The Impact Toolkit
Cinestruct’s Innovative Approach to Filmmaking in the Distraction Economy
I remember when I was just starting to come up as a filmmaker. At the time, around 2008, Canon started releasing DSLR cameras with the ability to shoot video. This was a big deal for the amateur filmmaking community. Prior that, if a production wanted to shoot something that “looked like a film“, it would need to rent a film or a digital camera that cost 10s of thousands of dollars. Filmmakers, of course, would tell their stories with anything they could get their hands on that could capture the moving image. However, the video DSLR represented something new and different. It represented the real start of the democratization of filmmaking. Today, anyone with a smart phone can mimic the aesthetic of film to some degree.
Surviving in a Shifting Media Landscape
We are at another inflection point. The media environment has changed and I believe that the best visual storytellers are no longer coming up through film. They are coming up and thriving, instead, on platforms like TikTok with little incentive to transition to the complexity and bureaucracy of filmmaking. We are in a distraction economy where there is a ubiquity of stories now told through video. It’s overwhelming and in a lot of ways it’s been most challenging for filmmakers. More than ever, whether it is in the indie space or even at the studio level, it is difficult to break through. With AI just around the corner, things will only continue to accelerate in this trajectory.
For filmmakers to succeed, much less survive in this media environment, they have to think outside the box and they have to think beyond the film. The reality is that even the most rare, talented, genius filmmaker will have a hard time breaking through. Filmmakers today do not have the luxury of being just great filmmakers, they have to be great promoters and marketers as well. This is not a new phenomenon. It’s always been this way. The difference now is the fierce competition for attention in our distraction economy.
"Alien Country" - A Blueprint for Success
There are indie filmmakers that are charting their own path to success. One example is the married duo Renny and Boston, directors of "Alien Country," a sci-fi comedy. There are a few notable things Renny and Boston did to be effective. They capitalized on the audience they cultivated over years making YouTube videos, translating their online following into tangible support for their feature film. They recently concluded a highly effective crowdfunding campaign that focused on self-distribution, raising over $30,000 - triple their initial goal. Rather than just offering the film, they developed the "Alien Country Special Edition Party Box," which included not only the movie but also a making-of documentary, an art book, recipes inspired by the film, and even an original card game.
Unlike most film related crowdfunding campaigns, this particular campaign was not about developing the film and going into production - Renny and Boston had already done that hard work. Instead, the campaign was focused on how to most effectively self-distribute the film to loyal followers. By thinking beyond traditional distribution models and crafting innovative incentives, they demonstrated how independent filmmakers can create buzz, secure funding, and build a dedicated audience in today's crowded media landscape.
Introducing the Impact Toolkit
I bring up Alien Country because what Renny and Boston did to find success very much mirrors what Cinestruct is doing with the Cinevite platform to give all indie filmmakers the tools and resources they need to be similarly successful. This comes in the form of the Impact Toolkit. The Impact Toolkit is a comprehensive suite of products, built on the Cinevite platform, and designed to address the key challenges faced by independent filmmakers in today's competitive landscape.
It includes Pledge, our funding platform that unleashes direct-to-film sponsorships and drives much-needed support to filmmakers, allowing them to secure resources in a similar way to Alien Country's successful crowdfunding campaign. Connect serves as a communication, networking, and marketing platform, creating meaningful connections between filmmakers, industry leaders, and film enthusiasts, mirroring how Renny and Boston leveraged their existing audience. Finally, Debut, our upcoming program, aims to grow the reach of films and give filmmakers a head-start before they hit the festival and event circuit, addressing the critical need for visibility in a crowded market.
The Promise of Cinevite
We believe every filmmaker should have the resources they need to get their film out there so it can make an impact on the world. Our impact toolkit provides those resources and empowers indie filmmakers to not only create their art but also to effectively fund, market, and build a pathway to distributing their work, much like the multifaceted approach that made Alien Country stand out.
We are hard at work and we’ll be sharing more about the Impact Toolkit in the coming weeks, including more about Debut which is slated to launch this fall. If you are a filmmaker, you can sign up now to be first in line to know when submissions for the first Debut cohort opens.
Stay tuned for more!