gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards"

private screening for bloggers? film geek dinner?

[UPDATE: The date for this HAS STILL NOT BEEN CONFIRMED. Buggered by re-shoots and editing schedules etc. As soon as I have news, I'll post it, thanks.]

David Mackenzie, the film's director, starts writing in the Hallam Foe blog:

I am beginning to get very excited about all this because it does seem that we are throwing ideas around. It may seem strange but as a director I have very rarely been asked to be involved too much in the marketing of my films. I rather disagreed with the marketing angle on my last film but my thoughts were basically ignored. So I am especially happy to be involved at this comparatively early and proactive stage in the process.

We have a big meeting on Wednesday with the film's UK distributors (Hugh and Colin will both be attending) so I am very keen to find out how this all fits in with their ideas of how to promote the film. They have all seen the rough cut and have some expertise in the field, so they are bound to bring some interesting stuff to the table.

David, Colin and I were all in this big meeting yesteray with some Buena Vista folk, talking about how to possibly engage the blogosphere.

I am delighted to report, they were very warm to the idea of perhaps hosting a private screening in London for UK bloggers, followed by some sort of geek dinner afterwards. Stormhoek would sponsor the wine, of course.

This would not be your typical "Here's some free tickets, now go write about our damn movie" idea. For one thing, the film would only be shown in rough cut, as the final cut is not due for a couple of months yet. The way I see it, it would be more of a "This is what we're doing, what do you think" sort of evening. Dave, Colin and some of the production team would turn up, meet some of the bloggers, and hopefully come away understanding the blogosphere a bit better. Yeah, it wouldn't be a huge event. But I always prefer starting small, anyway.

One thing I took away from the meeting that utterly delighted me was the common concensus that if we are going to engage with the blogosphere, it has to be on the blogosphere's terms, the studio does not get to set the agenda. i.e. As bloggers, this is our gig, not Buena Vista's gig.

As a professional marketing blogger, I'm very excited by the possibilities here. I believe the blogopsphere is a great place to start a conversation with potential movie goers, especially if your film, like this one, is not a high-concept, high-budget blockbuster, but something much smaller and more personal. I also believe there's a lot of life after the whole "Snakes On A Plane" episode [whose title came up a lot in the meeting]. I think we've only just begun scratching the surface.

The other thing that came out of the meeting was we're going to start upping the ante on the Hallam Foe blog. Much more writing, videos, "content" etc.

One more thing: These days, the buzzword I seem to be overusing the most is "complicty". i.e. If you want people talking favorably about your product to their friends, at some basic level they've got to want to see you succeed. As I said a few days ago:

Remember, Word Of Mouth is not created, Word of Mouth is co-created. People will only spread your virus if there's something in it for them. They have to be complicit in your success.

Which means, of course, you have to be complicit in their success as well.

This is something Apple understands very well, better than anyone else I can think of. In the meeting yesterday, I found it very edifying to be talking about this stuff in a real-word, offline context, and people understanding it and agreeing with it, not just me and other bloggers ranting on about it, with nobody listening etc.

We live in interesting times.

Posted by hugh macleod at August 31, 2006 7:58 AM | TrackBack