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Truly Free Film

Exploring The Hope Of Film Audiences’ Changing Roles And Desires

We’ve seen and heard on the first two episodes of ReInvent Hollywood how technology and desire are changing the nature of the film form as well as how artists consider their work and relationship with the business. Barriers to entry of both creation and distribution have been crushed. Platforms abound for a wide variety of formats, aesthetics, and engagements. As a result we are all overwhelmed by an abundance of culture and leisure time options, challenging both business and consumption models. How do these same changes effect things on the side of the audience? In tackling that issue on “ReInvent Hollywood: The Audience”, I found a new way to explain what the Film Industry must do in our era of transition.

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Truly Free Film

How Can Creators And Audience Best Collaborate Today?

That essentially was the question we explored on the 3rd episode of ReInvent Hollywood on the audience.  Check out the 10 minute recap here:

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Truly Free Film

IndieStreet Post #13: What Are Films Without An Audience

By Jay Webb

Screen shot 2013-08-19 at 4.51.06 PM

Previously: Making A Film? Why?

Audience building interview 1

There is no such thing as art without audience.  A motion picture does not even exist without its impact on human viewers.  As an independent creator without established lines of distribution, how do you build an audience that yearns for your specific stories? How do you keep them excited about your stories of the future?  In today’s market, your response to this question may be the difference between a “one & done” and having a long, sustainable career as a filmmaker.

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Truly Free Film

Filmmakers: Why 1% is the Most Important Number

By Scott McMahon

Screen shot 2014-04-14 at 10.13.43 PMFilmmakers, what comes to mind when you think of 1%?

The “Occupy Wall Street” movement perhaps?

1% Milk?

Hmm … maybe …

1% RULE OF THE INTERNET

(From Wikipedia, because it’s fact)

In Internet culture, the 1% rule is a rule of thumb pertaining to participation in an internet community, stating that only 1% of the users of a website actively create new content, while the other 99% of the participants only lurk.

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Truly Free Film

Wake up! Don’t wait for the Sale!

by Jen Sall

Rapid advances in technology make it significantly easier and much less expensive to make a film today. A record 12,218 films were submitted for the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, 72 more films than the 2013 festival. Of the 4,057-plus feature films submitted, 121 were selected. Of those approximately 15 were purchased by the close of the festival. A few more have been bought in the past few months, not many.

Perhaps you beats the odds (you have around a 4% chance of your film premiering at a major festival and then 10% of distribution deal once it makes the festival) your film premieres at Sundance, Tribeca, Toronto, SXSW or a festival with a track record of sales.  Lightening strikes a second time and your film is bought. You are in the minority and you can stop reading this article.  If you are one of the thousands of other films premiering at a festival with no distribution deal or buyer in sight, a film that has never screened in a festival, or you developing a film keep reading.

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Truly Free Film

Nobody Knows Anything #9: Deep Metaphors

By Charles Peirce 

Nobody9-300Deep Metaphors are a concept from Harvard Professor, marketer, and researcher Gerald Zaltman that find their obvious use in marketing but have many possible applications for communication of all kinds. They are similar to Archetypes and Archetype Theory in that they represent a base symbolic language which communicates via the subconscious. But whereas Archetype Theory is based upon Jungian psychoanalysis, Deep Metaphors come primarily from the study of cognitive science, neuro-imaging, and linguistics. While not a substitute for Archetype Theory (nor a replacement), they are a useful tool in dealing with many issues of marketing, not least among them market segmentation and niche audiences.

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Truly Free Film

Beer Buzz #3: Audience Building — The Key to Success Building

By Steven C. Beer

In the marketing and distribution of independent films, the most critical and frequently overlooked key to success is the building of an audience. Whether you pursue traditional or alternate distribution platforms, or a combination thereof, your ability to identify, aggregate and mobilize an audience base directly impacts the prospect of your project’s success. Timing your audience building campaign is crucial. According to Jason Ward of Candy Factory Productions, you must begin to target and recruit your supporters the minute you decide to produce a film. Audience building is a slow and steady process that can take many months, if not years, so a multi-step game plan that evolves over time can serve as an audience building blueprint. Here are some tips I learned while moderating the Audience Building Panel at the New York Lounge at Sundance 2014: