The box office story of the year is undoubtedly the juggernaut that is “Obsession,” the directorial debut of YouTuber Curry Barker that on a $750,000 budget is approaching $300 million at the box office. Barker’s meteoric rise is being held up as a test case for how the next generation of filmmakers aren’t just YouTubers, but entrepreneurial spirits who would’ve made their movie and found an audience regardless of if they had distribution or funding.
Barker, Markiplier, or Kane Parsons all have a built-in audience of millions of subscribers on YouTube who helped to get them discovered and fueled their ambitions. It’s easy to assume that their success isn’t necessarily repeatable. But a new online guide for indie creators argues there is a framework to get your film made, even if you don’t have an army of followers.
The online field guide, which IndieWire can share here, is called “Start the Engine,” and it’s described as “a manifesto for creators navigating a world where storytelling, entrepreneurship, audience-building, and community have become increasingly intertwined.” The guide was written by filmmaker and author Selina Ringel, who previously wrote another book called “Be the Train” and co-wrote and starred in a comedy IndieWire has profiled previously called “You, Me & Her.”
Ringel will be the first to admit she doesn’t have the social reach of someone like Barker. But she and her husband and partner Dan Levy Dagerman have been able to release three features, a series, and numerous shorts and establish a career through her own hustle and entrepreneurial drive. She says both the new guide and “Be the Train” are not about becoming an influencer but “to build a sustainable creative life.”
“Creators today have more access to audiences, tools, and opportunities than ever before, but they’re also navigating more complexity than ever before,” Ringel said in a statement. “The goal of ‘Start The Engine’ is to help creators stop waiting for permission and start building momentum around the work that matters to them.”
Some of the highlights from the field guide discuss experimenting publicly and learning as you go, and doing so helps create direct audience interaction and a community of people around your work. When we first picked up with Ringel around the release of “You, Me & Her,” the film was the guinea pig for The Fithian Company’s model to distribute movies directly to theaters as part of a targeted release strategy, not just releasing a movie in as many screens as possible and hoping people show up but tapping into a core audience where the film can best perform.
Ringel and Levy Dagerman personally wrangled roughly 20 marketing promotions designed at engaging local audiences to come out, and the film managed to open on over 250 screens as a result.
In “Start the Engine,” Ringel writes that the experience on “You, Me & Her” proved that the film’s release was as much a part of the conversation around it as the film itself. The conversation and the engagement with your audience should start during development, not after it has hit theaters, and the most successful online creators understand that.
“The creatives thriving in this era understand that storytelling no longer ends when the film is finished. The conversation is part of the art now,” the field guide reads. “That realization can feel uncomfortable for traditional filmmakers because many were taught that protecting the mystery of the work was part of the craft. Don’t share too much. Don’t post unfinished work. Don’t let the audience into the process. But creators discovered something powerful: People connect to process. To vulnerability. To experimentation. To growth. To honesty. To the messy reality of making things.”
The field guide also includes other anecdotes about Ringel’s time working as a line producer on an Issa Rae pilot, as well as Levy Dagerman’s time working with producer Ted Hope. They argue that artists like Rae to many appeared to come out of nowhere with “Insecure,” but she had already begun establishing a core audience with the web series “Awkward Black Girl” prior to that. Too many filmmakers, the guide argues, feel like they need to wait for permission to make something or wait to be discovered out of a film festival, but that the best approach is to start building momentum now even before the work is perfect.
“We’ve learned that creators don’t just need information,” Ringel said. “They need structure. They need community. They need accountability. And most importantly, they need momentum.”
Ringel and Levy Dagerman have rallied some support from Film Freeway, Ted Hope, Slamdance head Peter Baxter, and from IFTA president Jackie Brenneman, who previously worked with them on the theatrical rollout of “You, Me & Her.”
“Dan and Selina have consistently pushed the boundaries of independent filmmaking, audience building and creator entrepreneurship with a healthy dose of hustle,” Brenneman said in a statement. “Their willingness to experiment publicly while sharing what they learn is exactly the kind of innovation our industry needs.”
Check out “Start the Engine” here. Use coupon code SELINA to download the book for free.
