Film Courage: How long did you work on this [pitch] deck for Val [movie]?
Victoria Fratz, Actress/Producer/Writer: So yeah, I've been probably working on this deck,
I’ve been working on it all the way into production because as you are going through
the process of pre-production into production, you realize different needs that the project
needs. One of those things that came in later was trying to lock some product placement. Where are
some natural places in the script where I might be able to lock product placement and therefore
more on the tail end of all these decks. I'm making I'm making them for the cast, the crew,
the agents the tail end would become product placement pitches so it's and that that's
really like kind of like your standard deck sort of what I sent you guys the opening deck and then
more information on where how will their product be displayed how often will we be seeing their
product is it going to be a closeup or is it going to be like a wide are we actually seeing
some logos some branding I get really specific about what it is that we can offer for different
product placement opportunities I was able to do this really well with Electric Love [movie] who
probably one of my stronger assets I brought to the table because of my sort of influencer
social media background I do have quite a few contacts with brands at varying levels and so
I was able to save us and make us I want to say close to like 10% of the budget and so and that
that's from saving money and also like bringing in investors all at the same time so to grow your
budget 10% for our feature Electric Love [movie] it was no small thing you're kind of like finding
money sort of the tail end of of things and that's that's very important to any production so yeah so
I work on the decks pretty rigorously pretty much until we lock picture or until until we don't need
any more money which that's basically never so are you handpicking potential product placement
are you saying what I really like this product and I think I could see Val using this or having this
on her nightstand let me send an email oh for sure there there's a degree of that that but it's also
a degree of like what's already like organically in the script so let's see Val drinks whiskey a
few times in in the movie so I love I also love whiskey let's see like what what brands do maybe I
know from like Past Times of working with whiskey companies ones I don't know does it have to just
be whiskey maybe she drinks vodka because I know a few vodka companies so then and then that's
sending out that deck like that but the most important thing is you never want to trade money
for the as like artisanal as it sounds as the the product product the products Integrity you don't
want to trade getting some sort of investment from product placement to do some very over-the-top
like Coca-Cola in the hand perfect like logo out I think Stranger Things did something like that with
like New Coke and they got blasted on and reviews for it I really do try to think of really natural
integrated product placement and then I think that that works for the brand as well the brand wants
someone authentically using the product and for them to look natural if they are going to
be drinking vodka or whiskey and then all that also came into wardrobe trades for Val because
we wanted her to be wearing these really lavish pieces so I would create this versions of these
decks and send them out to different like high-end fashion houses and try and secure different levels
of like high-end couture for Val to be wearing it throughout the movie and so with with the clothing
though that would only be noted in the credits correct yeah then that's a little bit of a she's
going to be wearing it for probably 20 minutes of the movie and you'll get a special things in
the credit up are you up for it and sometimes the brands they'll negotiate with you for a little bit
so you you don't want to ever think that that's all you have to offer you can offer so much more
you're like for my social media for example that's another that's another wonderful asset that I have
is that I can say okay whatever wardrobe you send per Val first of all I'm sure Misha Reeves
friend will offer to wear it and post it to her followers but I will also like I'll I'll do like
a photo shoot and I'll wear it and I'll post it and I'll tag you so at the very very least you
are like I'm always trying to like add a little bit more value to to whatever deal I'm trying to
make and thankfully I do have my social media to lean back on as a little even if because the the
brand doesn't exactly know our movie yet but they can look at my Instagram pretty easily and be like
oh all right well that's however many eyeballs and it's going to get however many legs okay it's
almost like a safe safety net for them I think so that is something that's a little bit special that
I have and I when when actors or or producers or whomever say like how important is social media
the sky it is it's as important as you want to make it like just know that you have an asset if
you're able to build it and then use it use it as often as you can probably to my followers sugrin
they're like but no I think they like it I try and put some cool stuff out there and what was it
Whiskey that she ended up drinking in the film we didn't we were unable to lock that brand I know I
know I'm trying to think of what we were able to do with Val I think with Val it was really hard
hitting the pavement there brands I don't know if it's changed if it's gotten more complicated
and just too so many people have kind of gotten the same idea when I was doing this five or six
years ago I was constantly in communication with brands it was it was a very different animal and
I had a much more of a direct line to all these these people and if they if it was a pass if they
said no to me I usually always got an email saying like politely declining these days I hardly even
get responses so perhaps that just requires me to become a little bit more nimble with my thinking
I'm always up for asking it doesn't hurt to ask to try and put it out there follow up a lot of people
are happy for you to follow up them they have busy lives so with Val I was able to do a few
trades things that were able to cut expenses in the budget where like different different
companies would send us a whole day of catering for the cast and crew and that's that's money
saved is money earned what I mean that money is now get going to be redirected for something else
we need Pro possibly on the production so anywhere I can save money that's that's a win that's in the
win column with the catering are you reaching out again to the to the restaurant or oh yeah
establishment okay oh yeah I I do I send quite a few emails I probably send at least hundred
for every three May and then I maybe if I'm if I'm lucky I can turn one of those three Mayes into it
yes so it's if anyone's looking like I've been how many emails do I send it I send at least a hundred
per little idea I have and then it's a whole new hundred for okay now there's this other maybe it's
like a car that he's driving when he gets into this altercation with the police let me try and
do that and then that's a whole new slew of a 100 emails to all the different car po possibilities
so yeah it's really basically it's send as many messages as you are physically able that's that's
my best advice that's great is there a website where brands looking to partner yeah you can join
plenty there are actually plenty of third party sites one that I'm part of is called AspireIQ they
more so do it with Instagram influencers, YouTube, TikTok all that sort of thing but the thing you
need to know about seeing that is okay here's LL Bean for example or HelloFresh or whatever I'm
just pulling brands I've seen on there recently they're looking to do something this tells me just
their presence on this even though it's directed towards like an Instagram influencer is it's
telling me that they are looking to do some sort of non-traditional advertising so perhaps I can
now reach out to them and tell them like here's something I'm looking to do it's not exactly in
this vein of me posting on Instagram although it could be but what we're trying to do is product
do some product integration with your brand what do you think and then the conversation goes from
there or or it doesn't but at least you tried oh that's great and so with the catering how does
they get thanked at the end they were thanked mostly in this situation and I kind of hate
to say it because I know everyone doesn't have much of a so like not everyone has spent years
hustling their their social media following but myself and my producing partner Caitlin O'Connor
we have between the two of us a decently sizable following it was her contact who knew she knew the
the catering company and so I just I asked her I was like can you can you give them a call can you
see if they can do this for us and in response to thank them we just did several posts on our
channels just to very much like an Instagram trade on that one but they were and they were
also they were happy too because they're they're nice they're creative guys too and so and we
kind of knew them a little bit and so they were like oh yeah here you go like enjoy thank you.