If you make films, it is your responsibility to help others discover what is good to watch. If you love films — or a particular type of film — it is your responsibility to help others learn to appreciate those films too. “Discovery” is not something you can expect others to EVER do unless you yourself embrace the practice first. “Spreading the word” is part of a filmmaker’s job description, albeit sincerely & authentically.
Independent filmmaking must be a community activity if it is to survive. You can’t leave good films alone. You have to make it your battle to get those movies seen. If you don’t accept this as your mission, you are helping to hand indie it’s death sentence.
I love getting the group emails from Michelle Satter, the Sundance Institute’s Head, alerting us to a new release of a past lab participant; they are always written with real passion and pleasure that another ambitious film has not just been made but may also get made. Jim McKay, a filmmaker and friend, sends an email a couple times a year advising his circle what work he has seen as of late that he appreciates; I appreciate every note I get. Tiffany Shlain writes a newsletter every quarter letting us know what she has dug and what she is looking forward to. These are all folks in the community that reach beyond themselves and their work and express their recognition of a responsibility to an art form and an infrastructure, the knowledge that culture only works when we get others involved. How can we encourage more to do likewise?
Isn’t one of the mandatory questions: “How do we get people to discover good movies?” There are so many options! How can we help them cut through the clutter?
As Semil Shah recently said in Techcrunch: “who shares information online is oftentimes more important than what that information is”. We look for trusted sources for our discovery. It is time we all worked harder to become that if we want indie film to flourish.
I launched this blog and maintain it in hopes that a process of sharing, of collective thinking, transparent effort and experimentation may bring us back to a sustainable enterprise. Through it I have been able to meet many new filmmakers, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and just generally interesting people. They have helped elevate my work, and I am excited when I can also help them. I like to think that this community effort somehow pushes our rock a bit more up the hill. Filmmaking though is only part of the equation. Film consumption is equally important. Are we helping the good movies get discovered and appreciated?
Reid Rosefelt, a publicist and social media strategist — and one of the good folk who give a great deal back to the community (occasionally with blog posts here) — wrote to me recently with some good ideas I decided to initiate. He suggested using Pintrest to drive people to watch on the different digital platforms. I took his advice and made Pintrest boards of good movies to watch on different platforms. I focused on the various platforms that participated in the initial A2E lab I launched via the San Francisco Film Society. Please check them out. How do we discover what is best to watch? Where do we start? Generally people go to a trusted source, someone in their community. I don’t suspect that that many come to me, but if they do, they might go to my Pintrest page and find something. Who knows it may even become a habit!
Ideally people will eventually gather into a community around their common interest. Film can work as the glue to keep[ them connected, as well as the fuel to spark many a conversation. It this model that Emily Best at Seed & Spark is more leaning to with her Pintrest boards of “Cinema Conversations”, linking movies of common themes, like “Unconventional Women” or “The Great Escape“. Once hooked on a theme, where do you find more suggestions? We can certainly expect more experimentations to help with both discovery and engagement in the months ahead.
I am thrilled with this moment we are living in where platforms offer the opportunity to the many to get their films in front of audiences. I find it completely different from distribution days of old which offered only a small elite such a chance. But there are so many movies….
If we don’t help a few good films to bubble up to the top, all might drown. If we all get more vocal and active regarding what people should watch, perhaps we can learn how to swim well in this new universe. I hope you follow this lead and build some pages of your own. I look forward to seeing more recommendations from everyone everywhere. I look forward to the new suggestions still to come on how this can be done better. It is a big community that requires your contribution. Where is it?
