My friend Rick Goldsmith has just received his second nomination for an Academy Award, this time for his feature length documentary “The Most Dangerous Man in America” which he made with Judith Erhlich.

Rick’s previous nomination was for “Tell the Truth and Run.”

That was back in the days when the web was young (mid 1990s.) Rick and I put together one of the first web sites built around a movie. The site looks pretty primitive now, but pioneering things often do. (We haven’t updated it in at least ten years, but it still gets the job done!)

It’s pretty amazing to get nominated for an Academy Award, even more amazing for it to happen twice.. especially for films made on a limited budget and on serious subjects.

Rick specializes in making films about people who tell the truth under difficult circumstances, something this country and world can use a lot more of.

How to get nominated for an Academy Award – Step One

Truth be told, I don’t know 101 techniques to get nominated for an Academy Award, but I do know the details of how Rick got nominated the first time. It’s a story that has inspired me continuously since the day I first heard it and I’ve shared it with many people over the years.

The topic: George Seldes…the grandfather of investigative journalism in America.

Among other things, Seldes was the first to report on the cover up of the science that showed modern cigarettes were designed to be addictive and caused cancer (this back in the 1940s!) His work inspired Studs Turkel, Howard Zinn, Ralph Nader, IF Stone, and the subject of “The Most Dangerous Man in America” Daniel Ellsberg.

Rick learned about Seldes after learning that Seldes had passed his 100th birthday and shot some interviews with him using a Hi8 video camera.

Over time (and on his own time), Rick developed these interviews into a full length feature documentary Tell the Truth and Run which captured not only the details of Seldes’ remarkable career, but also many of the big events of world history from the World War I to the Cold War. Along the way, he recruited Susan Sarandon and Ed Asner as narrators.

Step One: Make a great piece on a subject you believe in and get it done any way you can.

How to get nominated for an Academy Award – Step Two

The original version of “Tell the Truth and Run” was actually a video which made it ineligible for an Academy Award, so getting a nomination was the furthest thing from Rick’s mind. Nonetheless, he carried out the second essential task in making a film which is to tirelessly promote the finished work.

One of the places he brought his work to was the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. A lady in the audience came up to him and said: “That’s such a great film. It should be nominated for an Academy Award.”

Rick filled her in on the facts. In order for a film to be nominated, it has to be on film (not video) and it has to have a run in a New York or Los Angeles theater. (Dear reader: Check the details. The requirements may have changed since the mid 1990s.)

The lady then asked Rick what it would cost to transfer the video to film and exhibit in a “real” theater in order for the film to be qualified. He told her and she raised the money and made it happen.

How to get nominated for an Academy Award – Step Three

Step Three is to contact the Academy and put your film in the running. I imagine all the current information you need to know about how to do this is on their web site.

Here are key take-aways from this story:

1. Rick made the film he believed in, not something he thought would be sexy or award winning
2. He made a beautifully crafted piece of work, in spite of a low budget and in spite of a scarcity of free time
3. He got the film out there and by doing so created fans for it
4. With the help of one fan, he thought “outside the box” (don’t you hate that term?) and turned an illegible video into an eligible one by learning and and following the rules
5. He threw his hat in the ring

End result: An Academy Award nomination.

So what happened?

Did “Tell the Truth and Run” win?

No, that year the prize went to an acquaintance of mine Leon Gast from my Film Center days in New York City. (If you’re in the film biz you know the legendary/notorious Film Center on Ninth Avenue.)

Actually, Leon was more than an acquaintance. He was the client of an audio post-production firm I helped my friend Bill Markle (aka William Markle) get off the ground back in the late 1980s when digital sound editing was brand new.

Leon’s film: “When We Were Kings” – a documentary about boxer Mohammed Ali.

Truth be told, no one was going to beat Ali in 1996, but this year, for “The Most Dangerous Man in America”? – I’m cautiously optimistic.

After all, the Saints won the Super Bowl. This may be the year when ANYTHING can happen.

