#TBT - Grassroots Distribution: Offline Organizing Leads to Online Metrics

Last #TBT, we looked at growing campaigns, and identified three models, based on social action campaigns, that filmmakers might follow to boost their audience awareness and get their film out into the world in the most effective way possible. This Thursday, we dig into the digital elements of a campaign as outlined by Harvard professor Nicco Mele and, next week, we'll revisit Josh and Michael's suggestions for adapting Professor Mele's digital political campaign model to film. 

Why? Because Josh and Michael learned that offline organizing leads to online metrics. Offline organizing is already accessible to filmmakers who are taking their films on the road as they screen at festivals and alternative exhibition venues. Online metrics can help filmmakers know where to go next, where to return with the next project, which audience (or audiences) to engage as advocates and supporters, and - not least - online metrics can help filmmakers make the case for their next film to financiers, sales agents, and distributors (see our video with Stewart Thorndike and Alex Scharfman on Distribution as Marketing).

Plus, it's notoriously hard to get data once you give your film to someone else to market or distribute. Treasure the data you can produce for yourself. 

Now: Mele's Three Pillars of a Digital Campaign 

1. Build a substantially-sized email list. "People live overwhelmingly in their inbox."
2. Foster online community. "The care and feeding of evangelists is necessary for online success."
3. Complement online with offline. "Politics is really a face-to-face business and you really have to be able to use the internet to drive people to meet face to face."

Here's an example of these Pillars in practice, from the white paper: 

"Tom Quinn [...] made a film that is set during the Mummers' Day Parade in Philadelphia. Quinn recalls that to distribute his film he 'went around to a good chunk of the Mummers clubs, and talked one-on-one with them about we were going to donate a part of the proceeds back to the parade, and the Mummers organization got behind the film doing press as well, which was huge. I think our Facebook fans went from 200 people to 2300 people in one week."

Offline organizing can lead to a rise in online metrics. 

Online metrics can help you sell your film, or fundraise for your next one. 

Engage the communities that exist around your film, and make them your advocate audience!

Crowd Sourced Cinema... how we got here

This week, WIRED posted an article about the emerging phenomenon of crowd-sourced cinema. This trend seems to have emerged as a result of a confluence of factors, including:

(1) The digitization of the modern movie theater.  As studios has pushed back on exhibitors to outfit their facilities with digital projection technology, the requirement to create a 35mm print to play in a big house has fallen by the wayside. Digital theaters can now screen everything from DCPs to Blu-Rays, brining the cost of creating a screenable "print" from thousands to hundreds of dollars.

(2) Low weekday attendance at movie theaters.   There's a reason that the industry reports weekend box office rather than weekly box office. People go to the movies on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, leaving an opportunity for alternative revenue sources during the quiet weeks at the art houses and multiplexes. A model where theaters can show a movie without shouldering the risk makes a lot of sense.

(3) DIY. With Kickstarter and IndieGoGo filmmakers are raising capital themselves. And with the decreasing cost and increasing access to equipment, filmmakers have the ability to make films with more autonomy and creative control. For the entrepreneurial filmmaker, digital distribution and on-demand screenings offers an extension of this approach, affording artists the opportunity to control the distribution process, determine price and access, directly monetize a fan base or all of the above (see: Louis CK).

(4) The niche-ification of the independent film business.  As studio films get bigger, small films seem to be getting smaller (Sundance, SXSW and Tribeca have recently launched sections explicitly for micro-budget filmmakers).  Just as the music industry has seemed to transition from churning out overnight successes that could speak to most of us, to an array of middle class theater-playing acts that speak to few of us, the film industry may be headed in a direction where filmmakers grow and nurture smaller, but loyal audiences. Bring on the sub-genres.

Whether on-demand screenings are a new and legitimate alternative to traditional theatrical release, a marketing tool to help raise awareness and allow filmmakers to directly access (and monetize) their fans, a revolutionary approach to repertory cinema, or something in between, it's a fascinating development and one we should all have our eyes on as it continues to find its footing.

Four Stories That Show Content Is Changing

Burning Love - the final chapterThis week marked the final episode of what might be my favorite web series of all time. Yahoo made a huge splash with this original web series and I would go so far as to say this one--produced by Ben Stiller's Red Hour Films-- may have been a game changer in terms of getting people to look differently at the digital content space. http://screen.yahoo.com/burning-love/

Hulu - The Booth At The End Vuguru TV/New Media studio Vuguru launches season 2 of it's acclaimed series The Booth At The End on Hulu. If you've been on the site, you'll notice the prime real estate the series has on the platform's masthead (impressive considering it's competing with network and studio content).

http://www.hulu.com/the-booth-at-the-end

Netflix begins production of new season of Arrested Development Need I say more?

Fanhattan 2.0 A major update comes to arguably the best content discovery app on iOS. Fanhattan may not be the ultimate answer, but it suggests a world where all your accounts are tied into one beautiful interface and all your content is accessible and discoverable. And word is that a desktop version is on it's way... download now and stay tuned. http://www.fanhattan.com/