Year: 2010

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Truly Free Film

Building The Community Web-Those Already Doing This

Today’s guest post is Pt 2 of 2 from 2010 Brave Thinker Of Indie Film Sheri Candler.

I have investigated some artists already building their communities (and sustaining themselves) and thought you should use them as examples to follow.

Examples of artists who have built a community web

In addition to the Grateful Dead, a group most all of you are aware of, there are  examples of artists from many areas who have successfully built up a community around themselves and their work.

Kevin Smith is a great example. Smith says he can spend up to 9 hours a day online and started this back in 1995. He has never put his career only in filmmaking, saying he never expected THAT to last. Instead, his community has been introduced to a variety of his activities; a SModcast, comic books, stand up comedy, regular writing contributions to various magazines. Smith isn’t tied to only one avenue of revenue and in fact can make a living off many things outside of making films. He was able to pinpoint exactly what his fans liked about him early on and he reaches out to them continually. If I had to suggest something, I would ask him to allow a community aspect on his site so that fellow fans can contact each other.

Matthew Ebel is another example.

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Bowl Of Noses

Finally, The Star Wars Christmas Special You Always Wanted

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Truly Free Film

Building The Community Web Around an Artist

Today’s guest post (part 1 of 2) is by 2010 Brave Thinker Of Indie Film Sheri Candler.

I think I have been promising this post for a while, ever since I wrote the New Independent Filmmaker’s Business Model. If you haven’t read that post, give it a little peruse so you can see what I am on about. The key premise is that all artists should be building a tribe (a Seth Godin term as it relates to marketing) or an engaged audience for their work. One that transitions from one project to the next throughout your career and indeed your life. These supporters will be your friends, your evangelists, your patrons and if you cultivate this relationship, you will not have need to reach a mass in order to make a comfortable living. I have been thinking though that maybe the idea should be compared to a web.

In looking through some other advice on this, I can see why some can be turned off by the idea. It seems most of the advice focuses only on how to lure people in just so you can sell them something, kind of like how the spider spins her web. It’s a strategy I guess, but that isn’t what I am going to tell you to do here. I am a firm believer that self promotion is about helping other people. What I propose is offering value, sharing knowledge and genuinely wanting to connect with people and connect people you know who should know each other. Perhaps it is better described as a web, an interconnected community. One that you lead, but is dependent on everyone’s interactivity. To me that is much more palatable to an artist because it is authentic, no ulterior motive, which is refreshing in today’s society. But reciprocity does happen because it is really human nature to help someone who has helped you, in fact in this scenario, it is expected.

First elements to understand when constructing you community web:

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Categories
These Are Those Things

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse Time Lapse

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse from William Castleman on Vimeo.

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Truly Free Film

Let’s Choose Our Future

We can determine the future.  It is within our control, our power.

But you must decide, which reality do you want going forward?  And you must act to bring that choice forward.   It is a choice that effects not just your film, career, your company, or your national cultural industry, but this choice & your decision has global & long-lasting implications.

Door #1:

Massively centralized,  corporate control of the funding, production, promotion, distribution, presentation, and appreciation of culture.

Door #2:

Creators & their collaborators being able to fully support themselves through their art & work, by aligning & collaborating with specifically defined and dedicated audiences.

Categories
Issues and Actions

Demand Jafar Panahi’s Freedom

Filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been sentenced to six years in prison, and twenty years without making films, contact with the press, or travel. Another filmmaker, Mohammad Rassoulov, has been likewise sentenced to six years in prison. They are both in Iran and sentenced by the court there. Artists and citizens everywhere must do all they can to prevent this attack on artistic freedom. The Cannes Film Festival and other organizations have started this petition that all should sign as soon as possible.

Categories
Issues and Actions

Indie Film’s Future To Be Decided Today

If your ability to earn a living as an Indie Filmmaker is not a big enough issue to catch your attention, how about considering that your freedom is at stake?  What if you knew that the principal and practice of free speech was at risk, would that wake you up? How about if you knew that corporate interests were once again being favored over those of the people?  Well, today is the day that all those things are happening, so whachagonnnado?

The FCC meets today and proposes regulations that could seriously undermine net neutrality.  It generally appears that corporate interests are being looked after, and we are headed towards a tiered internet where providers can favor some content over others.  Prepare to get really upset.  Prepare to do something to fight back and protect a free and open internet.

Al Franken says it is the most important free speech issue of our time.  VC fund, Union Square Ventures, recommends prohibiting “application-specific discrimination”, and that seems to make good sense.

You can watch it all live right here starting at 1030A EST.