I’ll be watching the Award ceremony in New Orleans and you know what happened the last time that happened…Go Rick!

Ken McCarthy

P.S. I’m not going to miss an opportunity to plug my own work…

Our annual seminar is coming up soon – April 9 – 11 in Chicago.

You can learn about it and actually start learning from some of the industry’s leading experts, right now – for free.

Details: The annual System Seminar 2010 – Chicago

Why you should consider investing your time in looking into this?

If you’re interested in Internet marketing, it’s possible to learn directly from the guy who put on the original Internet marketing seminar and was an early innovator in the areas of: banner advertising (1994), legitimate e-mail marketing (1994), auto-responders (1997), PPC (2000), online video advertising (2004) and now mobile marketing (2007.)

Since then, we’ve put on dozens of trainings and helped countless people – including many folks who are now industry leaders – get started in the business on the right foot.

You could be our next success story. Why not? Our students, friends, and clients have a remarkable track record of doing great things.

Details: The annual System Seminar 2010 – Chicago

I mean do we really need digital transmission and HD quality on our television sets? Really?

But here’s a use of HD that is truly exciting: real time transmission of live performances to theater audiences around the world.

A variation of this has existed for a long time (ex. championship boxing matches), but this is a much more interesting use.

The next best thing to being there

The pioneer of this new approach seems to have been the NY Metropolitan Opera.

Make senses.

Opera is expensive to produce and it’s near impossible to take a Met show on the road which means hard core opera fans (and there are few thing more hard core than a hard core opera fan) were deprived of the Met experience.

Prairie Home Companion is another logical candidate

Much of Prairie Home Companion’s charm is the fact that it’s a LIVE show, but of course, a live show can only be in one place at a time.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of fans listen to the show on the radio every week. It will be interesting to see how this works. I have a feeling it will be a hit. It’s great to people watch, eat popcorn and laugh along with a good show.

Writers on strike?

Believe it or not those charming airheads on the tube don’t write the words that come out of their mouths. A back office of writers keeps the game going.

Now those writers are on the verge of walking off the job. Their complaint is that they’re not receiving compensation for DVD sales and other digital repackaging of their work.

Is this really a big deal?

Yes it is for two reasons, one micro and one macro…

On the micro level, a writers strike shuts a big part of the entertainment industry down.  In the LA area alone, that’s 200,000 people.  The last writers strike, which was quite prolonged, cost the California economy a few billion dollars.

The macro level is a little more interesting.

The last time there was a writers strike there was no such thing as Internet video and certainly no such thing as user-generated Internet video content.

If this strike takes place, many popular television programs will be forced to run archived shows. During the last writers strike, viewers grumbled at being served up "leftover" fare. This time around they have an option: the Internet.

The Internet has relentlessly been stealing eyeballs from TV – with TV offering its best stuff. What will happen when TV is offering crap?

This strike may prove to be historic for reasons the writers union and entertainment industry may not like.

Too bad because it’s a big breakthrough in video. Put down your $29.95 and walk away with a camera that has a built-in hard drive that will store up to 20 minutes of pretty good video.

But it gets even better…

The company behind this technical marvel – PureDigital - has just released an even better camera.

Same incredibly simple design, but with some important new features.

This new camera allows you to scroll through your clips and delete the ones you don’t want. (The original camera only let you view and dele the very last thing you shot.)

Also, you can easily plug this camera into your TV and it comes with a built in USB port to upload video to your computer.

Finally, it’s re-usable. Shoot 20 minutes, upload your shots, erase and shoot again.

Price: $95.00 and available at all over the place and online.

How’s the quality?

Surprisingly good. It’s not Swiss optics, but if you’ve got the right light, the picture is excellent. (A broadcasting engineer might dispute this, but it looks pretty good to me.)

What I love about it is its size and ease of use. I’m not  a fan of products that require manuals before you can use them.  This camera is dead simple. On/off. Start record/stop record. Playback. Delete. Scroll. That’s it.

Oh, and point and shoot.

