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Quick reminder about "DIWO Live!" - IndieGoGo's weekly forum for members to:
* See the site in action
* Ask questions
* Get tips from the founders
* Learn from other members
"DIWO Live!" happens every Friday from 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Pacific Time. All IndieGoGo members are welcome to join the conference call. Details are:
* Dial-in: 1-218-486-8700 (New Number!)
* Passcode: 837745
The 2008 election was an especially historic one for a
number of reasons, but it's not what you are thinking. Yes, Barack Obama was
the first African-American to be elected into office. But the importance of the
election last Tuesday reaches into how he got elected, not who was
elected. Obama completely changed campaign strategies and campaign
financing, and that's one of the biggest reasons why he beat out John McCain
for the presidency. Filmmakers can take these same strategies and apply them to
mobilizing their fans and fundraising:
- Social
Networking presence (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter)
- Online Grassroots
campaign effort to mobilize voters
- Small donations (<$1000) raised online
Obama had a clear advantage on the Web compared to McCain. He was able to use
the Internet and social media to reach out and gain traction among potential voters.
Obama's presence on Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Twitter were clearly felt. The
New
York Times chronicles how Obama successfully used social networks in his
campaign. On MySpace, Obama had over 800,000 supporters. McCain had over
200,000. Videos on Obama's YouTube channel got over 18 million views, while
McCain's channel had just 2 million. While it is true that Obama's voter
demographic matches with Internet users, Obama's overwhelming advantage
suggests that the Internet will play a huge factor in future elections. This
grassroots campaign effort mobilized millions of voters and led to a record in
voter turnout, which led to an eventual victory for Barack Obama.
What does this mean for filmmakers? It shows that the Internet has the power to
mobilize. You, too, can lead a grassroots effort to gain traction for your
film. If social media can play such a huge role in this election, it can
benefit filmmakers by connecting them with their fans. Facebook, MySpace,
Twitter, and YouTube are a few places to start building your fanbase. IndieGoGo
is a great place to aggregate all these social media tools. You can emulate
Obama's tactics online and produce the same results.
The President-elect also revolutionized campaign financing. In previous
elections, candidates typically get money from their own political party, or
from wealthy donors and corporations. McCain elected to go with financing from
the GOP. Obama raised a record amount- $600 million. But he did it
through crowdfunding—small donations from many people. Millions of Americans
contributed small sums of money to Obama's campaign. Most of his money came
from sub-$1,000 donations. In September, the Obama campaign reported that
the average donation was $86. Filmmakers can also emulate Obama's grassroots
fundraising campaign. This has been one of the driving forces behind IndieGoGo.
Once filmmakers mobilize their fanbase, they can raise small sums of money to
get their project made.
Barack Obama was able to take advantage of the Internet to win the 2008
election. Filmmakers can use the same tactics to get their projects made. Read
more about Obama's social media advantage here
Minna Packer is a successful filmmaker having already written and produced Back to Gombin in 2002. Her latest project, The Lilliput, follows the life of a Jewish dwarf as he survives the holocaust by hiding in garbage cans. The filmmaker from Hoboken, New Jersey has been able to assemble and international cast and crew, while using the latest innovations on the Internet to bring her project to life.
