Shy Filmmaker? Walk It Off, Sugar Britches!

If you've been following Down and Dirty Dv at all, you already know that I am a HUGE proponent and practitioner of self-promotion. It's saddens me greatly that the concept is so misunderstood (even villainized) by so many of my filmmaker and artistic friends.

It actually saddened me to the point that I developed a whole seminar just to teach filmmakers, musicians, writers and artists of the art and craft of self-promotion. I am presenting that very seminar- Self Promotion for Creative Hustlers, for only the second time ever at this weekend's inaugural Urban Media Festival in Austin Texas.

And before the seminar even, we devoted an entire special episode of The Double Down Film Show to the subject of Shameless Self-Promotion.

I just came across a great little article by Rain Dance's Elliot Grove entitled The Film Industry's 5 Self-Promotion Myths that explains the whole issue simply and elegantly:

1. The James Cameron Myth:
   "Self promotion will make me look arrogant."
2. The Princess Myth:
   "If I'm good enough, people will hear about it."
3. The Mates Myth:
   "Others should talk about my accomplishments, not me."
4. The Martyr Myth:
   "People don't understand what I am trying to do"
5. The Head in the Sand Myth:
   "I couldn't talk up my career if a gun was at my head"

Click HERE to read the full article

If you want my specific tips and details on free and low-cost tools and tactics that you can use to build your "brand" (yes you have a brand) and get your projects noticed then you need to get ya butt down to Austin, TX this weekend to the Urban Media Festival where I will be breaking down the shameless art line-by-line and revealing the exact strategies and tools I used to parlay myself from filmmaking obscurity to a best-selling author, guerrilla film guru and sought-after speaker.

If you're shy, time to walk it off Sugar Britches! Filmmakers and artists simply can't afford to be shy. If you bust your ass to make it and no one sees it, what's the point?

(*Bull Horn Photo by looking4poetry)

Urban Media Festival Teaches You How to MONETIZE Your Media

MONETIZE YOUR MEDIA
September 3-5, 2010 - Austin, Texas

I've spoken in many places for many organizations since this little Down and Dirty DV journey began 3+ years ago- New York, Europe, NAB, The FCP Users Group, etc. , but this particular event jumping off next week in Austin, TX is one I'm really excited about speaking at. And that's because for the first time ever, I will get to talk about the marriage of my two great passions: filmmaking and entrepreneurship...at the same time.

Let me be clear, I don't believe in any such thing as a [explicative deleted] "starving artist". That very notion is a horrible con that was played on many of us very early on...we somehow let the prevailing culture convince us that as film and mediamakers we must suffer and be broke and uncomfortable and actually relish in it as some noble romantic idea of being an "artist". It's one of the stupidest notions I've ever heard in my life. And for a brief while I actually believed it.

Let me get something straight, if you've paid thousands of dollars for your gear, spent even more on your formal education, toiled and struggled for hundreds of hours to learn your craft- there is nothing "noble" in being a "starving artist". That's called being a "sucker" where I'm from, particularly when we are working in a multi-billion dollar industry and plenty of other people are making money from the work we do.

We deserve and should strive to be just as prosperous as anyone else (lawyers, engineers, nurses, etc.) who worked hard to learn and master a craft. We need to get out of the "starving artist" mindset and start thinking like a "prospering artist" and look at all the many ways we can make our hard work actually pay off some of those student loans and B&H invoices.

So when my man, mastermind entrepreneur and mediamaker, Troy Nalls, called me up to speak at his "Urban Media Festival: Monetize Your Media" event , it was a no-brainer. I'm actually itching to get on the stage and share my perspective, methodologies and specific tips to help you not just make better media, but to make more money while doing so.

From self-promotion, to career moves, to money-saving guerrilla film tactics, we're gonna break it all down in intimate candid, no-holds-barred sessions where you will be free to ask us questions, see our case-studies and learn what took each of us over a decade to learn in the space of a 3-day weekend.

Listen as Troy explains the goal of Urban Media Festival...

Speakers at Urban Media Festival:

Jamaa Fanaka – Director of the Penitentiary Film Series

Maxie D. Collier – Author of The iFilm Digital Video Filmmaker’s Handbook, one of the first books on digital filmmaking

Anthony Artis – Author of “Shut Up And Shoot” Documentary Guide – The #1 Book on Amazon.com for Directing &Producing, and Amateur Production

Cliff McBean – Director of The DJ Screw Documentary

Urban Media Festival

September 3-5, 2010 - Austin, Texas

Get tickets ans more info HERE.

Urban Media Festival...Keeping It Real

Here's a little preview from Cliff Mack of some of the topics we'll be covering 2 weeks from now at The Urban Media Festival in Austin, TX.

Not unlike Down and Dirty DV's sold out Indie Film Bootcamp event this past Spring, Urban Media Festival will be geared towards only the most practical of topics with a specific focus on how monetize your media making whether it's films, books, music or whatever.

From self-promotion strategies to climbing the entertainment industry career ladder or just improving the quality of your films, we'll be doling out "the real" in heaping helpings for anyone who wants to not just make media, but also make money making media.

Peep director, Cliff Mack, talking about how networking works in the industry...