just how she applied lessons from her day job to self-distributing her movie, so I called her up to chat.

Were you starting to think about distribution as early as pre-production?

I started to notice at that point that that's the one part of the process that people didn't have good answers for. Acquisitions have really stopped. Since the contraction, everything's really being made in-house and there's no big acquisitions. If you look at what's coming out of Sundance, there were only a couple big sales. And some films have been on the market for years. Our biggest festival was Slamdance, and it was great, but no one was beating on our door offering us millions of dollars. The distribution landscape is so broken right now. And I don't know how it's going to get fixed.

If you're a small independent filmmaker, you're going to need to drive your distribution strategy and that marketing and PR strategy. The monumental lift that it takes to do this, no one distribution company can possibly do that on their own. It's impossible. I have a good distribution partner, and they're letting me drive the messaging because I've done it for so long and I have the connections. I think a lot of filmmakers think that as soon as they get distribution, suddenly the marketing and PR starts, and that's just not the case. It's critical that filmmakers know how to do this and are working towards that goal before they even pick up a camera. 

Daruma at Slamdance.

What does that actually look like?

I put together an eight city tour for our film. You can have a distribution company do that for you, but they'll charge you fifty thousand dollars for that. I can't afford that. So that means I have to handle media in eight different markets. I have our website, I have our influencer campaign. I just sent off fifteen boxes that disabled influencers are going to be unboxing on our launch. And I've got all these brands on board. It's a house of cards. And a distribution company probably won't have the bandwidth to do all that for their film. So you need to look at what you can bring to the table. 

How do those boxes and giveaways come about?

To get butts in seats, sometimes you have to bribe people. I've worked with brands, and I know that every time they participate they're looking for something. By partnering with me, I can solve a business need for them too. So last summer when we had our premiere in LA we had an afterparty and I gave out one hundred and fifty bags to attendees, and it went really well. But then the actors strike happened, so we weren't able to promote the film or do any media. But then we got the call that we were in Slamdance. In order to make a splash, I wanted to sell out both of my screenings. And I knew that the best way to do that was to have swag bags that were so unbelievable people couldn't say no to them. I wound up putting together two hundred fifty gift bags, each worth about two hundred fifty dollars. And we sold out both of the screenings. So I had people walking around Park City with my branded logos, my bags. I got twenty four pieces of press out of that effort. And for a film at Slamdance without distribution, that is crazy. 

Daruma Q&A at Slamdance.

For the eight city tour, does that come about just from reaching out to different theaters that you think might be good fits for the film? 

Absolutely. But they have to see your track record too. They've seen the website, read the press, they've talked to me. They know I'm going to pack those theaters. And I just sent out swag bags to each city. I'm going to give out one gift bag at every screening throughout the entire theatrical tour. It's all in service of eventizing the screenings — making them exciting and fun. Gift bags might not be for everyone. But you have to differentiate yourself somehow. 

A lot of the theaters, we're doing a box office split, which means I'm not outlaying money out front. For a few of the theaters, I am four-walling for a low price — meaning you rent the theater and you take home all the ticket sales. 

Can you talk about how you build an accessible set, and then moreover, how you build an accessible production?