Archives: Pick of the Web

It’s a very badly hidden secret that I’m a loyal supporter and devotee of Seth Godin, the man I can most single-handedly credit with re-energising me in my low moments and helping me believe that anything is possible.

Never more so than with the latest free eBook from his Domino Project publishing company. Not only is it a great example of using something you give away for free (the ‘SXSW Pokes‘ eBook) to promote something you’re selling (the full-length ‘Poke the Box‘ book and eBook), it’s also full of stories that help you realise that anything really is possible.

The single most important element of SXSW Pokes is that it’s not just a few people telling stories that make you think, “Well, I could have done that if I’d thought of it first,” but instead contains 50 stories from people who make you think, “If they can do that with their lives, just think what I could do with mine.”

I cannot stress just how important I think this book is for anyone to read. Go get it.

If you are the only one getting in your own way of going after your dreams, stop and realize that you are the last person who should be doing that!

C. C. Chapman, SXSW Pokes

What’s your lifelong dream? As you step out to make it real, reach out to someone you’d like to know and emulate. That one phone call may change your life forever!

Sandy Harper, SXSW Pokes

The initiative I took for myself will always remind me that I’m teh one driving this train, and that I’m accountable to ther person in the mirror most of all.

Amber Naslund, SXSW Pokes

In one of those strange pieces of serendipity that come along now and again, no sooner had I Tweeted out yesterday’s blog post than I came across this Tweet from friend and fellow Twitterer, Jeanne.

A Twitter pimp extraordinaire, screenwriter and black belt in Tae Kwon Do, Jeanne is an inspiration to many, from her Twitter feed and blog to hosting the weekly US #scriptchat sessions.

And what wonderful timing as I resolved to give up fear for lent, for Jeanne to link through to her blog post about doing exactly the same three years ago and never looking back.

In 2008, I gave up fear for Lent.  It changed my life forever.

Jeanne V Bowerman, jeannevb.com

Read her full post here and be inspired to join me on my fear-shedding journey.

I’ve spoken on this blog before about Jon Reiss, filmmaker and author of Think Outside The Box Office, the authoritative guide for finding and building an audience for your low-budget indie flick.

Jon has now gone a step further and established the best iPhone app integration with your film. You can read Jon’s post announcing the app over on his blog, but here’s the key part of it:

This is an app to share the graffiti and street art you love with others.   It is free – and is intended to create a broader community around Bomb It.

Jon Reiss, jonreiss.com

Rather than simply using the app as another platform for selling his film, what Jon has created is another way to engage his community. He’s adding value to his audience, giving them a way to talk, debate and share while still pushing (but not overtly) the BOMB IT brand out there.

By keeping the app BOMB IT-branded, the people who know him and his film will start to use it and share it with their friends (from with in their community and, thus, the target audience for the film) and spread the word. More awareness = bigger target audience = more views. But, significantly, Jon’s not trying to expand beyond his identified “niche” – he knows who is audience is and how to cater for their needs; textbook indie movie marketing.

Any producers out there looking to enhance their film’s brand with an app would do well to study what Jon has done here, which comes back to the same story  we push time and again: know your audience, give them what they want and give them more than they expect.

Engage, converse, offer value. It’s a simple equation that too many filmmakers frequently skip over.

I opened up my TweetDeck this morning to find a tweet from Jon Reiss who, you’ll remember, featured in this PotW post a couple of weeks ago.  His linked through to a TechDirt article about building audiences and why those who think it’s too much time and effort are misguided at best.

The salient point, for me, is the following:

while building a loyal audience and community may take time and effort, in the long run, they provide you with the ability to actually focus more on creativity.

Mike Masnick, techdirt.com

Read the full article here.

Are you working on cultivating an audience right now? Is it too much work, or can you see the payoff on the horizon?

Writer/Director1 John August has put this post up on his blog today (or probably yesterday, US-time) linking through to an original pitch document from Gene Roddenberry for STAR TREK.

The document itself is well worth a read, for insight if nothing else, but JA’s comments and thoughts are equally valuable. More than that, though, he once again shows his generosity in helping writers understand the process by linking through to three similar documents he created for un-produced TV shows.

Not many writers would have the confidence to share what is, essentially, rejected work with a wider audience. JA’s willingness to open his work to writers across the world shows not only his confidence and talent, but perhaps that we all could be a little more open in order to learn more about ourselves and others.

Read his full post here.

1. and London Screenwriters’ Festival Hollywood Hookup guest [↩]

This week’s most popular post on the blog was my Pick of the Web featuring Lucy V. Hay and Daniel Martin Eckhart‘s cross-talking posts on what it takes to succeed as a writer. You can read it here.

Today’s Sunday video for your viewing (and educational) pleasure it this fantastic piece by Turnstyle News on Lance Weiler‘s Pandemic 1.0 project that’s been running all week. Watch this video1 and learn how transmedia should be done. Spectacular; and makes me even more gutted that I wasn’t at Sundance this year to be able to participate.

1. you can also see it on Vimeo here [↩]

There are two great articles I want to highlight today, from two Twitter/LSWF buddies of mine.

Daniel Martin Eckhart writes on his blog about what it takes to make it as a screenwriter, his biggest insight (and no doubt point of debate) being:

The two most essential elements for a screenwriters are discipline and stamina. Talent is a distant third.

Daniel Martin Eckhart, Write, write, write.

Lucy V Hay, of Bang2Write fame, then goes a little further in her post, which references Daniel’s, talking about the paradox of the lucky/unlucky writer:

You’ll get no argument from when if you’re of the belief it’s TOTALLY about hard work, first and foremost; I think it’s important to recognise our own success as a writer will come as a direct result of that. However, I also think it’s important to realise it *could* have worked out very differently, despite our best efforts.

Lucy V Hay, write here, write now

What do you think? What makes a writer successful? Luck, timing, talent, hard work? All of the above?