Also, if you lose or break this camera, so what? Carrying around a consumer video camera (priced $495 and up) makes me paranoid. What if I lose it? What if I drop it? What if it gets stolen? Do I put it in my luggage? Is there room for it in my carry on?

With this little device, which is about the size of a pack of cards and about as heavy, I just slip it in my pocket and I’m done with it.

I’ve been saying it for a year now: Video is the new paper.

Between YouTube and this camera, the reality has finally come to pass.

If you don’t have a video camera or if the camera(s) you have freak you out and you don’t use them regularly, get this thing and start playing around with it. If there’s a filmmaker in you, this camera will bring it out.

Twelve years ago (1994), I gave a talk that recommended to filmmakers that they look to the Internet as a way to connect more powerfully with their audiences, especially before their films were released.

My idea was that the Internet was an ideal medium for starting and growing a buzz.

Then, as we all know, the producers of "The Blair Witch Project" played that idea like  a violin in 1999, creating the most financially successful independent film of all time.

Now in 2006, they’re at it again with a horror flick called "Altered" and I’m on board as an investor.

Talk about rolling the dice…

Here are some of the things you have to think about when you invest in a movie:

1. Will the film get finished?
2. Will it come in on budget?
3. Assuming it gets finished, will anyone want to buy it for more than you paid to make it?

Of course these are issues all small business people face, but with movie making everything is amplified because:

a) So much blood, sweat and tears goes into the product (literally sometimes)

b) You have such a narrow window to succeed in the marketplace,

c) Your product is truly "hand made" and one-of-a-kind 

To the ever-lasting credit of my Blair Witch colleagues they finished the film, it came in *under* budget,
and all of us investors have already gotten our money back with healthy interest on pre-sales *before* the
film releases.

How often does this happen in the independent film business? One out of 1,000 times? One out of 10,000 times? One out of 1 million times?

I don’t know, but I can tell you it’s rare.

Will I invest in a movie again? Maybe, but only when all the stars line up this way again: great producers with a great track record and a great business model. Actually, these are guidelines that work for any kind of business or investment, even ones that appear risky.

What follows is a completely shameless plug for "my" new movie…

"Watch the trailer for the new DVD "Altered" on YouTube
and help us put some "views" on the scoreboard so we can
sell more of these puppies."

Thanks.

It’s a horror film, so be prepared to be horrified

Click here for "Altered" – the new movie

Enjoy!

Ken

The Internet Video Marketing Letter

I wrote this piece specifically for a magazine for documentary filmmakers, but I think the advice could be helpful to anyone who uses video to sell.

Give it away smart – Advice for filmmakers

Twelve years ago, I organized and sponsored the first conference on the
subject of the commercial potential of the World Wide Web.

Our sponsors and supporters included Pacific Bell, a then-obscure
twenty-person company called Netscape, the International Interactive
Communications Society – and  the National Alliance of Media Arts and
Culture.

Why did I make a special effort to get independent film makers involved
in this formative effort to kick start the Internet revolution?

Two reasons:

1.  To me, independent non-fiction filmmakers are the truth tellers of our society.  The government? Please. The corporate owned news media? Hopeless. The educational system? Disappointing at best.

Folks like Barbara Kopple,  Barbara Trent, Robert Greenwald – and now Dylan Avery -  are my heroes.  We’d be a much poorer society without them.

2. I had the opportunity to experience the indie film business first hand as a partner to Bill Markle, a veteran cameraman and director who cut his teeth with the Maysles Brothers and went on in the late 1980s to pioneer digital audio sound design for the movies (Credits: "When We Were Kings" and "Like Water for Chocolate.")

Though I probably made less on an hourly basis from my involvement with that enterprise than anything I’ve ever done before for since, it was the most fun I ever had at "work" hands down.   

Back in that 1994 conference, I predicted that the Internet was going to become the best friend the independent filmmaker ever had and I laid out the beginnings of a method to make that vision real. 

