Let's Talk About... Being the Adult in the Room (Yikes)
Plus: A recap of Gotham Week & the awesome people I met & more brands are supporting DARUMA's trailer launch! Do you like swag? Sign up now! I told you this would be a real time marketing case study.
Welcome to October’s free post! Wow. So much has happened in the last week and as you know I’ve been traveling so apologies for publishing late but I am a little stretched (an understatement) and probably will be until 2025. Ha! (I promise I will make it up with two paid posts next week).
To that end I am pushing all non-essential meetings till 2025.
I have to, in order to preserve my health, do what needs to be done for my own film launch and serve my current paying clients.
I met with a really awesome friend and industry peep this past week in NYC and they could see the burnout in my face. They made it abundantly clear that nothing, nothing, is worth sacrificing your health for, so I’m pushing all new consultations and non essential meetings until the New Year.
And that in and of itself makes me feel so guilty! I had SUCH AN AMAZING TIME at Gotham Week and spoke with so many earnest and enthusiastic filmmakers who left my session about marketing and PR for indie films feeling exactly like I wanted them to feel: PUMPED and ready to take action and they wanted to speak with me!
And I want to speak with them too! I really do!!!!
But I can’t take endless consultations and meetings to discuss other people’s projects, not when my own which I’ve spent 17 years working on is about to launch and I still have bills to pay and paying clients to service (to pay said bills).
And I think any filmmaker who is hustling can really understand that.
But for me to ask for space and time and… (ahem) accommodations…. well, that always makes me feel like I am asking for too much and I feel guilty. I’m getting better about it, I am, and but doing this in and of itself is an act of self love and preservation.
Be that as it may!
I still have a newsletter to push out and I wanted to share not only what happened at my panel at Gotham Week but introduce you all to filmmaker and journalist
and… plug another upcoming film!But first… a recap of Gotham Week AND my trailer release party—join us!
Join The Online Trailer Release Party for DARUMA on November 8, 2024
As you might have seen, my authentically cast feature film DARUMA is coming to theaters and streaming on November 15th!
As an indie film, we're handling the roll out of the film ourselves so we're enacting a grassroots outreach campaign to spread the word and would like to invite you to join us at our online trailer release event on November 8th.
The sign up link is here and more details will be forthcoming:
https://forms.gle/B5hwMjsFjSJs17g2A
The cast and crew will be in attendance, as will a special guest. We'll also be awarding five swag bags to lucky winners. Right now I’ve got ten sponsors signed up for the gift bags with more joining: you can see the sponsors on the sign up sheet.
Join us! I’d love the support and I will absolutely support you and your film’s launch in return.
My Panel at Gotham Week — Innovative Exhibitions: Community-Driven Screenings, Pop-Ups, and Microcinema
First off, I have to give such a huge shout out to the founders of Minorities in Film and their amazing team: Brittany Franklin, Ian Grant and Lauren Grant. The three of them are incredible on their own, but put them together and you have a tour de force.
If you go to their webpage, you’ll see a really cool hand out that they passed out at the end of the panel: their newspaper. This was such a clever way to eventize the panel as well as pass information out about their organization in such a creative way AND they got people to pose for photos on social with their materials!
YES! These guys are doing it RIGHT.
Brittany and her team are working on a new show and I hope beyond hope that people are going to recognize their brilliance and snap them up.
But I think that’s one of the things that I love the most about Brittany, Lauren and Ian: they know that to wait for someone to choose them, for someone to give them permission to be artists or to green light them means that they may be waiting for a long, long time. And that they may never be chosen.
So they, like I coach my clients to do, are choosing themselves.
They are taking matters into their own hands and work their butts off to get their projects made and their stories seen and building their own audiences.
So when Brittany asked me, a film marketing and PR person, to come and do this panel about innovative exhibition with Emelyn, owner of Stuart Cinemas and Adnan, head of Rooftop Films (both of them are incredible), of course I said yes.
And the energy in that room was palpable. Speaking with my co-panelists about what it takes to bring a film out into the world and connecting with audiences in non-traditional ways was so invigorating and I could see the people in the audience light up and light bulbs go off with ideas they were formulating.
I loved it.
This is why I write this Substack. This is why I work with my clients. I echo it again: the cavalry is not coming. You have got to figure out a way in which you can be sustainable and connect with audiences. There IS a market and an audience for every film: you just have to figure out how to connect with them and THIS was what that panel was about.
Yes, it’s a TON of work but it’s also incredibly freeing. You’re not waiting on anyone to pick you. And like I said earlier I read voraciously and one of my favorite film people that I follow, Brian Newman, posted this in his newsletter last week:
“If you’re an independent producer and you’re not building community, if you don’t have a community manager, if you’re not thinking about how to build your own audience, and you ONLY rely on selling to the gatekeepers, the next decade won’t be very promising for you. Because selling a show to Netflix will become less & less profitable as the decade progresses. I assure you.”
BOOM.
You have GOT to start building your own audiences and stop trying to sell to the gatekeepers. It’s not me being preachy or rah-rah indie filmmaking: the fact is that the landscape has changed. And the seats at the table are less and less available.
