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!
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!
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.
You’re right, you can’t actually make ‘The Hobbit’ as your next film, but you can learn a huge amount about creating and nurturing your audience from the get-go from Peter Jackson‘s latest adventure in Middle Earth.
Yesterday, production began on the two-film adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkein book and no sooner had the press release hit the wires than Peter Jackson himself had launched his new Facebook Page. Yes, it’s a personal one, but you can be sure that it’s going to be used almost solely to promote his current flick up until its release in 2012.
This early-bird establishing of connection and communication with the audience (which is something PJ excelled at with both ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and his 2005 ‘King Kong’ remake) is crucial for filmmakers across the budget range.
While Jackson and the Hobbit team may be walking into an audience of millions of eager fans across the world and you may be staring at an audience of less-than-eager family members at the start of your journey, focusing on and starting your social media and marketing efforts from Day 1 is a key principle in audience building for independent filmmakers.
Just ask your friendly local PMD, a post title created by Jon Reiss and being exemplified by the sterling work of Adam Daniel Mezei over at pmdforhire.com – creating your film with your audience in mind is crucial to your success and the more (and earlier) you can connect with them, the more successful you will be.
I’ve long been a loud advocate of the power of social media and digital marketing if used in the right way. The biggest issue that I try to drive home to all of my clients, however, is the simple truth that social media is – and must be seen as – an investment for your business.
It costs money in terms of resources, but it also costs far more in terms of time – the time it takes to develop a social media strategy, to build an audience of friends, fans and followers and to maintain that tribe of people in a way that makes them feel valued by both the brand and the people behind the brand.
Which is why I was so disheartened to see this article on Mashable.com this week on time-saving tips for Twitter. While I agree that there are ways to increase your productivity by developing processes and systems to optimise you and your company’s time on social media sites, I was taken aback to read this (under Number 3):
Another way to fit tweeting into your schedule is to develop tweets in bulk and schedule them to go out later.
This is possibly the single most misleading piece of advice that is bandied around about Twitter. Scheduling Tweets isn’t conversation, it’s broadcasting. Social media is specifically that: social. It’s about interaction, conversation and community, not about broadcasting your “message”1 – that’s what traditional media and paid-for advertising is for.
If you only take one thing away from this blog over however many weeks, months and years it exists and you subscribe, let it be this: don’t schedule your Tweets. If you’re not prepared to invest the time to be part of the conversation with your tribe around your brand, then this form of online marketing isn’t for you.
Most importantly, remember that not being on Twitter, or Facebook, or LinkedIn, or Tumblr, or Blogger, or WordPress or any other social media, blogging or online marketing site doesn’t automatically make you “un-hip” or “out-of-the-loop”. If it’s not right for you, your audience or your budget, then not being on them makes you a far savvier marketer than anyone who’s simply using them as just another broadcasting platform.
I’m getting down off my soapbox now.
whatever that may be: sales, social good, charitable [↩]
I don’t want to pour more scorn on the much-derided Spider-man: The Musical, enough of that has been done by commentators and citizen reviewers across New York, the US and, increasingly, the world. I make no comment on its artistic merit; I’ve not seen it and therefore am in no position to judge.
I did, however, see a lesson for all artists and creatives in the development and re-development of the show following this piece in the New York Post this week. The key phrase for me:
[Phil] McKinley’s going to turn the show into a shorter, special-effects-driven family spectacle more suited to the world of Steve Wynn than Steve Sondheim.
For me, if you’re creating a musical from a comic book, the tone and the feel of the show needs to reflect that of the book itself. The same holds true for making movies and TV shows of comic books, too. What I don’t understand about Spidey is why have a short, special-effects-driven family show is a change of direction – that’s exactly the sort of show it should have been in the first place.
As any social media and marketing expert will tell you, knowing your audience is key. And the audience for Spider-man: The Musical surely wants to see something breath-takingly spectacular with a simple, familiar storyline that they don’t have to concentrate on too much. From the reports abounding on the ‘net, that’s not what they’ve got.
Knowing your audience and knowing exactly what it is you’re making is crucial to the artistic and commercial success of any artistic project. Even for little indies who don’t want to think about “commerce” and “business”1, it’s vital to understand who is going to consume your eventual product, even if they’re not paying for it.
What else would you want from a Broadway/West End show based on a comic book? I can’t think of anything other than good fun and spectacle. It’s the old K.I.S.S. message: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
This week’s Lowdown focuses on communication tools for filmmakers:
Communication, as we all know, is key to establishing, maintaining and getting the most from our connections and relationships. And it’s important to remember that “getting the most” doesn’t just mean “getting what you want” – all relationships in life should be a two-way street. As soon as we forget that, we’re in trouble.
SKYPE
The biggest and most obvious communication tool for filmmakers is Skype. It’s free, it’s easy-to-use and it offers three main methods of connecting with someone: text-based instant messaging, voice-only internet phone calls and, more famously, video calls.
There is nothing better than meeting with someone face-to-face; relationships will always be stronger and more cemented simply by being or having been in someone’s company. Failing that, however, video calls are by far the best way. You can not only hear the person’s voice, but you get to see their facial expressions, too. When you’re part of a global community of filmmakers, being able to connect with people on the other side of the world and work with them in close-quarters, Skype video calling is simply the best solution.
