So, since the last email we’ve had a ton of people check out the trailer, thanks to a post on BoingBoing and pretty active sharing on Facebook/Twitter/G+. So that’s exciting.
What’s next?
- Mocking up a movie poster to shop around the film to distributors and broadcast markets. For this, a blurb by a famous person would help a lot: know any famous people who’d like to check out an advance copy of a smart indie sci-fi movie? Any leads appreciated!
- Keeping on with our online presence with @humanspam2040 , +Oscar Beaumont, and figuring out offline protuberances (like the one above that Jonah designed — anyone wanna go postering?)
- Continuing our festival submissions. Beyond the ones we’ve already submitted to (TIFF [rejected], Fantastic Fest, Toronto After Dark) we have a short list based on recommendations from fest-savvy folk: Slamdance, Tribeca, San Francisco Intl Film fest, SXSW, Cinequest Film Festival, Seattle International Film Fest, Maryland Film Festival, Rooftop Films, Sci-Fi-London, Fantasia, Sarasota Film Festival, Raindance, Vancouver Film Fest, Miami Film Festival. If you know of any great fests we’re missing let us know.
- In October we are going to be putting the first 15 minutes or so online as a part of the Celtx Seeds thing we won. We’re considering continuing releasing 5-7 minute segments on a weekly or bi-weekly basis after that until 2/3rds of the movie is online, as there’s a logical break at the point before they all meet up and go on in-world adventures. At the end of each of these segments would be a push to a Kickstarter page where people could support our promotional campaign, and if they paid more than $15/20 they could get an advance digital download copy of the complete movie as a thank-you. However, what we’re concerned about is that festivals will disqualify us for putting so much of our movie online (even though the 1/3 finale is not) or that distributors would consider our Kickstarter campaign selling the movie (even though we’re giving it to our supporters rather than selling it). If you have an informed opinion, or know someone who does, we’d love to hear it! We’re trying to leverage the new media possibilities without entirely burning our bridges with the old media, so we realize it’s a tricky line to walk.
- But what about the Toronto screening? I know that many of you are dying to see the movie — we’re dying to show you the movie! However, what the response to the trailer shows me is that there is a sizable audience for this movie and I’m interested in exploring the various distro and screening partner options before we do the totally independent thing. That’s going to take time, but my best estimate is that it’ll be at least another six or seven months before we do a Toronto release of it. Thanks for your patience!