ABSTRACT
Fundamentally, marketability begins with a creative story developed to appeal to a specific audience. During production and post-production, marketability will also begin to reflect the quality of the film's website, posters, teasers and trailers, IMDb and other online listings, media coverage and print and/or broadcast advertising. In contrast to marketability, the playability of the film represents the extent to which the audience enjoys the film and how the film measures up against the audience's expectations. Unfortunately, rather than achieve a successful balance, many independent filmmakers place too much emphasis on playability and not nearly enough on marketability. It seems strange to discuss the film's title and tagline before addressing the script. But the choice of a good title and tagline–even if only a working title and tagline–can provide inspiration and focus on the original story concept throughout the script development and writing process. Strong titles tend to be memorable, genre-appropriate and reflective of the film's storyline.
