Do you ever get that nagging feeling that you’re not quite up-to-date on how to transition from the old models of financing, marketing and distribution of your movie/ documentary/ short/ webisode/ video art through the savvy use of new media, social networking and actionable up-to-date information? I know I do. That’s why I jumped on an email from KJ at Creative Alliance alerting us to a workshop staged at MICA’s BBox this week.
Think Outside the Box Office is filmmaker and Cal Arts teacher Jon Reiss’s book and get-with-it educational roadshow for the indie content producer. The two-day workshop is a goldmine of info for anyone serious about finding an audience for their work. If you missed it, don’t worry, just follow Jon Reiss on his site, blog, twitter… it’s all there.
Reiss is an exceptionally good bearer of art intelligence because he is passionate about sharing information (sure he has stuff to sell, but there’s none of that dreary pile of books and DVDS on a table by the door stuff), and, he’s a real doer. Check out his super-cool global graffiti doc BOMB IT, or any of his work. With his punk, pedagogue, and cinema pedigree, Reiss seems the perfect messenger to spread the gospel of transmedia know-how to otherwise business-challenged or deluded digital artists, in whatever medium.
The wealth of material Reiss delivers in the workshop is too big to summarize here, but I can offer a few samples. He spoke about the career-centric model and building a long-term audience base, about evaluating the actual worth of your project, and how to maximize a project’s potential. Reiss offers tons of case histories, from his own films to Gregory Bayne’s work to Ed Burns’ sly iTunes model, and beyond. Some great millennial “mad men” jargon is floated: niche slices, verticals, DIFY, the 80/20 rule, E 4 Media, CTA’s, and so on. The “50/50” resource allocation rule is something I have known deep down to be true, but have not had the business discipline to implement (if you’re selling art, half your time and half your money go to making the content, and the other half to marketing the content). Hearing it bluntly put gave me some resolve.
The best thing for me, and my current project, rowsmovie.com, was that sitting there with Rows producer Keith Weiner, listening to Reiss, I had four concrete, doable, marketing ideas that had not previously ever occurred to me. I guess that qualifies Reiss as inspirational. Soon we’ll need to crew-up and get some transmedia staff going on, every bit as important as grips and soundmen. Gotta look into that DIFY strategy.
Thank you Patrick Wright, Chair of MICA’s Video and Film Arts program, for staging yet another vital event for media artists and culture vultures in general. Having been back in Baltimore (from L.A.) for a few years now, I’ve had more better encounters of every kind at MICA (special screenings, MFF events, Create Baltimore, and on and on) than anywhere. Excellent.