But you can build your OWN table and invite whomever you want to sit at it and THAT’S the work I do with my clients. I cannot thank Brittany and her team enough for giving me the opportunity to speak at Gotham Week. It was awesome so please follow their team on social media and connect with them. These are some really innovative filmmakers and ones to watch.
And if you want to work with me, you know where to find me.
Check Out Thirteen From Allison Norlian at AFF
I’m breaking my own rule by promoting a short film (note - I only plug finished features and docs that are screening or available to stream) but I’m just so darn proud of Allison for making this short AND for getting accepted into AFF, a notoriously difficult festival, AND for choosing a topic near and dear to my heart (disability representation).
So if you’re going to be at AFF, go check out Allison’s short film THIRTEEN:
ABOUT THIRTEEN: Confronting her disabled daughter's terminal diagnosis, a mother fights to have her become a Bat Mitzvah in their synagogue, which refuses to break from tradition.
If you have an indie film you’d like me to promote, click here to submit your materials. I do not promote crowdfunding campaigns but I also never charge to plug your film!
Please share this post! It really does make a difference!
Okay since this week’s post is free and you already know where my head is at, I’m going to ask you to please share this post and plug this Substack. Really, it makes a difference.
Meet Max Cea, Writer of the Nothing Bogus Substack
I LOVE Substack. Truly love it. I read like 30 publications on here voraciously and sometimes when another writer’s work is so good, I ping them and I’m like, hey, your work is awesome and I just want you to know that!
And that’s how I met , via DM and me reading one of his many many articles and not being able to resist DMing him.
And he’s cool enough that he not only replied to me but agreed to meet me for a coffee in NYC and shoot the breeze for an hour.
And I’m delighted to report that Max is as cool if not cooler in person than he is online.
So if you’re not following the
Substack, you should be!Now Let’s Talk About… Being the Adult in the Room
This post isn’t going to be about who is the mature one in an argument, this post is actually about this rare thing that happens when you hit a certain age (ahem) or level of expertise and experience.
And you look around and suddenly it’s like, oh crap… I’m the adult in the room.
I’m the one making the decisions and the buck stops with me.
That comes with a lot of its own inherit baggage, but I think also that it leans so crucially into what I work with my clients on, especially the ones dealing with imposter syndrome (yes, filmmaking is as much therapy as it is a business, after all, we’re all artists are we not?).
And at some point, you have to realized that you are actually good enough and you know what you’re talking about. And it’s not okay for people to try and push you around and gaslight you or take credit for your work. And know that it IS okay to remove those people from your social and professional circles.
I work with a filmmaker who I am always encouraging to take up space: they shrink themselves and I am not sure why but it’s not going to serve them. So part of the thing we work on is making sure that they are able to authoritatively take up the space they need to take (without being a jerk) because THEY are the one in charge of their project. THEY are the ones advocating for themselves on behalf of their stakeholders to get the resources they need to make their films.
I want to be very clear: I’m not talking about acting like a jerk and never listening to anyone. What I AM talking about is knowing when to lean into what you know needs to happen and when to ask for help and/or guidance. Checking your hubris if you will, but understanding that you’re good enough as well.
I find that a lot of artists and people in creative fields second guess themselves all the time (imposter syndrome!). But there comes a point when in your career and in your life, and you may not be there yet, where you WILL be the adult in the room and you need to learn to trust your instincts.
At that point it’s your job to look around to do the calculus on everything and set the roadmap forward. This applies to all aspects of filmmaking: decision making, promotion, story, production… all of it.
So while this post might not get into scenarios of what being the “adult” in a situation looks like, know that as a filmmaker, you’ve got people looking up to you. You’re responsible for a whole set of people and by proxy their families and that just comes with the territory of being a filmmaker.
It might not be easy all the time, but I encourage you to go forward in your journey with patience, an open mind, knowing when to take up space and when to platform others, trying to infuse all of your work with kindness and with grace and… trusting your gut.
Next week’s posts will be much more in-depth but thank you all for bearing with me as I barrel toward the launch of my film which is now, just five weeks away.
Be sure you check out the website so you can see what I’m doing with my online and offline promotions. Again, this is a case study in real time.
Want to Work With Me?
Book your one hour session here.
We’ll start with a 10-15 minute call or Zoom to discuss your project at no charge. If you decide you want to book a session you’ll be sent a client intake form and payment information and we’ll pick a time that works for you.
I need that intake form back no less than 48 hours in advance of our meeting so I have time to prepare because everyone’s situation is different.
In our session we’ll cover EVERYTHING. I’ll give you feedback, ideas, advice, traps to avoid and more. It’s my hope that your time with me will save you a ton of money and heartache down the line. I work with clients at ALL stages of production or development in multiple verticals: film, publishing, tech, fundraising, small business start ups and more. You benefit from my lived experience in ALL of these fields and you leave being armed with knowledge and insight to move forward from a position of strength and clarity.
Ready to get your project? Book your session here.