1. What are the goals for your project, The Lilliput?
MP: Ultimately my goals for The Lilliput are to make a movie that is riveting and complex. The main goal is to make a great film, of course. 2. What tactics have you used for financing? Any advice? MP: I just returned from Poland, where I was based as an American Fulbright scholar. I was awarded a grant for research and that allowed me to work on the film with an affiliation to the University of Lodz. I also worked with the Lodz Film School in putting together a film crew. So the first step in financing was the Fulbright grant.Then the Gombin Society gave me grant which helped. Until my co-producer, Sharon Levy came on board, I was mainly financing this through grants and personal financing. Sharon handled much of our successful IndieGoGo.com campaign based in New York, and I pitched in from Poland. We raised $10,000. on IndieGogo, and were one of the first projects to raise that much, so early at IndieGoGo.com. Currently we are in talks with several studios in Poland, Israel, and in the US. We are also writing grants and planning a few fundraising social events in New York. For advise I would say that having the sneak peek with such measurably beautiful production values from shooting in 35mm movie film, on location in Poland, is a great tool for opening doors with the people and studios who have shown interest in working on this. 3. How do you identify and reach the audience? MP: In my previous documentary, Back To Gombin, I chronicled the return to Poland by a group of descendants and children of Jewish Holocaust survivors. This is now in distribution through the National Center for Jewish Film, and has been broadcast in Israel and in the US. This is how I initially identified the Jewish film festivals and Jewish audiences. With this project,
The Lilliput, identifying an audience began again with a Jewish audience, but this broadened to include a more varied audience including little people, young adults and a middle age demographic, as well. I've shown the sneak peek to diverse audiences, that have included younger people in Poland, the US and Israel, of different religions and backgrounds. The fact that this is intended as a European- American co-production, gives this film access to different audiences in different countries. 4. What role does the Internet and social media play in your DIWO (Do-It-With-Others) filmmaking? MP: In addition to our website at IndieGoGo.com/thelilliput, we have created a website for the film at http://www.thelilliputmovie.com. The sneak peek is also available on line at www.thelilliputmovie.com/sneak.html. 5. Can you recommend resources for fundraising and promotion? MP: Both fundraising and promotion are a continual process. They consist of grant writing, inquiries and relationship building in the industry, with individuals and with producers and organizations! For promotion, I recommend the web. I've used it to send out announcements the sneak peek, photos from the set, to my entire database. 6. What is next on your radar? MP: My co-producer and I will be flying back to Poland for Camerimage in Lodz, which is the "academy awards" for cinematographers. It's a great networking event for filmmakers, in that part of the world. I saw Polanski there last year, and listened to Ang Lee in seminar, and made some excellent industry contacts. We have appointments with several studios there to discuss the project further and make plans for shooting the full film.
Sarah Evans manages a PR and Social media blog. Her latest entry outlines 10 Steps to building a community using Twitter. I've highlighted five steps below. Read her entire entry on Mashable HERE.
- Create a user friendly Twitter ID
- Search for people to follow
- Add your Twitter ID to all your signatures (I recommend adding your IndieGoGo url as well if you want to drive folks to your project directly)
- Reach out and say something
- Promote others and share your best information
For Twitter Newbies or those just curious to know the value or point of Twitter, check out our recent post: To Twitter or Not To Twitter... Wait, what is Twitter Again?
Also, click here To Follow IndieGoGo on Twitter.
- GoGoDanae (www.indiegogo.com/gogodanae); Twitter: GoGoDanae
Quick reminder about "DIWO Live!" - IndieGoGo's weekly forum for members to:
* See the site in action
* Ask questions
* Get tips from the founders
* Learn from other members
"DIWO Live!" happens every Friday from 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Pacific
Time. All IndieGoGo members are welcome
to join the conference call. Details are: * Dial-in: 1-218-486-8700 (New Number!) * Passcode: 837745
THE NEW CROSS-PLATFORM FINANCIERS: AUDIENCES, SPONSORS AND BRANDS
Presales, MGs and advances are becoming a thing of the past for independent films. Who will the new financiers of independent films be? This session of Power to the Pixel looked at the power of the audience in crowd-sourcing, the power of brands and of sponsors in financing new work.
Watch IndieGoGo's Slava Rubin below.
  Slava introduced one of the final sessions for The Conversation conference in Berkeley last weekend with Dan Gregoire, founder of Halon Entertainment. The pre-visualization expert showed early representations of "The Transformers" before conference attendees headed to local pub Beckett’s. Production talk, unwinding, and brews were a great way to close two days on the Cal campus.
Case studies: Haze, Crawford, On Broadway, The Princess of Nebraska
More and more indie filmmakers are turning away from traditional theater
distribution and embracing the Internet. The Wall Street Journal wrote an
article last week covering this new trend of online distribution:
"…filmmakers are starting to come to terms
with the idea of releasing their work on the Web. It's a notion musicians
grappled with years ago. Offering art online rarely earns a creator much up
front, but it boosts the odds of broad exposure. With no need for old-fashioned
film prints, going on the Web is cheap and quick. And directors can get instant
feedback from online viewers."
