Services

We provide consultancy and campaign delivery for films, film festivals & brands who wish to inspire change.

We create impact strategies to help increase the purpose and profit of social impact entertainment projects.

Consultation

Together Films consultations provide inspiration and practical guidance for filmmakers and film festivals shaping community impact distribution campaigns and enhancing audience engagement. Each session is shaped by your needs and can either be booked as a single conversation or a package of support over the course of your campaign.

Consultations can cover a range of topics depending on the stage of your project:

  • Understanding impact objectives
  • Defining ‘Call To Action’s
  • Creating a data-driven audience strategy
  • Social Media & Newsletter Marketing
  • Screening License Terms & fees
  • Screening License fulfillment & tech
  • Partnership Engagement
  • Website design and copywriting
  • License negotiation skills
  • Sales pipeline planning for license sales
  • Identifying funding opportunities
  • Grant writing & funding proposals
  • Impact Evaluation
  • Distribution & Sales opportunities
  • Screening Discuss Guides
  • Publicity & Awards campaigns
  • Website & database backend production
  • Design & material production
  • Ticketing & E-commerce solutions

Thom Powers

Co-Founder DOC NYC Festival & Pure Nonfiction Podcast

I’ve worked with Together Films at DOC NYC and Pure Nonfiction and they always deliver first rate insights.

I’m consistently impressed with how they use data to drive decision making and stay alert to ever changing shifts in audience engagement.

Among consultants in this field, they are among the best investments I’ve made.

ALICE AEDY​

Co-Founder Earthrise Studio

The strategy advice that we received from Together Films was transformational in terms of how we saw the growth opportunities for Earthrise Studio. Sarah helped to layout potential new content verticals we could be delivering, and how to scale our operations in a sustainable way.

As a new company, the strategic thinking from Together Films informed the launch of our new website and opened our eyes to new ways of monetizing the business. We are forever grateful to Sarah and the team for providing guidance during our formational years so that Earthrise can continue to deliver climate communications that inspire, inform, and educates the exciting community of new climate leaders that we are building.

Impact Campaign Strategy

We work with filmmakers and brands to create bespoke Impact Distribution Strategies that aim to balance purpose & profit. Each proposal is customized to the needs of the team, their current stage, and fundraising needs (if required). This work may include elements such as:

  • Stakeholder meetings
  • Issue context research
  • Partnership research & engagement
  • Hosting Brainstrust Meetings
  • Funding Presentions & Pitch Decks
  • Research & Target funders

 

Think of it like the pre-production phase for your film’s distribution and marketing plan – what are your objectives, what are your goals, and when do you want to achieve them? Are you seeking support with your goals and require strategy support? We have 3 packages to choose from. 

Strategy Lab

2 Weeks
  • Consultation Call (2hrs)
  • 4 Page Visual Strategy Overview
  • Strategy Meeting Notes & Feedback

Strategy Light

6 Weeks
  • Consultation Calls (6hrs)
  • 10 Page Visual Strategy Pitch Deck
  • Campaign Timeline & Budget
  • Research 50 target partners
  • 10 Funding Recommendations

Strategy Focus

12 Weeks
  • Consultation Calls (12hrs)
  • 20 Page Visual Strategy Pitch Deck
  • Stakeholder Meeting with 10+ Key Partners
  • Campaign Objectives & Call To Actions refined
  • Detailed Operational Plan, Campaign Timeline & Budget
  • Research 100 target activation partners
  • Digital Marketing Campaign Recommendations
  • 20 Funding Recommendations
  • 5 Fundraising Applications Submitted

Julie Lunde Lillesaeter

Director, Army of Women

Natalyla Sarch

Producer, Army of Women

Together Films has been a wonderful and dedicated partner as we develop our impact strategy for our documentary An Army of Women.

We have been fortunate enough to begin thinking about impact at an early stage of the film, and Sarah and her talented team have helped us navigate and position our film for both impact and distribution, building on their vast network within the documentary space.

We feel lucky to get to work with such a thoughtful, forward-thinking, and strategic team, and look forward to bringing the film to the world with their help.

Fundraising - Grant Management & Impact Investments

We support social impact entertainment films & campaigns to raise funds from Philanthropists, Foundations, Brands, and Impact Investors.

One of the most common questions during a strategy phase – how will I pay for a campaign? As part of our work, we review your campaign goals and assess what are the fundable project activities (screening logistics, travel, website creation etc) and then assess which funders on the market might be able to support it. 

