I've been lost deep down in the rabbit hole of production for the last few weeks, prepping the WESTDOC: The West Coast Documentary & Reality TV Conference. The event took place September 14th-16th in Santa Monica, and featured top execs and filmmakers from the reality & non-fiction worlds. I was Event Managing the Conference, a job that tapped into the left side of my brain's obsession with list making, details and pattern perception. The event went incredibly well and I met a bunch of amazing people, but I'll be happy to not look at Excel for awhile.
It wasn't all practical matters, however. I moderated a panel at the Conference about online marketing for documentaries that featured WE LIVE IN PUBLIC director Ondi Timoner; Steve Wax, co-founder of Campfire, a marketing firm that's done a plethora of fab online campaigns; and filmmaker Roger Jackson, formerly of iFilm and Explore.org.
Many ideas were tossed around about how to best get the word out about your film, especially when working with few resources. A few of my favorite tips:
-What kind of team do you need for an online campaign? Start with a writer and a tech person.
-Can't hire a writer? Make one of your PA's jobs to write/blog/tweet. Need less expensive tech folk? Check in the new media deptment of a University and offer credit for web savvy.
-Be consistent with Facebook postings, tweets, blogs or whatever you decide to put out there about your film. Doesn't matter if you post once a week or once a month...just do it when you say you're going to.
-Try to partner with like-minded organizations or communities who can broadcast info about your film to a larger audience.
10/1 update: Variety has just published a piece about the success of the Conference, including plans for a second installment in 2010.
I was Event Managing the Conference, a job that tapped into the left side of my brain's obsession with list making, details and pattern perception.
Posted by: ClubPenguinCheats | Jun 14, 2011 at 06:35 PM
Well don't know whats going on but its not a Good way to do this. in my opinion we have to look again about this issue
Posted by: company logo design | Jul 15, 2010 at 03:30 AM
Thank you.
The suggestions are good for many diciplines not only the entertainment industry.I will pass this on.
CBK
Posted by: Beth krinsky | Sep 21, 2009 at 02:32 PM