Voice calls are second best, but Skype still allows you to have a conversation, to hear the other person and to enjoy proper two-way communication. And, of course, it’s still free, which means you’re saving significant amounts on your phone bill.
Lastly comes instant messaging. IM can be a great tool for chatting things through quickly with someone or floating ideas while you’re doing other things, too. It’s a productive communication tool for conversations that don’t require 100% attention the whole way through – you can dip in and out with pauses between responses. The main issue with IM is that it’s far too easy to be lazy and use it when you should really pick up the phone and talk to someone.
WHATSAPP
Alongside Skype, which is often seen as the catch-all free communication tool, is the fantastic WhatsApp Messenger. WhatsApp is both brilliant and significant because it’s one of the first cross-platforms communications apps that lets you connect with friends and contacts using instant messaging from your mobile device.
It works on iPhone, Blackberry and Android smartphones and uses the same internet connections and technology that gives you your email to keep you in touch without any charge beyond your usual monthly phone service.
The biggest barrier to this right now is the fact that both sides have to have the app installed on their device, so the more we can encourage each other and our friends and connections to download the app and sign up, the more free communication we’re going to get from it.
WRAP UP
Communication tools are like all the other tools I talk about on here: they’re great if you use them correctly and for the right purpose. While all manner of free communication tools are a huge boon to us as filmmakers and content producers, they can only be as good – and as productive – as we allow them to be.
So next time you find yourself typing out an email, stop and think if you’d be better connect with the recipient in a chat. Next time you try to connect with someone in a chat, think about whether you’d be better off calling them on Skype. And the next time you connect on Skype, think about whether what you have to say would be better done using video so they can see you’re not angry, pissed off or disappointed.
Good communication is the cornerstone of good business and at the end of the day, good business is what we’re all trying to achieve.
Our lives are a rush of different stimuli, from our multiple social media accounts to emails to phone calls and text messages. In order to boost your own productivity, take a break from it all for a set period of time each and every day.
Since I started training for the 3 Peaks, which currently involves 5 trips to the gym a week and a lot of pain, I’ve discovered the enormous benefits of being in an environment with none of the usual distractions.
My creativity has come on in leaps and bounds in the last few weeks as I give myself 45-60 minute periods every day of the week to be completely cut off from my communications, to enjoy some much needed thinking time and to focus my brain on the things that really matter in my life and work, rather than the things that too easily consume my attention when I’m in the thrall of social media maintenance and ever-flowing emails.
You may not be a gym-bunny, but if you can find the space in your day to force yourself to silence your phone, shut your laptop and spend even half-an-hour away from everything and alone in your head1, you’ll notice the benefits creeping into your headspace rapidly.
I picked up a voicemail from my dad last night around midnight. I figured it probably wasn’t a great idea to call him back right then, so I deleted the message. As I did, I thought to myself, “Now I’ve deleted that, I’m pretty sure I’ll have forgotten in the morning and fail to return the call.”
In accordance with the prophesy, my phone rang this afternoon and Dad’s name popped up on the screen. Luckily, it wasn’t anything too important1, but it reminded me how important knowing yourself is if you want to be truly productive.
I know I can be pretty forgetful, which means I should have made a note that Dad had called and wanted me to get back to him so I did it first thing this morning.
If you know and are aware of your little foibles and common mistakes, it makes it far easier to compensate for them. I’m all to aware of my forgetfulness and I take steps to deal with it2 to keep me on the ball and at my peak of productivity.
What are your little niggles that dampen your productivity? How do you work your way around them?
Did I want to go round and watch the game on Saturday? [↩]
such as making use of Evernote as widely as possible [↩]
I wrote a few weeks ago about getting ‘a job‘ to help get me out of the house and a little less stir-crazy (one of the pitfalls of working from a home office). I expected it to be hard work, but that was kind of the point; it would hep my mental state, my writing and my honeymoon fund.
What I didn’t realise was that it would be such hard physical work and that as a consequence, I’d become stronger and fitter so much more quickly than I’d been planning on with my regime at the gym.
The unexpected benefits of the things we do in life can be some of the best. The same thing goes for business, writing and filmmaking, too. Sometimes we do things because we enjoy them, sometimes we do things because we think they’ll be good for us or for others and sometimes we do things because we feel we have to.
Whatever your motivation for doing something – positive, negative or self-serving – it’s always good to be on the look-out for those things we’d never have had access to or experienced had we not taken that certain task on.
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.
I rarely give things up for Lent. A few years ago, I gave up going into hospital , but that one didn’t last, thanks to those pesky medical people trying to keep me alive.
This year, though, I’m vowing to give up the fear of failure.
Too many of life’s decisions are governed by the “what if it all goes wrong?” question or “what if I look silly for trying it?”. Too often we skip over great opportunities because we can’t immediately see how to make them work and we worry about what it’ll look like to our friends, colleagues and clients if they don’t.
So this month I’m going to enter into every project with a sense of the infinite possibilities as opposed to the dread of defeat.
That’s not to say that I will be hurling myself into projects willy-nilly. Fear of failure is very different to realistic expectations for the success of a project and if it doesn’t make financial (or time-cost) sense, then it will remain on the back-burner for the time being.
What are you going to commit yourself to for Lent? What are you afraid of failing? Announce yourself here – loud and proud – and we’ll all keep tabs on each other.