Please note Together Films must be engaged to help devise your campaign strategy in order to support any fundraising efforts.  

Services for funders

If you are interested in funding (whether by grants or investments) social impact entertainment campaigns, we can advise on multiple opportunities. This may be for film production support or campaign activation. If you are seeking advice on how to approach this space, we are happy to help.

Christine Oliver

Polden Puckham Foundation

We are happy to be supporting Impact Together (the non-profit Foundation of Together Films) to deliver a 3-year initiative called ‘Climate Action Together’.

Our grant enables the team to place the climate crisis at the centre of their operations and support a diverse range of films that are pushing for action in this area. Film has the power to change hearts and minds, which is exactly what we need to collectively do in order to move the needle on this issue.

We are excited about the reach that films like To The End (about the Green New Deal) have already achieved, looking forward to the film moving deeper into community spaces in the coming months.

When reviewing this application, we knew felt confident that the Together team had the experience to deliver campaigns at scale and reach audiences in new ways. They sit alongside a great portfolio of grantees who are all approaching solutions to the climate crisis in unique ways.

Resource & Asset Creation

Are you planning an Impact Campaign? It’s likely you will require a range of resources and assets in order to engage your audience. Our team can help!

Together Films can create a variety of materials (copywriting, design, and technical support) for a range of materials that can amplify your campaigns including Screening Resources Guide, Educational Guides, Social Media Press Kits, and Campaign Websites.

In addition to consultancy services, Together Films also provides key campaign materials, such as strategy outlines and fundraising decks, timelines, and budgets. These are all based on the custom requirements of each film or organization.

We create screening resources in house which include discussion guides, further reading on each film’s issues and themes, and tangible ways to take further action after attending a film screening. Our screening resources are designed to help screening hosts and audiences engage with our films on a deeper level, feel empowered to have meaningful and productive conversations, and turn those conversations into positive action.

Our screening resources guides are tailored to either Community, Education, or Corporate audiences to ensure active engagement with the topic.

We develop impact educational resources that inform and inspire so that screening hosts and audiences leave screenings with further insight and tangible action steps. Depending on the scope we can match these to curriculum-specific requirements & learning objectives, or create a more general screening guide. These can either be delivered as PDF downloads, or we can build you a custom learning portal, including quizzes and certification for participants. 

WE THE POWER Screening Guide
WE-THE-POWER-Screening-Guide-1
In My Blood It Runs Education Resource Pack V2.1 (1)
In My Blood It Runs Education Resource Pack V2.1
THE 8TH Screening Guide (1)
THE 8TH Screening Guide
FREE RENTY Screening Guide (1)
FREE RENTY Screening Guide
TTN Screening Guide (1)
TTN Screening Guide

IMPACT CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT​

We deliver extensive impact campaigns and one-off events on behalf of our film teams. This work will either be commissioned by the filmmaker, distributor and/or sales agent and may include such items as:

  • Non-Theatrical Screening Tours
  • High-level Policy & Influencer Events
  • Virtual Event Production
  • Digital Campaign Management
  • Speaker/Panel Booking
  • Impact Evaluation

OPERATIONAL PLANNING​

Launching an impact campaign requires a lot of operational planning. You are usually working with multiple stakeholders, so what are the lines of communication? When working on multi-territory, multi-lingual campaigns, you might need assets translated into multiple languages. If the campaign hits off, you might be dealing with hundreds of screening requests. 

Working alongside our technology team, we try to streamline these processes, with an efficient project management process, screening request forms, and automation. 

As a client recently said, “Sarah is like the Marie Kondo of the documentary industry – she brings order to everything“. 

We never want you to miss an important request, or milestone and so our strategies include an operational planning strategy so whether we are in charge of delivery or you, everything is prepared in the best way to maximize results. 

We create evaluation reports & case studies for our own projects and can support you in creating your own evaluation framework.

Each campaign has a data dashboard where we can see the impact taking place in real-time (whether that be the number of screenings, social media mentions, or petition signatures). 

Cynthia Lowen

Director, Battleground

We worked with Together Films on the launch of the Battleground Impact Distribution Campaign and accomplished a lot in a short period of time.

Following our World Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival in June 2022, we quickly coordinated several teams to implement a large-scale impact campaign, timed to launch in advance of the midterm elections, when reproductive rights would be on the ballot. There was a lot to do to achieve our goals within the deadline and Sarah and her team helped us navigate our theatrical release plan, supported additional fundraising efforts from aligned donors, and project-managed a range of preview screenings in Washington DC & LA to engage partners, garner additional stakeholders and launch the campaign, as well as social media initiatives. 

