In order to promote movies, trailers are made lasting 2-3 minutes for theatrical release and 10-30 seconds for television. Generally, there are 1 or 2 theatrical trailers and 8-10 TV promos. The TV promos consist of song promos and dialogue promos. Trailers are loaded on YouTube, and are released simultaneously with the theatrical release. They may get millions of views online. To begin with trailers in the 1990s and early 2000s were cut by the filmmakers themselves. Today a trailer is a complete advertising package which is cut by a specialist. A film editor cannot do this specialist job. There are specialist agencies to cut trailers. The trailers create a sense of expectation from the film and drive the audience to the theatre. The potential audience has to get the feel of the film in 2 minutes. Slick and crisp editing is a pre-requisite for a successful trailer. Film-makers use between Rs.3 and Rs.25 lac on trailers and promos. Trailer makers earn a profit margin of 25-30 per cent.

Work on trailers start six to eight months before the release of the film. A good trailer must be accurate too. If there is disconnect between the trailer and the film, the film may flop.The history of trailer making is as old as 100 years. Hollywood studios in 1913 started screening films then. In India, Prime Focus and Trigger Happy are the two major players in trailer cutting.