Now twelve years later, I can offer a streamlined version: Run, don’t walk to embrace the new generation of video sharing web sites, especially Google Video and YouTube.

I can almost feel some filmmakers recoil at this suggestion. YouTube? You mean that ragtag collection of 15 second stupid dog tricks and lip synching  tweens.  Yes, I mean that very site.

Here’s why in a nutshell: There’s awesome promotional power there.

One of the reasons I was so early to the Internet party is that in addition to being a businessman, I’ve been a passionate student of the history of media.

The reality I’ve taken from what is now a twenty-plus year study of media is twofold: 1) media forms come and go and 2) most practitioners take years to adjust themselves to the new realities and in the process miss out on tremendous opportunities of the low-hanging fruit variety.

For example, there was a time, and it wasn’t that long ago in the scheme of things, when all books were hardcover. Initially, few booksellers and publishers could imagine the indignity of putting serious writing in paperback form. 

Hollywood’s legendary and incredibly foolish opposition to the VCR, to the point of trying to block its sale in the US, is another example of establishment minded folks not getting it.

So why YouTube and Google Video?

First, economy.

These companies – so far at least – will host and stream your films for free. 

For example, I put up a short seven minute excerpt of a film a friend made, did some very modest no-cost Internet-only promotion, and in less than a month generated 9,428 downloads (as of today.)  The quality of the presentation was fine. Call up one of the companies that specialize in hosting and streaming video and ask them for a quote for similar service. (UPDATE: I now have THREE documentary-style films that have had over 10,000 online viewers.)

Second, simplicity.

If you can follow simple instructions, you can start upload videos to these services as soon as you put down this magazine.  Open an account, open the upload page on the service’s web site, click on your video file, press upload and go get a cup of coffee.  It couldn’t be easier.

Third, viral potential.

Films succeed when people talk about them.  That’s the bottom line reality behind every successful film production that’s ever been. 

In the old world, starting a buzz for a film depended entirely on enrolling the media.  Press kits. Phone calls. Endless schmoozing.  There’s still a place for all this and it will never go out of style, but how about cutting out the middleman and going straight to the marketplace?

That’s what YouTube and Google Video allow you to do because not only do these sites make it easy for you to host and stream your videos, they make it easy for people to find and pass them along.

Got a trailer?

Don’t delay. Get that thing that cost you so much time and money out of the closet and put it up on Google and YouTube.

But think beyond the trailer too.

Dylan Avery gave away his 9/11 documentary "Loose Change"  which has already resulted in well over 5,000,000 downloads with more taking place every day. Not bad for a 22 year old kid.

Is putting your entire film on a free download site the right move for an established filmmaker?  Maybe, maybe not, but there is a middle ground: meaningful excerpts.

It’s funny. Hollywood spends millions to get its stars and starlets on Jay Leno to show excerpts of their newest films. Why don’t documentary filmmakers have excerpts of their movies on their web sites? Many do, of course, but a surprising number do it.

This is a screaming opportunity.

Excerpts can actually do a better job of selling a film than trailers.  Why? The principle of sampling and demonstration.

Gary Bencivenga, who is considered the most effective direct mail copywriter of the last thirty years, shared with me once that all the verbal and promotional fancy footwork in the world pales in comparison to a single powerful demonstration of the product at work – and that’s exactly what an film excerpt is.  In contrast, a trailer is an ad and no matter how well-crafted it is, viewers know it’s an ad and instinctively raise their skepticism reflexes to protect themselves. 

It’s true that when you give away meaningful excerpts of your films, you may give away part of the impact of the total film experience and the power of surprise, but consider this: if there’s no one in the seat to watch the film in the first place, what’s the point?

If you’re buying what I’m saying, here’s a simple action plan for you to follow:

1. Visit Google Video and YouTube today, use the search function and see how many of your far-sighted peers already get this.

