Master Classes are in-depth, interactive learning experiences focused on craft and career building and led by renowned industry experts. Topics include fiction and documentary filmmaking, TV writing and production, and navigating and succeeding in the entertainment industry.
For artists, creators, and producers at different stages of their careers, social media and other online platforms can serve as an effective way to communicate your artistic skills, editorial content and creative vision as well as to share current and past work in order to build a loyal audience who will support your career long-term. In a digital world crowded with information, what are the key steps to building an effective online presence that serves your professional goals?
In this three-hour Master Class, Ryan Davis, Co-founder, and Principal of Smarthouse Creative, discusses the basic elements of a digital marketing strategy for filmmakers, where you need to start, ways to improve what you already have out there, how to identify and establish your goals for your online presence and how to achieve them. Building on these basic steps, Davis gathers a handful of tips and top-notch examples where good ideas and out-of-the-box thinking took indie films very far and where filmmakers have been able to successfully build personal brands and lasting presences online.
Topics covered include:
00:00 - Welcome and Introduction from Sundance Collab
05:50 - Introduction from Ryan Davis and Amie Simon
06:30 - Digital marketing strategy essentials and basic steps for independent creators
12:20 - Effective ways to talk about yourself, your creative practice, and your vision
33:38 - Tips for building social media channels + Organic/paid post
56:05 - Q&A with Ryan Davis and Amie Simon
1:39:20 - Break
1:09:38 - Case Study - The Paper Tigers with producer Al’n Duong and writer/director Bao Tran
1:49:10 - Q&A with Al’n Duong and Bao Tran
2:11:11 - Worksheet Session for filmmakers with Ryan Davis and Amie Smigh
2:45:15 - Q&A with Ryan Davis and Amie Simon
2:51:27 - Final Announcements
Past classes have included Academy Award-winning director Roger Ross Williams on Documentary Storytelling, Finding Dory’s Victoria Strouse on Comedy Writing, Emmy-nominated director Lesli Linka Glatter on Blocking a Scene, The Walking Dead’s Glen Mazzara on TV Writing, and more.
Resources:
Download the list of RESOURCES from Ryan Davis and Sundance Collab
Download the Smarthouse BULIDING YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE Filmmaker Worksheet
