What’s It All About?

posted in: The Film | 0

I wrote this post for Extra Criticum about a year ago and miracle of miracles, it’s still valid. It’s slightly different from the original post: my E.C. persona and my documentary filmmaker persona are slightly different so I made a couple of changes so the post fits here, and a couple of sentences needed updating, but mostly, it’s the same. To view the original, and the comments, go here.

When I’m not thinking about the documentary or the short story collection, I’m thinking about how social networking, blogging, and good old web sites fit in the grand scheme of promoting one’s work, and frankly, I’m a muddle.

My “company,” has a web site that contains information about the films I’ve made and me the professional filmmaker. I have a Facebook page that probably has way too much  information about my personal life and some information about my professional life. I’m on Twitter. A Life’s Work has a dedicated web site, a Facebook page and  of course, this blog. Here’s a diagram of how these things interact when I post something to the film’s blog and how that post can reach the person at the other end of the wires.

Pretty messy.

I spend an awful lot of time writing original content and finding and uploading images for the blog and links to the Facebook pages.

Many more people leave comments on the blog posts that are imported into Facebook than on the blog, and my FB Friends sometimes interact with each other; it almost makes me believe in that thing they used to call “the online community.” It’s almost as if my blog exists solely as a conduit for content to the Facebook pages. Should I abandon that altogether and add content directly to the Facebook page? Am I guilty of FB spam because my blog posts turn up on the Facebook feed via my FB page, the film’s FB page, the FB Networked Blogs app., the E.C. feed, Rolando Teco’s (E.C.’s head honcho) feed, and my statuses?

If I weren’t such a big believer in disseminating news about my work (and the work of people I know and respect and believe should have a wider audience) in every possible way, I’d throw my hands in the air like I just didn’t care and spend the time maybe working on the film but more likely taking Facebook quizzes. But I’ve been hearing too many horror stories from writers and filmmakers who are disappointed with the efforts of their publishers and distributors. The days of J.D. Salingeresque artists are over. We can no longer just create the work and then sit in our secluded New Hampshire homes and watch the money fall through our mail slots. Part of what we must do now is become our own p.r. firms. I wish this weren’t the case, but I believe it is.

Fortunately, thanks to Facebook, blogs, web sites, and Twitter, it’s easier for an individual to reach more people than before. This technology is the 21st Century’s “word of mouth.” But will all this digital blah-ing translate to more butts in the seats or books in the hands? And if everyone uses these tools, is it the equivalent of everyone shouting, and if everyone is shouting can anyone be heard?

Here’s what I do know: It takes a lot of time and energy–work–to produce the content, and then to promote the content that is intended to promote the real work, the art. Also, the folks who “like” the film on FB (69.918699% of whom aren’t my “friends”) and my FB friends all know about A Life’s Work, and though the number of people isn’t great yet, I like to think many of my friends are the coveted “influential early adopters.” At the very least there are more people aware of my film because of these tools than would be if I weren’t using them, and that’s not a bad thing, especially considering it’s a small documentary that just finished production.

Here’s what I have learned: I’m actually enjoying the process. I like blogging about the process of making A Life’s Work and I like writing about film on E.C. I think writing about my work and others’ work brings what I’m doing into focus a bit more. It also makes me feel like I’m always doing something on a project that is stop and go. And it adds more creative time to my life, and that’s always a good thing. The challenge here is time management, making sure the time spent promoting the work doesn’t eat into the time needed to create the work in the first place. This is especially challenging because we all know what a great procrastination device the Internet is.

I’m still trying to get a handle on all this. I’d love to hear what you think it’s all about. Maybe if we engage in some discussion answers will arise.

Click on one of those links at the top of the page. Drop by and say hello. If you follow me, I follow you; if you’re my friend, I’m your friend; if you leave a comment I always respond. I believe in dialogues, not monologues.

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