For indie filmmakers, the trick is finding an audience

At the Independent Film Festival of Boston's première of "On Broadway," the ticket holder's line wraps around the block. Limos pull up to the Somerville Theatre, delivering cast members Joey (New Kids on the Block) McIntyre, Will ("Arrested Development") Arnett, and Eliza ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") Dushku. Even Boston Mayor Thomas Menino makes an appearance.

But hordes of locals, a name-brand cast, and the mayor's blessing can't guarantee the Boston-made film will have legs beyond this festival weekend. Even the paparazzi clinging to Dushku's tight, gold- and silver-sequined dress can't make writer-director Dave McLaughlin's dreams of theatrical distribution for "On Broadway" come true.

So McLaughlin has adjusted his expectations. Sort of.

"Success/failure will be a matter of whether people are moved by the film," McLaughlin wrote in an e-mail the week before the festival. "Whether they respond to it."

The trick is reaching that audience. In these digital days, it seems anyone can direct. But with hundreds of microbudgeted movies made each year, demand for venues and audiences is way up. Many films don't reach the festival circuit, let alone get a theatrical release or rack space at Blockbuster. Some go straight to DVD. Some find a specialized audience on the Internet. Some go nowhere.

The measure of "success" has come to mean something other than a "Spider-Man 3"-sized opening weekend for indie filmmakers, who have become creative marketers to rally a fan base.

So let's say you're a McLaughlin. You've lined up $30,000 or $3 million in financing and maxed out your credit cards and/or your parents' goodwill. You shot, you scored, and the film is in the can. Now what?

"There's this mythology that at Sundance Harvey Weinstein will walk into the screening and write you a check for $1 million," says Matt Dentler, producer for the South by Southwest film festival. Only 5 percent of the 122 feature films in competition at Sundance – in 2007, culled from 3,287 entries – get any sort of deal, major or minor. Some odds.

"Everyone wants to get their film seen," says Portland-based director Cullen Hoback, whose documentary "Monster Camp" screened at the IFF Boston. "Number 2 goal: Getting to make another film." That means, at least, breaking even to pay off any investors.

"On Broadway" has the advantage of recognizable stars, national release after IFF Boston, DVD or otherwise, is likely. The movie is already slated for a European première at the Galway Film Fleadh in July, and media attention at fests can help ink a bigger deal. But straight-to-Internet download is a more likely – and cheaper – route to finding viewers, whose independent tastes can be targeted.

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