SXSW Panel 8: Building a Fan Community

by Brian Reich | 12 Mar 2007, 2:00am

By Sunday afternoon I was beginning to wonder if the different panels I was sitting through were worth it.   But my perspective changed completely (for the better) when the building an online fan base panel started.   The focuse: using the internet and related technology to reach millions of fans without spending millions of dollars.   The panel (Scott Kirsner from CinemaTech moderated, Jim Miller of Brave New Foundation, Ian Schafer of Deep Focus, David Straus of Without A Box, Joe Swanberg — a filmmaker whose most recent movie is Hannah Takes the Stairs, and Lance Weiler of the Workbook Project) talked about how movies create and use MySpace pages and blogs during production, for promotion, and the role of user generated content and other activity online.

When asked what the secret was to generating online attention for movies was, like most panels, the answer to the question was “it depends” as in “it depends on the kind of movies you want to make,” or “it depends what kind of audience you want to reach” or “It depends if you have budget or not.”   The general consensus was that filmmakers and studios alike need to create immersive experiences that leverage their own dedicated channels for the movie and tap as many distribution paths and partners as possible.   And there were some interesting examples and case studies (Head Trauma and Clerks II chief among them).  

Here is a brain dump of my notes:

• MySpace is really good for connecting with people where the films are already online.   It is much harder to get someone to read about your film and then go out to a theater to watch.   If the movie is only a click away then they will be more likely to act.   Another opportunity to use social networks is to rally an audience locally (in advance of a screening or similar) to help with things like flyering.
• A consumer’s favorite film is most likely the film they haven’t seen yet.  
• The power for self-distribution is the ultimate power.   Very important to find the hook for a film/an idea and figure out how that is going to interest a certain audience and then go out to find that audience.
• The important thing is to let the right audience know why they should be interested in the film in the first place (before it is released, in some cases before it is even completed).   One of the things that social networks have allowed us to do is tap into these audiences and create a dialogue.   Social networks make spectacular audience relationship management tools.   It is one thing to build a community, let them congregate and exist on their own.   It is another thing to actually participate in that community or conversation.
• Being able to take your fan base from one film to the next is critical.   Start courting your fan base the day you start thinking about the next film you are going to make.

Closing thought: The most important thing is to make a good movie.   There is no process, no standardized set of tools that will work to promote a bad movie.   Success in building a fan base will take money and effort, time, and a little bit of luck.

TAGS : Event Coverage From the Trenches SXSWi