The Halloween Blockbuster That Cost Nothing

Paranormal Activity

I laud it all the time. That is right, damn it. I said "laud it." Money is not necessary for entrepreneurial success, in fact it is the lack of money that brings about innovation and ingenuity. There are a million stories that support it. From the rise of Hewlett Packard in the early 1900's to the "do good, do right" phenomena of Life is Good and Clif Bar. All these companies started with less than $500, applied entrepreneurial innovation and exploded in growth achieving tens of millions in less than half a decade.

This month we are experiencing another occurrence of this entrepreneurial phenomena. This one is a movie that has raked in tens of millions of dollars in only a few weeks since it launched. The Halloween thriller, called "Paranormal Activity", was created by a scrapper entrepreneur (aka a toilet paper entrepreneur). How much he has achieved with so little in money, but so much in ingenuity will just leave you in awe.

Using a campaign of limited theater showings all while cranking away at social media, the film has become a breakout hit to the tune of... well read on for that. The thing is he achieved it all without the standard and expensive marketing campaign or even a traditional movie trailer.

So get ready to really blow your mind. I mean, like you better be sitting when you read this, type blow your mind. The file was made for a reported $11,000. Yes $11K. The car in your driveway is worth more than that! Yet the film has already made over $62,000,000. Yes that is $62M. If the movie doesn't make you crap your pants those numbers should.

If you have been waiting for enough savings to get started... If you think you need to pile up cash cushion to test the market... If you think you need money to make money... I am here to tell you, you are wrong.

There is nothing paranormal about "Paranormal Activity's" success. They just had the guts to do it TPE style. Now it's your turn.

Want to learn more about Paranormal Activity and how they are doing it the way of a Toilet Paper Entrepreneur? Check out these article:

CNN Entertainment

Yahoo News

By Mike Michalowicz, Author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur

Category: Big Success Stories, Marketing Like Mad, Your Belief System
Tags: , , , , , , .
  • http://www.twitter.com/scottbradley @ScottBradley

    This movie has been taking twitter and social media by storm over the past couple weeks.

    One paid advertising medium that they did take part in was by using digg ads…on a cost per click basis.

    I wonder how much they spent on marketing in total…

    The advertising cost was definitely more than the initial 11K they paid to create the movie…so to say this was “total TPE” wouldn’t necessarily be the case.

    In any event…a great success indeed.

  • http://www.ToiletPaperEntrepreneur.com Mike Michalowicz

    Thanks Scott! In fact it was Paramount that is doing all the advertising. The movie was made back in 2006, and was done for $11K. They got it out virally until it caught the eyes of Paramount, Spielberg and others. Now the big corporation is doing the marketing and the TPE & Paramount are both raking in the money!

  • http://www.twitter.com/scottbradley @ScottBradley

    Ahhh I See…Interesting