Cheree Dillion, Kristin McCracken, Gary Hustwit, Roz Murphy, Marisa Vitale, Angela Tucker, Elisabeth Holme, and Jorge Rivera.
The power of social media in independent film is undeniable. Which is why filmmakers want to know how can social media can increase their film’s visibility and audience reach.
Held on November 21, Create the Buzz, Audience Will Follow was the second installment of NYWIFT’s DIY Series and focused on engaging and connecting with your audience. I was thrilled to moderate the talented panel, which featured Elisabeth Holme (producer, Welcome to Pine Hill), social media consultant Kristin McCracken, Gary Hustwit (director, Helvetica), Jorge Rivera (writer, Lenox Avenue), and Angela Tucker (producer, AfroPop, The New Black).
With diverse experience in film, TV, and web series as well as with Kickstarter campaigns, the panelists offered tips on leveraging social media to promote your project:
- Building your audience before production begins is a key part of successful distribution. Interact with fans/audience members. They are your advocates as well as your audience
- A social media plan can help build an audience that will watch and share your film
- Start wherever you currently have an online presence and build from there
- Utilize social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram not just to promote films but also to cast, staff, and fund projects
- Drive sales and viewers for your film by building a social community where filmmakers can reach out directly to the audience
- Storytelling is vital to successful social engagement. Social media allows you to extend your reach
- Create content that entertains and educates
- Post/update consistently
- Support your peers’ projects
The speakers discussed their storytelling campaigns. Tucker talked about engaging her fan base across multiple social media channels. While, Hustwit shared the importance providing interesting content and engaging with followers. Holme, who is Kickstarter’s film program director, encouraged filmmakers to use social media to not only raise funds but also build an audience community.
A big thanks to our speakers, attendees, and my DIY series co-producers Cheree Dillion and Marisa Vitale.
nywift
Related Posts
Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Rachel Schwartz
Welcome to NYWIFT, Rachel Schwartz! Rachel Schwartz has been a staff member at the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) since January 2019, in rising roles as the Manager, then Director, and now Head of Daytime and Children’s & Family Emmy Awards. Prior to that, she worked at the American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards, for eight years. Therefore, she is halfway to an “administrative EGOT.” Rachel graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern University with a BA in Theatre and a minor in Women’s Studies in 2005. The crowning achievement of her education was her undergraduate thesis on a proposed new voting system for the Primetime Emmys. She has been obsessed with awards shows since sixth grade, when she passed out Oscar ballots to the rest of her class. She is proud to be a native New Yorker, born and raised in Queens.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Linda Nieves-Powell
Welcome to NYWIFT, Linda Nieves-Powell! New York-based Puerto Rican multimedia storyteller Linda Nieves-Powell has spent nearly three decades creating culturally specific, character-driven narratives that center Latina identity. Her work spans theater, film, digital media, and the page, from off-Broadway stages to college campuses nationwide, from a Sundance Screenwriting Lab semi-finalist selection to a Simon & Schuster publication. Her Imagen Award-winning stage work YO SOY LATINA! has been produced at more than 400 colleges across the country and off-Broadway. She is currently completing a screenplay called Idalis and Selenis Go Freestyle.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Ceilidh Michelle
Welcome to NYWIFT, Ceilidh Michelle! Ceilidh is the author of Butterflies, Zebras, Moonbeams, (Palimpsest Press 2019), shortlisted for the Hugh MacLennan Award for Fiction and Vagabond: Venice Beach, Slab City and Points In Between (Douglas & McIntyre 2021). Her novella, Living Waters, was shortlisted for the Malahat Review's Novella Prize and The Commonwealth Prize, she's received an honorary mention from Writers Digest, and has been shortlisted for the Eunice Williams Prize for Nonfiction. The CBC has listed her twice as an author to watch. Her work has appeared in Maclean’s Magazine, 49th shelf, Room, Saltwire, Long Reads, and others. Originally from Nova Scotia, she lives in New York.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Sydney Sidner
Welcome to NYWIFT, Sydney Sidner! Sydney is an award-winning filmmaker, screenwriter and educator with an impressive resume of work appearing on TV, film and in the theater. In our interview, she encourages creators to be both passionate and flexible. Read on to learn more.
READ MORE
