Most filmmakers do not have money to throw at advertising their film. Even if they did, they would soon find ads are not that effective. Many look at media relations (aka press relations, PR) as free advertising, but it is more complex than that idea implies. The media will mention you in articles, columns, radio stories, or videos but only if you have a story or information that interests them.

If you want media people to cover you, you must think like one. Learn how to spot and mold stories from the real life people that help you make films. Not only that but it is as important to know what stories work best in which medium.

Video/TV Wants Motion

To belabor the obvious, video is most expressive when it features visual motion and sound. So a story that is heavy on theory or imagery that cannot be captured with a camera would not likely be something video bloggers or tv producers would be interested in. Video could be a great way to illustrate a filmmakers living space or to show how your cameraman's arm bends really far due to a car accident he had. The videos need also be brief: television feature stories often last one minute and online video attention spans are notoriously short.

Podcast/Radio Wants Sound

Audio podcasts and radio journalism is all about unique soundscapes and short bits of speech. If your film has a lot of sound effects or interesting music in it, that might make a good beginning of an audio piece. If you have a crew member with an interesting voice or way of speaking he or she might become a great interview subject. It need not be only crew members, family members who speak funny or friends that are outspoken that somehow tie into your production are a possibility. Audio might the best option for a production that does not want to give away the visuals in their film or feel that those visuals might detract somehow: some people come across confident on the radio but on video look scared to death. Radio and podcast listeners can be expected to listen to an hour conversation if it is interesting, so this gives you more room to expand on themes and subjects that video would likely not allow.

Text/Print Wants Depth

Print magazines, blogs, or newspapers can do what video and audio publications can do, but in a less impactful manner. Words can be used to describe a person's voice or their graceful way of walking, but only audio and video can accurately convey the fullness of the experience. Intellectual, logical or complex stories are best communicated via text-based publications since the other media do not have the room to properly set context and reach the depths that text can. If it involves thought processes that the thinker cannot elucidate in speech compellingly, text might be the way to go. Text journalists can do long features easily, while long audio or video pieces get more expensive and cumbersome the longer they are. Text articles and stories are also the easiest to pass around. Some people cannot watch online video, some do not know how to listen to podcasts: the lowest common denominator of all internet-connected people is text.

When choosing which type of media to work with to spread the word about your film, keep in mind the popularity of each medium. Video is the most popular followed by audio and then print. So you might consider whether it is better to simplify a story to reach more people or tell it in full complexity in a less popular medium.