They worked diligently alongside our wider impact team led by the wonderful Eliza Licht at Red Owl Partners and I would definitely recommend them to other filmmakers seeking support.

Marketing Activation

We manage marketing campaigns on behalf of filmmakers, film festivals, and brand clients, which may include services such as:

  • Social Media Management
  • Graphic Design
  • Copywriting
  • Newsletter & Database Management
  • SEO & Website Updates
  • Marketing Partnership Engagement


A key part of our work is building strong relationships with a range of impact partners & influencers. We have a huge database of partners tagged by issue area and can rapidly mobilize support around campaigns.

During strategy development, we frequently host stakeholder roundtables to get expert opinions on the key issues featured in a campaign. Partners go on to deliver screening events, speak on panels, and amplify marketing efforts.

We work with our campaign partners in multiple ways: 

  • Expert advice – inviting partners to contribute key information to campaign objectives and resources.
  • Social Media Marketing – a mutually beneficial relationship where the film and partner share information about key campaign updates.
  • Speaking opportunities – to discuss their work following impact screenings of each film.
  • Screening hosts – sharing the film with their networks to increase audience reach and impact.
  • And much more…

 

If you are interested in partnering with one of our current campaigns, please get in touch!

Jennifer Nedbalsky

Deputy Director, Film Festival, Human Rights Watch

We have been working with the Together Films team for over 5 years to help us amplify the reach and revenue of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in London & New York.
 
We love working with this team. They “get us” and our mission-driven content and share our commitment for fusing stories plus the strategy to reach policymakers and support movements for human rights.
 
They have expertise that can help support both the local grassroots-level social justice campaigns while also navigating campaigns that exist on a more global scale – tackling international issues.
 
For each edition of the festival, they help us with overall campaign strategy, social media activation, collaboration with our cinemas, and evaluation of each festival’s reach.
 
During the pandemic, Sarah and her team have been pivotal in helping us to develop a successful digital festival model and provided guidance every step of the way. Our debut digital festival offerings expanded our reach across the UK, Ireland, and the US tremendously and allowed the work of Human Rights Watch to connect with new audiences.
 
They are great with systems design and data to ensure that we stay on track with our targets and approach any challenges head-on to find new ways of engaging audiences in multiple markets.
 
They have gone on to run impact campaigns for titles that we have screened at the festival, and I would highly recommend them to any festival or filmmaker aiming to create impact with their work.

Theatrical Booking Service (US & UK)

We manage a theatrical booking service on behalf of filmmakers and brand clients for a flat fee, which may include:

  • United States and/or UK Theatrical Bookings
  • Hybrid Virtual Cinema Event Release Bookings
  • DCP Fulfilment, Trailer placement and POS activation
  • Targeted Audience Outreach
  • Paid Advertising Campaign
  • Collection and Distribution of Revenues from cinema sales

Theatrical Impact Activation (US & UK)

As part of any theatrical release, Together Films can activate associated impact events and activity. This work may include:

  • Booking and production of high-profile panel events in key target areas
  • Coordinate social messaging from related influencers, participants and supporters
  • Liasion with Publicist to leverage impact messaging
  • Call to Actions activated with individual cinemas and audiences

BAFTA & Academy Awards Qualification and promotion (US & UK)

Together Films can activate awards campaigns for awards contenders. This may include:

  • Compliantly engaging global voters with the film to raise awareness and encourage viewing
  • Booking a minimum number of theatrical screenings including 4-wall agreements
  • Production of Virtual Q&A with a prominent voice to heighten engagement
  • Secure suitable moderators from film journalists and thematic allies
  • Manage RSVP/Guestlist process

Joshua Seftel

Director, Stranger At The Gate

We engaged Together Films late in our campaign cycle to provide a last push to ensure that our film was in front of voters ready for the Oscar nomination weekend. We were extremely impressed with the speed at which Sarah and her team jumped into action, supporting our on-the-ground needs in London & Europe to ensure our US production was being discussed in the right rooms.

They helped source campaign materials, sent out communications to their wide networks, and drafted social media activations for our lead supporters including Malala. We are grateful for their support and would highly recommend them to anyone navigating the awards process next season.

Stranger At The Gate is currently nominated for Best Documentary Short at the 2023 Oscars.

You can watch it via The New Yorker today.