2. Note all the things you can do to make your videos more findable in the search engines these video sharing services provide

3. Sign up for an account

4. Upload one juicy except of a film you want to promote

5. Mail a notice to your list of fans, colleagues and the press with the web address where the excerpt is being hosted.

6. Make sure your clip ends with an easy to read web address pointing viewers to your site.

7. If want to get sophisticated, become a member of one or more of the social computing networks like Digg and StumbleUpon and spread the word there. I once got over 10,000 visitors to a blog article I wrote in less than six hours from a standing start using this method.

In summary, the world is changing (again.) Video, once a scarce and precious commodity and hard to distribute, has transformed into a new animal.  These changes have opened new doors for the promotion of non-fiction films. Walk through them.  You won’t regret it.

Ken McCarthy

P.S. Do you want to be notified when new articles like this one are posted to the blog?

Ken McCarthy was one of the pioneers of the movement to commercialize
the Internet and was involved in early tests of what have become
Internet promotion mainstays like e-mail marketing, banner ads, and
pay-per-click advertising.  If you go to Google Video and search the
term "marketing,"  a short film about his work is often in the top ten,
if not the number #1.

It’s easy. Just go to this page and we’ll add your name to our bulletin list:

http://www.internetvideomarketingletter.com/

Copyright: Ken McCarthy, 2006

Reprint rights: You may reprint this article in full as long as you print it in it’s entirely including the P.S.

On the one hand, his customers are ecstatic with the training he provides them (he’s a top horseback riding instructor), but on the other hand, they freeze up when he tries to capture their excitement on camera.

Getting good video testimonials is one of those things that should be filed under the category of "Looks easy until you try it."

Here are the challenges you face when you try to get video testimonials and how to overcome them…

1. Most people of a certain age freeze up around video cameras

This doesn’t seem to be a problem for the younger generation. They seem to be born with media training. But for the average adult, the idea of being filmed while talking is highly intimidating. It’s not that different from how lots of people feel about talking in front of groups. They’re deathly afraid of looking or sounding stupid.

2. Many people lack  confidence in their communications skills

When they’re having a casual conversation, everything’s fine. They’re articulate, intelligent and interesting. Turn the camera on and tell them you want them to say something and all of a sudden, they start THINKING not only about what they’re saying, but how they’re saying it and they start tripping over their own feet.

3. Different businesses attract different types of customers

I teach entrepreneurially-oriented business people. They not only understand the value of testimonials, but also are often experienced and confident communicators who’ve done public speaking and even appeared on video.

Your customer may not understand how important testimonials are to you.  They may also have no idea of how to speak "for the record."

So what do you do?

Step 1. Be realistic

I get pretty good testimonials, but I shoot ten or more for every one that I use – and the ones I use I often edit extensively.  Not to change the content of what’s being said, but to get rid of "ums" and "ahs," long pauses, weird gestures, off-the-topic tangents and other stuff that is fine in real life, but looks like hell on video.

Step 2. Set it up right

If you stick a camera in someone’s face and ask them to tell you what they think about your product, you’re in for trouble.

You need to set up the situation correction, physically and verbally.

Physically…

You need a cameraman for two very important reasons.

First, so you don’t have to hassle or think about the technical aspects of the shooting and second, so the customer can focus on YOU and not on the lens bearing down on them.

Even when you set things up right physically, customers are still going to be somewhat conscious of the camera, but "tag teaming" – you interviewing and a cameraman doing the shooting – is an enormous help.

Verbally…

Never ask a customer to make a statement. They’re not trained politicians walking around with ready-made sound bites.

Instead, talk with him or her. Look at them. Have them look at you. Have a normal conversation between two normal people.  Ideally, the camera will disappear from both of your consciousnesses. That’s the ideal that you always want to work towards.

This means you need to have a series of questions ready-to-go that are framed in such a way that they stimulate natural, full sentence answers.

Here’s an example of a question you DON’T want to ask…

"Did you like the product?"

Why is this bad? Because it leads to a "yes" or "no" answer. There’s not much you can do with a video of someone saying "Yes" or "Uh huh."

So ask open-ended questions that let people riff on about their experience with your product or service.

