Talking FFF...At DocMovies, Directors Notes, and DIY Days

Continuing to try to spread the word about Fans, Friends and Followers...

Recently published are:

- An interview with DocMovies. Here's the very last part of that Q&A (also available in Hebrew.):

DM- Last question: will there be the next Michael Moore, or Errol Morris coming out of the digital world?

SK- I'm an optimist, and I think you should never underestimate the creativity and power of artists -- hopefully, that comes through in the book. I think that if you look at any new medium in its earliest days, whether it is photography or cinema or videogames or Internet video, you could say, "Oh, that's a juvenile art form, and no one has done any meaningful work in it yet." It seems simple and rudimentary compared to all the more sophisticated art forms that came before -- think about the early films of Thomas Edison compared to the great operas of Mozart -- what a joke Edison's movies were. But give it 20 or 50 or 100 years, and you get John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock and Martin Scorcese and Frederick Wiseman and Errol Morris.

- The Directors Notes podcast from the UK, hosted by MarBelle.

- My talk from DIY Days Philadelphia, on August 1st:



Many more great videos from that event are available here.

The Four Kinds of Fans

One of the biggest questions circulating at DIY Days Philadelphia last Saturday was, how do you spur your fans to actually do something? Once someone has joined your Facebook fan group, friended you on MySpace, or started following you on Twitter, how can you actually get them to buy a ticket, a DVD, a download, or some merch?

An important starting step, I'd suggest, is to start thinking about four different kinds of fans.

1. The Impulse Fan. The impulse fan sees a video you've made, or hears about your band from their roommate, and signs up to follow you on Twitter or joins your Facebook group. This fan will never do anything else -- ever. They are good only for your ego: yesterday, you had 1000 followers on Twitter, and today you have 1001.

2. The Prospective / Occasional Fan. The prospective fan is someone who can be lured out to a show or screening, or convinced to buy a new CD/DVD, but with some effort. You may need to dangle free samples. You may need to offer a free ticket to a pre-release, top-secret, underground album listening party. You may need to mention that there will be free, limited edition t-shirts given to the first 25 people who show up. The prospective fan can be activated, with a little creative strategizing. They can be "converted" into an occasional fan, showing up every once in a while to your events or buying a book or digital album download every couple years. And they may even be transformed over time into a True Fan.

3. The True Fan. Kevin Kelly defined the True Fan as "someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name." A True Fan will follow what you're doing on your own site, your blog, your Twitter feed -- wherever you choose to communicate. You shouldn't ignore their care and feeding, but these fans have already been activated.

4. The Super Fan. The Super Fan is a True Fan who is willing to help you out in some way. In Fans, Friends & Followers, the singer-songwriter Jill Sobule says she has a super fan who built and helps manage her Web site. Cartoonist Dave Kellett talks about super fans who have given him a lift from the airport in their city to a local event, or have been willing to accept shipments of books on his behalf and cart them to a book signing. Jonathan Coulton says that super fans have helped him find a great concert venue in which to perform. Super Fans, if you ask nicely (and offer them copious thanks and credit) will post flyers for you in their city, or point you to the best bar for a post-screening cast party.

I don't purport to have discovered all of the keys as to how you activate Prospective / Occasional Fans. But two things are certainly essential: making them feel part of your circle, and that you're grateful for their support. Incentives and discounts and give-aways can help. So can events that feel special, secret, unique, limited in space, or invitation-only.

What do you think the typical breakdown is between these four types of fans, for the typical artist? Just to throw something out that you might think about, I'd suggest:

- 25 percent Impulse Fans,
- 50 percent Prospective / Occasional Fans,
- 20 percent True Fans, and
- 5 percent Super Fans.

I welcome your comments below. If you'd like to read another take on different types of fans, here's a blog post from music industry guru Jason Feinberg.

Calling All Creatives: DIY Days Philadelphia Happens August 1st

If you're in Pennsylvania, DC, NYC, or the environs... consider being part of DIY Days Philadelphia, on Saturday August 1st. The one previous DIY Days event I've participated in was phenomenal -- and it's free (but you do need to RSVP to hold a slot.)

Here's the scoop:

DIY DAYS is a FREE day of talks and networking centered on how to fund, create, distribute and sustain from your creative work. After a successful first year that included stops in LA, San Francisco, Boston, NYC and London, DIY DAYS returns with a series of day long conferences for creatives that enable the sharing of work and ideas while providing an important networking outlet with industry innovators.