One Hollywood director that has embraced this trend is Wayne Wang, the director of "Joy Luck
Club" and "Maid in Manhattan". He released his new movie, "The Princess
of Nebraska" on YouTube's
Screening Room. The movie's release was less about making money and more
about getting fans to watch it. Wang's movie has generated nearly 200,000 views
on YouTube so far. On YouTube, the movie
is free, and there is more exposure: "Going to theater has become about
making a point," says Wang. "I like the accidental encounters that
occur on the Web."
Plenty of other companies besides YouTube are helping independent filmmakers
with distribution. Snagfilms.com, Hulu, and iTunes are just a few that have
released feature length movies on their sites. Snagfilms allows filmmakers to
put their films on websites, blogs, and MySpace profiles, increasing the
exposure of the movie.
"Haze", a documentary
about a student who died of alcohol poisoning at a fraternity ritual, was
released on Snagfilms.com. Originally, the filmmakers had wanted a theatrical
distribution, but it was ultimately decided that the movie would gain more
viewership online. Director Peter Schuermann says, "It's a bittersweet
thing. But then I have to weigh that against the educational goals of the film.
Now there's the potential of a lot of people seeing it."
Distributing a movie online definitely hurts revenue for filmmakers. More
important, though, is the fact that feature length films that are distributed
online seem to be getting more viewers. This establishes a fan base and
provides filmmakers with a springboard to DVD distribution, film festivals, or
even theatrical distributions. The potential is unlimited for filmmakers who
decide to distribute their films online.
Read more about "The Princess of Nebraska" here. Find out more about online distribution on the Wall
Street Journal here.
A key element to building a community around your film is what we call the "2-Way Street." The idea is that by opening up dialogue between you and your fans, you'll build a stronger more involved community.
A great way to do this is to utilize the idea of crowdsourcing. Ask your fans for their input. This builds their commitment to the project by directly involving them in its success, and you'll get to take advantage of a wide range of fresh ideas.
For example, this weekend at "The Conversation", a discussion on the changing landscape of media, Michael Ferris Gibson explained how he took advantage of crowdsourcing for his films 24 Hours on Craigslist and Truth in Numbers: The Wikipedia Story. After creating a simple craigslist post inquiring about whether there was anyone else out there interested in making a film on craigslist, Gibson received around 500 replies overnight with suggestions and requests to help. Likewise, when first conceptualizing Truth in Numbers: The Wikipedia Story, Gibson started a basic Wikipedia post, and Wikipedia users contributed input helping to flesh out the concept. Ultimately, the ideas and connections created by this crowd led to the creation and production of both films.
Simply by using crowdsourcing and getting fans involved, Gibson was able to take two very basic ideas and turn them into completed groundbreaking films with a pre-existing committed fan base.
Your use of crowdsourcing doesn't have to be as all-encompassing as Gibson's to be effective. Crowdsourcing on a smaller scale is just as useful. Maybe allow your fans to help you name one of your characters or pick a location for a certain scene. As we've seen from Michael Ferris Gibson, there really is no limit to what can be crowdsourced. Be creative. Ultimately, what's most important is that you're opening up the lines of dialogue and creating that 2-Way Street.
This weekend a few members of the IndieGoGo team gathered in Berkeley with other pioneers at the forefront of change in cinema, video, games, media and technology. The event was called "The Conversation" and was intended to foster an open dialogue in which all participants could share ideas, insights and innovations. The focus of the conference was on "new tools, new distribution channels and new rules."
The conference covered everything from the technical aspects of production to new schools of promotional strategy. The tools that IndieGoGo offers were definitely relevant.
During a panel on "The New Rules of Film Financing," Diana Barrett, founder of The Fledgling Fund (http://www.thefledglingfund.org/) expressed her regret that grant providing organizations, such as The Fledgling Fund, simply do not have the monetary means to fund all films they feel are worthy. As the economy suffers and the landscape of media changes, traditional methods of film financing are losing their relevance.
The solution? As the landscape changes, our methods have to change as well.
Throughout The Conversation, panelists related their experiences with crowdfunding, crowdsourcing and internet based community building. These were their methods for handling the shifting media landscape, and these methods led to their ultimate success.
Luckily, these are the same methods that IndieGoGo uses. Ultimately, The Conversation served as a welcome reaffirmation that IndieGoGo is enthusiastically embracing change in our media climate and handling it in the most dynamic and relevant ways.
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