How to find finance, audience and distribution in the age of social media, with crowdfunding expert Thomas Mai.
Key note address by the media team from Flow Hive, a local crowdfunding success.
One-day seminar:
Friday 29 May, 9.30 am – 4pm
Byron Regional Sports and Cultural Complex
249 Ewingsdale Road, Byron Bay NSW
Tickets $80 / $35 Screenworks members (plus booking fee)
Available online click here
One on one meetings with Thomas Mai
Saturday 30 May, 10am – 4pm
Screenworks Office, Bangalow
By appointment only – Cost: $15
All enquiries by email to [email protected] or by phone: (02) 6687 1599.
(For more information about One on One Meetings, scroll to bottom of this page).
About this event:
How do you make sure that your film will stand out in an overpopulated, noisy world where everyone is competing to get the consumers attention?
In this one day seminar Thomas Mai will draw on his vast experience of crowdfunding 17 films and apply it to seminar participants films to demonstrate the key elements required to run a successful crowdfunding campaign.
We live in an age where 50,000 films are made each year. We have hundreds of TV channels, countless VOD platforms and an endless supply of news, sport, fashion and gaming sites to keep consumers busy 24/7. We have access to so much information, social media and a never ending supply of entertainment to keep consumers occupied (and don’t get started on the piracy issue).
Thomas Mai believes that this is the best time ever to be a filmmaker if you adapt to an ever changing world and learn how to use the right tools for your film. The best way to be successful and profitable in today’s social media driven age is to represent the audience. If you only represent your film then you are just one film, but if you represent your film and the audience, financing and distribution will be so much easier.
Filmmakers need to adapt to a world where their customers are not investors, film funds, TV stations and tax treaties. Filmmakers need to learn to go from a B2B (Business 2 Business selling) to B2C (Business 2 Consumers selling). You don’t have distribution if you don’t have an audience.
Thomas will be joined by some of the team from the local phenomenal success, Flow Hive. The creators of a revolutionary tap for extracting honey from bee hives, raised over $12 million through their recent crowdfunding campaign exceeding their $70,000 target by 17,392%. The Flow Hive team will talk about the key elements they put in place to bring about the success of their remarkable campaign.
Come to this enlightening, must-attend seminar with Thomas Mai & learn how to:
Audience
- Find and engage with your audience before you make your movie
- Use storytelling to captivate and build a database of FANS
- Use data to make smarter business decisions for your film (Hint if you don’t have an audience, you don’t have a distributable film)
Finance
- Use Crowdfunding as an alternative financing source
- Learn about the 3 circles of influence you must crack to be successful with crowdfunding
- Setup your crowdfunding campaign
Distribution
- Build a database of vested 3rd party partners that can help you with financing and distribution of your film
- When to distribute your film to make it profitable (Hint, the solution is NOT to throw your film out there and hope the audience will show up with the help of some marketing)
- Work with distributors where you represent the audience and not only the movie
- Get your films into cinemas, bypassing traditional distribution, and keep the profit
Two local projects will be chosen to be used as case studies for this seminar – if you want to submit your project to be considered for selection fill in the online application http://questionpro.com/t/ALNHPZSetJ.
Applications close: Thursday 21 May 2015 @ 4pm.
Tickets $80 / $35 Screenworks members (plus booking fee)
Available online click here
One on one meetings with Thomas Mai
Saturday 30 May, 10am – 4pm
Screenworks Office, Bangalow
Thomas Mai will be available for one-on-one meetings of 25 minutes duration to give feedback and advice on individual projects.
8 meeting times are available and will be offered to the first Screenworks members who buy tickets for the Steps to Successful Crowdfunding Seminar, until all the meeting times are filled. Meetings are by confirmed appointment only.
One on one participants are encouraged to fill in the Steps to Successful Crowdfunding Case Study Application Form and have any pitch material ready to present in the meeting.
By appointment only – Cost: $15 for Screenworks Members only.
All enquiries by email to [email protected] or by phone: (02) 6687 1599.
About Thomas Mai
Thomas has produced 7 award winning films and sold hundreds of films as a sales agent. Thomas started Lars von Triers sales company in 1998 and has sold Oscar, Berlin and Cannes winning films among many others.
Thomas has run 17 crowdfunding campaigns and distributed two films into 30 cinemas across Australia where the filmmakers kept all the rights and income.
Legendary Indie producer Ted Hope named Thomas as a brave new thinker and Variety named Thomas as a producer to watch.
Thomas is from Denmark but has lived in Sydney since 2011.
About Mirabai Nicholson-McKellar
A Northern Rivers native, Mirabai recently returned to the area from Melbourne for the launch of Flow™ Hive, a revolutionary beekeeping system invented by her brother Cedar and step-father Stuart.
The video she created to launch Flow™ has now been viewed over 30 million times worldwide, resulting in millions of dollars in pre-sales.
Mirabai is a graduate of SAE Byron Bay and has worked as a DOP and editor on numerous film projects including shorts, features, music videos, documentaries and videos for online marketing campaigns.
About Saadi Allan
A Northern Rivers native, Saadi has been instrumental in the success to date of Flow™. With a wealth of experience in online marketing, Saadi has been able to use his dark Internet powers to maximise not only Flow’s record-breaking crowdfunding campaign, but its continuing profile online too.
He has successfully run several online marketing businesses and has applied his knowledge of social media, web design and development to international acclaim with the Flow™ campaign.
Saadi, based in Lismore, is also a keen musician and poet with a passion for the outdoors and environmental sustainability.
