Hukilau – An Indie Filmmaker’s Dream
It’s no surprise that we’re passionate about the film business – after all, it’s what we do. At T2 + Back Alley Films, we’re a collection of storytellers, myth makers, image builders and artistic people who love all forms of media. And we love indie filmmakers. It takes both talent and passion to make a film — and incredible persistence to get it seen by anyone other than friends, family and the “crew.” That’s why it was so great to read a recent post from Mobile*Local*Social about Hukilau, an innovative company that is crowdsourcing filmmaking and making the route to success for filmmakers that much easier.
The short version of the story is that Hukilau identified a problem that exists for many indie filmmakers. That problem is that they had a vision, created a film, took it to a studio, only to have the studio buy it. Sounds like good news, no? But, the rest of the story is that it is not uncommon for the studio to totally ruin a great film by changing the story line to include insipid love stories, uninspiring scenes and things that totally changed the whole original concept of the piece. Or they go the film festival route — fun, but usually not financially rewarding.
Hukilau offers services to filmmakers that essentially crowdsource the funding, staffing, distribution and even marketing services for filmmakers – for both new artists and established ones. As someone who has routinely been involved with not only the production of a film, but with the marketing and distribution as well, I know firsthand how awesome this kind of opportunity is for filmmakers.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term “crowdsource,” it’s a term coined in 2006 by Jeff Howe, as a job traditionally performed by some designated agent, usually an employee or contractor, and assigning it instead to a crowd or collective. It’s also been defined by Trendwatching as “customer made,” but in either sense, you get the drift. Essentially, it’s letting the people decide, not the suits. And, if like me, this is the kind of stuff that fascinates you, you can buy Howe’s book entitled: Why Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business – it’s fascinating. That customer experience is also driving the work coming out of T2’s Experience Lab — and other experiential marketing firms cropping up around the country.
In sum, if you love film, filmmaking and all that goes with it, check out Hukilau – then check out Howe’s book – I suspect you’ll think they are both as interesting as I do. Then, come back and let me know what you think!
