The Fledgling Fund is pleased to present a new paper, titled "From Distribution to Audience Engagement".  This paper, written by The Fledgling Fund Senior Program Officer Emily Verellen, explores the stages of distribution, outreach/strategic communications and audience engagement and connects each one to how it helps independent social issue film achieve social change.  Secondly, the paper outlines the importance of partnerships, how non-profits and filmmakers can work together and how those relationships can be mutually beneficial.  The paper also suggests key questions that filmmakers and their partners should be asking themselves about their work when planning for substantive audience engagement work.  We hope you check out the paper, here.  

On Tuesday, August 17^th, grantees from both The Fledgling Fund and Chicken & Egg Pictures gathered at our office with the following questions in mind:

What is the role of non-profit or for-profit partners in the audience engagement phase of a social issue film?

What are the criteria you look for when choosing those partners?

What are the expectations of those partners?  And of the film team?

How do you approach those partners to communicate the kind of relationship you are looking for?

What are examples of successful partnerships or partnerships that could have been improved?  Why?

 

Here are some of the most important highlights from the filmmakers' conversation:

• It is a common misconception that you have to get partners on board early, it will be hard for both them and you to be able to commit early - them because they aren't familiar with film and need to see a more finished product, and you because you are still figuring out your narrative and don't want to bow to outside pressures. You can and should, however, get potential partners interested and start the bonding process/discussion early.
  
• Pick organizations that are a little more neutral, they will be aware of groups on either side of your argument that you should bring in. It can harm your film to partner with an organization that has a strong affiliation one way or another. 
• Films are a great tool for organizations, but they don't have the resources to handle your film on top of their busy workload. You have to give them a template that they can work with that will use as little of their resources as possible.
• In approaching your outreach agenda, be aware of creating extra work for yourselves simply because you are being offered funding for it. It seems alluring because you can use some of the money for other pressing things, but an ill-formed product and badly budgeted time can be more harmful to your project and mission in the long run.  Creating universal viewers guides are key and a one-page with bullet points is preferable.
• How to get partners excited and on board when you are ready to launch? Organize a screening - a "sneak peek" - before the official release/festival premiere. Make sure you have a diverse screening set so that excitement and discussion is generated.
• In general, partners do not share email lists.
• A great way to leverage your partners to support your theatrical run and gather press attention is to have your partners co-sponsor or program different nights of your run so they are each event-driven and will pull in ticket sales.
• To ensure you have something that works for all of your different partners, it is a good idea to create a DVD that has 3 or 4 different scenes with discussion points built around each segment.

 

Some interesting questions that arose:

Q: When should you show potential partners your film?

A: There were two schools of thought on this: 1. Show excerpts of the film early to get them invested, 2. Show them the finished project with an audience so they understand the full emotional pull of the film. Showing people too early is risky because the urge for them to contribute editorial input is too strong.

 

Q: Do you offer DVDs free to partners or do you have a package?

A: You should try to get a grant/generous donor that will cover the DVD expenses and maybe even the travel expenses to support taking the film to partner screenings. If you can get a good educational run this will help off-set some of these costs as universities, and some schools have a budget for this. Be sure to have your DVD available to buy at screenings, as a tidy sum can be earned this way over the course of a year. You might even want to offer free DVDs to your partners with the caveat that they will share with you the attendance email list and perhaps even a questionnaire so you can gauge impact - a clever way of ensuring this is by "selling" them the film but then reimbursing them once they return the email list and questionnaire. You can then use the questionnaire to pull great quotes from to further your audience engagement campaign and fundraising.

 

 

At the end of the event, everyone contributed thoughts as to what the next "informal conversation" subject should be:

-       Navigating the broadcasting arena.

-       What next? How to move on to the next film.

-       New distribution models.

-       The nuts and bolts of a community screening tour.

-       How to measure impact.

-       Budgeting. The real one vs. the one you apply to funders with.

 

Filmmakers in attendance: Julia Bacha - Budrus, Yael Luttwak - My Favorite Neo-Conservative, Malika Zouhali-Worrall - Call Me Kuchu, Roger Weisberg - No Tomorrow, Rebecca Haimowitz - Made in India, Jenifer McShane - Mothers of Bedford
Mona Nicoara - Our School, Amelia Green-Dove - The Recruiter and Watchers of the Sky, Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer - Out in the Silence, Ann Kim - Match Plus, Marty Syjuco - Give Up Tomorrow

 

This event generated a conversation from the expertise and experiences of those in the room, but the information should not be considered universal to all films, filmmakers and organizations. We welcome your experiences and comments here. Keep coming back for more!