And by the way, that’s what it’s all about THEIR EXPERIENCE. It’s not about your product. If you focus the conversation on the product, they’re going to get tongue-tied or worse yet, they’re going to try to be a salesman for you and they’re likely to say a lot of stuff that sounds put on.

So ask open-ended questions about them, their experience, what they think etc.

Here’s what I say when I interview people for testimonials.

First, I thank them and tell them this helps me explain my work and what I do to people who have never seen it first hand.

Second, I chat with them a little about anything briefly so that we’re actually talking to each other, not stage-acting.

Third, I ask them to look at me and ignore the camera. "We’re going to pretend that he’s not even there. Just look at me and we’re going to have a normal conversation."

Then I ask my questions:

Here are ones I use:

"Can you tell me who you are, where you’re from and what you do?"

That’s an easy one for them to answer, isn’t it? Also, it can be a very useful thing to include in the edited testimonial

"How did the System compare to what you expected or to other Internet marketing programs you’ve tried?"

I ask this question with a lot of confidence because I know the System Seminar blows away all the other live trainings on the subject of Internet marketing. My customers know it too and they’re ready to testify about how different we are and how much we’ve helped them.

I might also ask: "How would you describe the training to someone who couldn’t attend the event?"

Then I ask: "If you had a good friend who was thinking about taking the training, but wasn’t sure it was the best option for him, what would you tell him?"

Notice that I never ask a customer to sell for me. I just imagine a scenario with them where they are talking with a friend about what they experienced.

As you can see, there is a TON of psychology behind setting up the situation and guiding the customer with smart open-ended questions. I’m always working on my questions, trying to make them better.  You’ll know a question is good when it consistently stimulates good material that you can use.

Bottom line: Interviewing people on camera is an art. That’s why some people get paid big bucks to do it.

But it’s a learnable skill. Study what I’ve written above and work at it. You’ll definitely see major improvements.

And remember, even when you get good, you’ll be throwing out at least 90% of the material you shoot and the 10% you keep you’ll need to edit like crazy.

Is it worth the effort?

Well, all I can say is the only way anyone will ever get me to give up my video testimonials is to pry them from my dead fingers – and even then, I’m not sure I’d let go of them.

If you’ve got great videos testimonials and your competitors don’t, you’ve got a major leg up in your marketplace.

Ken McCarthy

P.S. Do you want to be notified when new articles like this one are posted to the blog?

It’s easy. Just go to this page and we’ll add your name to our bulletin list:

http://www.internetvideomarketingletter.com/

Star Wars maker George Lucas believes the days of the big budget blockbuster Hollywood movie are over. He points to two factors:

1. The quality of "small movies"
2. Old fashioned artithmetic

Details…

Here’s what George Lucas said:

"The market forces that exist today make it unrealistic to spend $200 million on a movie. (They) can’t make their money back any more."

He pointed out that "small movies" outlclassed the blockbusters at this year’s Oscars.

"Is that good for the business? No – it’s bad for business. But movie-making isn’t about business, it’s about art."

"I predict that by 2025 the average movie will cost only $15 million."

So sayeth one of the most successful independent film makers of all time.

"Wrap" means to totally complete the production phase of making
a movie.  Normally feature films take weeks to shoot. Sometimes
even months.

There’s a lesson in this for all of us…

To shoot with such incredible efficiency  requires mastery of one of
the most important, little discussed, and unglamorous part of film
making: Pre-production.

That’s where the director and staff meticulously sort through
all the details about what will be needed and what will happen
and in what order during the production.

Pre-production is often where the battle is won or lost. And
when it comes to producing moving pictures with efficiency and
economy, it’s the critical choke point.

Do it right and life is good. Do it haphazardly and expect a
much a bigger production bill, frustrating delays, and less than
optimal results.

From this perspective,  the most sophisticated tools in film making
are a pencil and paper and the film maker’s willingness to plan.

Interesting note: The film’s director Jayaraj was an engineer
before become a director.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060302/us_nm/india_film_d