It’s been three weeks since we started our social media ‘pre-Kicstarter’ campaign the goal of it being to let as many people know about it as possible. Apparently one of the most common reasons why people don’t make it in crowdfunding is they don’t have a fanbase to start with. Well, we are trying not to make that mistake and it’s been a hell of a ride so far.
Studying Twitter, the hashtags, the @’s and retweets. What does a like do? Going all-in on Instagram and getting followers on Facebook. Turns out getting people to follow you isn’t a problem at all. Getting people who are interested in movies and are willing to invest some money, well, that’s another story. And if you want your social media feeds to be interesting you need to have content that matters, content that people want to check and, most importantly, share. After going through all possible ways of posting stuff one starts to seriously question oneself ‘Is my movie that good?’ and ‘Are there actually people who want to invest their money in my movie.’ Getting a hundred people give up their Thursday pint and give the money to you instead would certainly solve the problem. But why would they?
Every time I send the script to someone I’m a bit on edge. Will they like it? Love it? If they won’t, they will just send me a very polite answer that they either quite enjoyed reading it or haven’t had time to go through it just yet. You’re sending around a personal document that tells about who you are, where you were and where you stand right now. Luckily enough – and I guess I am blowing smoke up my ass but, hey, it’s the film industry, who doesn’t? – all the replies I have received were surprisingly good. Not just good, they usually also included a positive and constructive critique. Makes all the social media pushing around a bit easier.
It’s always cool to watch the behind the scenes footage of movies and how they were preparing stuff and then it’s usually mentioned in a sentence or two that it took them a few months to nail down the script and then six months of pre-production. The reason they only mention this is it’s incredibly boring to watch. You can only show people siting at meetings and caffeine-infused bearded guys bending over laptops and watching movies in their underpants studying how they managed to make that dialogue so damn interesting so many times. Why are the Coen brothers using green colour in their movies and what do blue and red stand for in Eyes wide shut. Does it even matter? Will this even help me?
So while we so uninterestingly grow beards in our bedrooms and cafes and prepare for the – visually – most interesting part, we need to make it look as if filmmaking is the most interesting thing in the world. And, don’t get me wrong, as far as I’m concerned it pretty much is, but only for the person doing it. The observer has to wait for the result.
And while you wait for the result, we learn shitloads of things. Remember how every filmmaker says that filmmaking is a collaborative process? Because it is. And it starts at the very beginning. You need people whom you trust to give you at least a hint at whether the thing you’re making is a good idea or not. Not to talk about different and fresh ideas for plots, twists and characters. I’m not saying covering all social media platforms by yourself is impossible but, by god, is it much easier and fruitful if there’s a handful of people doing it. The good side of making movies is people like to be involved in them. Maybe not so much in the promotional side of it but, hey, everyone will share a site if they’re involved in the project. Isn’t boasting what social media’s all about? It’s a bit like organising a marathon. There’s going to be pictures of everyone in the finishing line. Plus if you let people share their ideas and then possibly use them they will feel more a part of the project and work harder. So the next time you watch the Oscars and start cursing at all the thanking that’s going on keep in mind that everyone mentioned there probably worked their asses off and, at least for a few months, ate and breathed that movie.
So while you wait for the “interesting part” feel free to follow our T-shirts and beermats as they travel around the UK on. Or get daily doses on tips and hints on filmmaking. Or just simply like us on Facebook. Whatever.
Not An Englishman 