Many of those working in film, music, design, gaming and tech are wondering how to sustain themselves in challenging economic times. How does one monetize their creative work and get the word out? DIY DAYS aims to answer these questions with a day of - speakers, panels, case studies, roundtable discussions and workshops presented by an impressive list of innovative thinkers and doers.

Acclaimed author and filmmaker, Douglas Rushkoff (Life Inc., Get back in the box: innovation from the inside out) will open the conference with a keynote on storytelling. Other speakers include Scott Kirsner (Friends, Fans and Followers), Dan Goldman (Shooting War), Lance Weiler (Head Trauma, The Last Broadcast). Michael Monello (co-founder of Campfire Media & Blair Witch Project producer), Brian Clark (GMD Studios) Esther B. Robinson (ArtHome), Ana Domb (MIT) Arin Crumley (Four Eyed Monsters), Scott Macaulay (Producer Gummo, Raising Victor Vargas, editor Filmmaker Mag), Don Argott (Rock School), Eugene Martin (Diary of a City Priest) Alex Johnson (WBP Labs), Anita Ondine (STM) Brian McTear (record producer Miner Street Studios), Mark Schoneveld (the Poverty Jetset) and Geoff DiMasi (founder of P’unk Avenue). Plus many more.

Lance Weiler, a resident of the greater Philadelphia area, and founder of the WorkBook Project and DIY DAYS explains the genesis for the project. “DIY DAYS is an attempt to pull back the curtain on a once closed industry - to share the process of what it takes to make work and sustain from one’s creative efforts. Philadelphia has so many talented people working in different areas, and our hope is that DIY DAYS can help to bring some of them together and, maybe in the process, spark some new collaborations.”

The conference runs from 8:30am to 6:30pm on Saturday August 1st and will be followed directly by an after party/ mixer to be held at the Brandywine Workshop located at 730 S. Broad Street.

Registration is now open but space is limited.

Some more notes from DIY Day Boston

David Tamés posts some of his photos and notes from last weekend's DIY Day event in Boston. It includes coverage of the opening chat with digital media investor (and indie film producer) Todd Dagres...a presentation on virality called 'If It Doesn't Spread, It's Dead'...and a talk by Slava Rubin on crowd-funding of indie film.

From DIY Days Boston: Todd Dagres on Indie Film and Internet Video

To kick off DIY Days in Boston on Saturday, Lance Weiler and I interviewed Todd Dagres on stage.

Todd has produced several independent films (including the Sundance entry 'TransSiberian' this year), but he is best known as a venture capitalist who funds start-up companies like Veoh, EQAL, Twitter, and Next New Networks. Our conversation focused on how TV is changing... the as-yet-unproven business models of Internet video... financing and making independent films... how distribution is evolving... and why the word "community" ought to replace the word "audience" in your vocabulary.

Here it is in MP3 form (41 minutes long.)

Lance, Arin Crumley, David Tamés, and all the volunteers did a great job putting on the event -- and the audience was amazing.

In Boston this Friday & Saturday: DIY Days

DIY Days, organized by Lance Weiler and Arin Crumley, are coming to Boston this weekend. Friday is a screening of films from the 'From Here to Awesome' festival, and Saturday is a day-long conference on the new world of filmmaking, distribution, and marketing.

Both events are free, but you need to register. MassArt is hosting. I'll be giving a talk called "The Era of Digital Creativity" in the afternoon...

Calling All Bay Area DIY Filmmakers...

What are you doing next Sunday?

Lance Weiler, Arin Crumley, M dot Strange, Caveh Zahedi, and a bevy of other crazy DIY filmmakers are getting together at the 111 Minna Gallery in San Francisco next Sunday (August 17th). This is the second in the "DIY Days" series, which aims to share experience and case studies among avidly independent filmmakers. (The speaker list is here.)

It's free... just sign up here.

And you can see lots of video from the late July DIY Days event in LA here.

DIY Day LA: Are You Going?

Had a chance to connect with indie filmmaker Lance Weiler this afternoon in Boston.... he mentioned that registration is about to close for next Saturday's DIY Day in Los Angeles. The agenda looks great: Tommy Pallotta, Marshall Herskovitz, Robert Greenwald, and more. The best part? It's free.