Stephanie & Filmmaker Ondi Timoner at the 2010 Filmmaker Forum

I really enjoyed lunch at the Filmmaker Forum. FIND sets it up so that different industry executives, producers, etc. are spread out at different tables that have signs with their names and then attendees get to sit with people they are interested in talking to and learning from.

I had lunch with filmmaker Ondi Timoner of the unforgettable documentary, We Live in Public. I first saw her and her film at the LA Film Festival in 2008. She’s working on Into the Unknown with Honda, and Library of Dust. I haven’t seen her film Dig yet, either but she and everyone at our lunch table insisted I see it.  (I also noticed a full page ad in the LA Times for Cool It listing her as a Director. Looks like an interesting flick.)

Also I was excited to meet Wendy Cohen from Participant Media at lunch. She worked on Waiting for Superman and spoke on the marketing panel that followed lunch. I’ve always been so impressed with Participant (Oceans, The Cove, An Inconvenient Truth, The Kite Runner, The Informant – it goes on and on.)

Marketing panel thoughts

Think about outreach

Made in LA case study, they tied in activism with film screenings.

Be where conversations are happening.

Add widgets for Facebook and Twitter.

Wendy discussed the FoodInc hashtag example from Participant. They used #foodinc whenever discussing food or foodie related tweets, and their tag was used by others, which also promoted their film.

She says, be a source of other related information, not just info on your film.

A strategic high-level publicist can be hugely important to a film.

You need an advocate, someone besides you who really loves your film.

Blue Lite Jazz example came up a few times during the day. They just earned a significant amount on Kickstarter.

Who is your audience?

Tomorrow I’ll post the final part of this 3 part report.