Validating the idea

In the startup world, validating a new business idea before investing significant capital or time in a new product is hugely important. Either validating by performing the actions an app would perform manually, without hiring engineers to build a working prototype. Or by testing the marketplace with Facebook ads.

I don't see why this isn't more prevalent in film. In film, many times you invest a huge amount of capital and time in a film, all based on a hunch that you think it's a good idea. It's inefficient with huge potential downside.

Comedians frequently talk about not knowing whether or not a joke is going to be funny until they tell it on stage, in front of an audience. And they can spend years honing the joke, all based on a combination of feedback from the audience and their artistry.

I know musicians have been caught off guard, thinking a song wasn't that great, but it ended up being the most popular song on the album.

But when you talk about filmmakers adjusting their film based on feedback from the audience, people get squirrely. It's as if people expect a 2 hour story to come straight out of the filmmakers mind, fully and perfectly formed. It's unrealistic.

Comedians = jokes, worked out on stage
Musicians = songs, worked out on stage
Filmmakers = shorts, worked out online 

The only problem with this formula, is with comedians and musicians you've got a paying audience. And the behavior of a paying customer is much different than the opinion of someone getting something for free. They go over this in Eric Ries's, The Lean Startup. Paying customers for a new product are early adopters. And watching the behavior of early adopters, who are interested enough in your idea to spend their hard earned money is much different than getting the opinion of someone who has enough time on their hands to be part of a focus group. It's an entirely different set of people, in addition to watching behavior versus getting someone's opinion.

Maybe I should charge for the shorts, as a way to gauge interest and make sure I only get paying, early adopter behavior.

But I'm hesitant to charge for shorts. I'll probably end up testing both ways.

Sense of direction

As a first time artist, it can be tough finding a sense of direction. Having faith in goals you set for yourself, that they're the right goals. That you're moving in the right direction.

Most people I know make movies without finding out beforehand whether or not an audience will be interested in the movie. It's a guess at best. I'd like to change that. To avoid wasting money and time.

Seth Godin: Mass Production and Mass Media

I read Seth's blog daily. Today's post hit the bullseye with what I'd like to do in filmmaking.

Product for a micro market.

Market to a micro market.

When you don't have to water down a film for the lowest common denominator general public, and don't have to spend $30 million mass marketing a film, I would imagine you get interesting films for a niche audience which can still make a profit.

Reference:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2015/02/mass-production-and-mass-media.html

Upvoting loglines

What about a website where you upvote loglines? Actually, now that I think about it, I've seen that before. Could be useful in a general way to gauge interest but I think there's inherent problems:

1. They're not paying customers. 
2. There's no reason for them to be on the site. What do they "get" for upvoting a logline? It's a game. No risk, no reward. 

You'd need large numbers of people on the site. Voting on loglines isn't as fun as an "am I hot or not" voting site. 

And without risk (pay) you're not truly tracking behavior, you're tracking perceived behavior. What people think they would pay money to see. 

Crowdfunding with Peter Diamandis

Listened to the Tim Ferriss / Peter Diamandis podcast today and it got me interested in crowdfunding as a possible resource for testing new material, prior to production.

Previously I had been opposed to crowdfunding, because I don't like the idea of people paying for a product, which they have to buy again later. 

But... it could be an excellent way to market test film ideas at the script stage, or earlier. I imagine posting a trailer with the highlights, a short breakdown of the story, and then offer to buy the film for $5. 

If enough people buy it, then it gets made. If not, the money gets refunded.

Quote from the interview, regarding crowdfunding:

You get to find out not only does the world want it, but in-fact, what color, what size, what shape. And it's the most honest vote you can. Who cares what a monkey survey says, it's when people put their credit card down and vote with their wallet. That's what really matters. 

It's zero dilution, you test your marketplace, you get out in front, and more importantly you build a community.  

Doesn't that sound like something that could (and should) be applied towards independent filmmaking?

Source: Tim Ferriss Podcast 

I Believe...

I believe there's a better way to make independent films, using theories from Growth Hacker Marketing (link) and The Lean Startup (link).

Growth Hacker Marketing and The Lean Startup both address problems faced by traditional business models:
- Market research
- Gut feelings
- Large launch

Now what other industry puts together products in that same way? Studio films and Indie films.

Solutions to their problems were in folding marketing in with product development and developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and then rapidly iterating and pivoting based on customer response. These are actual customers, not focus groups. Early adopters and customers that have PAID for the product.

Examples of this are: Instagram, Dropbox, Pinterest, Uber....

I believe indie film can apply these principles to produce a film that avoids the pitfalls many indie films fall into.

And the beauty of this particular method is, that once you achieve Product Market Fit (PMF), you can market and distribute the film online, yourself, without using the mass market $30M budget studio approach. A slow, organic growth, which builds over time into a sizable audience without the "fat" of the mass market approach.

What's needed is to develop a process and set of tools for evaluating early script and film content by early adopters and the film's audience.

(post in progress - posted as preview only)