Now a three-time vet of the Sundance Film Festival, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) knows how hard it is to sell your movie and also know how hard it is to get people to see your movie after it has distribution. Fortunately for him, his third feature doc, POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold already got distribution before its Sundance premiere, but it was a long road to getting the juice manufacturer whose name appears in the title to help fund the making of his latest doc.
Looking at the model for summer blockbusters like Iron Man, Spurlock realized how important product placement and marketing were to the process of making films, as well as to films making money, so he started to pursue sponsorship partners with the idea that these brands would be carefully placed within the movie. The process began by talking with various agents and marketing companies, then progressed to calling and visiting various companies for pitch meetings. The results are absolutely hilarious, not only due to Spurlock’s quick-witted charm and personality, but also due to some of the things he learned about branding, movie marketing and product placement over the course of making the movie.
ComingSoon.net had a chance to talk with Spurlock, who conveniently was wearing his custom jacket plastered with advertising from all the companies who helped sponsor the making of the movie including Ban, Jet Blue, the Hyatt, and of course, POM Wonderful.
POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold opens in April in select cities; look for our review very soon.