 

 

From The Fledgling Fund

Check out this event with Jesse Epstein's series of shorts, Body Typed, next Wednesday at 6:30 PM at The Tank in NYC. Time Magazine has recommended the event, and if you are in NYC, we recommend it too!

The Fledgling Fund has established a new Fellowship at MacDowell to provide a residency for filmmakers engaged in documentary work that explores critical social issues. Supported by a $10,000 grant from the foundation, The Fledgling Fund Fellowship is the first designated specifically to support the work of documentary filmmakers at MacDowell. The Fellowship will cover all costs of a residency for a filmmaker to live and work in an artist studio on MacDowell's 450 woodland acres in Peterborough, New Hampshire, for up to two months.  
"The Fledgling Fund is delighted to be supporting this fellowship," says Sheila Leddy,
Fledgling's executive director. "MacDowell is a terrific organization and we are thrilled to support this kind of experience for a social issue documentary filmmaker. It provides a wonderful opportunity to not only focus on their individual work but also be part of a larger artistic community." 

To read the rest of this press release and learn more, click here.

Because I couldn't have said it better myself, I leave it to Robert West to share his thoughts on the recent Prop 8 decision.  Check out his blog post here.  Thank you Robert.

Did you hear the news yesterday?  It's true - The New York State Senate has approved at least a nine-month delay in issuing permits for a method of natural gas drilling, saying more study is needed to ensure it does not contaminate the state's water supply.  Congratulations to Gasland, the entire community of organizations, organizers and individuals fighting for this momentous legislation and the entire state of NY!  For more on this issue, check out Fledgling Fund grantees Gasland and Split Estate.  Also, read more about the decision here.

From The Fledgling Fund

There has never been a better time to shine a light on stories of women affecting change around the world. The evidence is clear -- when women and girls are provided with opportunities for education and jobs, access to health care services, and are a vital voice in governance, we can make great strides in addressing serious social issues such as poverty, violence, and political corruption.

Utilizing ITVS' extraordinary catalogue of documentary films that provide critical perspectives on the most pressing issues facing women and girls today, ITVS and its partners are uniquely poised to use film as a tool to spark conversation and inspire action in innovative ways. Join ITVS and dozens of television stations and community organizations across the country to present a special series of screenings that highlight issues affecting women in the U.S. and across the globe.

All screenings are FREE and open to the public.

Click here for the full schedule.

The series includes Fledgling Fund grantees Going on 13 and Made in L.A.

From The Fledgling Fund

Recently, I spoke with Ali Codina about Monica and David's international premiere at IDFA.  She had this feedback about the experience:

I personally loved IDFA.  It is a well-run festival, with strong industry presence, in a setting where people are very approachable. International sales were a huge benefit--several European buyers approached me directly--and I found my foreign sales agents there (CAT & Docs). But I quickly learned that IDFA is also what you make of it.  The program is enormous and you have to work to make your film known. When I first arrived, I was disappointed that they seemed to be promoting the most obvious titles, which had already made the festival rounds.  So, I personally reached out to press (you can get the list from their press office once you arrive); dropped postcards around town; and got in touch with the IDFA Daily, whose staff was great.  Having the lead subjects (Monica and David) there was a huge help, because people easily recognized us and always wanted to meet the "stars".  If you're willing to put in some initial effort, it's an amazing festival, whose staff really cares about film, and whose audiences are very embracing. 

Thanks for the feedback Ali!  Filmmakers, the deadline for submission to IDFA is quickly approaching.

Call2Action, a new and powerful online marketing and advocacy tool, is offering a discount for filmmakers through July.  Learn how Participant Media used Spark to secure 250,000 views in only two weeks for The Cove.  Read their letter for filmmakers here: http://conta.cc/abV5wC or visit their site: www.call2action.com

"Call2Action is easily the best tool we've seen so far for social media distribution and viewer empowerment - it's a must-have for anyone wanting stronger viewership data and higher impact!" --Maureen Issern, Moped Productions

Check out this article where USA Today asks, "Is 2010 the Year of the Education Documentary?"  Great question, and we are looking forward to figuring out the answer.  Can documentaries do for education what they have done for the environment in the last decade?  Get people talking!  We sure hope so.  Check out these Fledgling Fund funded projects that are sparking education conversations:

Lunch Love Community
Two Angry Moms
The Teacher Salary Project
An American Promise
Speaking in Tongues
To Be Heard