With 'Indie Game: The Movie', we are aiming to not only to make a fantastic film about games and game makers, but we also want to open up our filmmaking process and share, as much as we possibly can, with viewers. In the hopes that talking about our experience can hopefully help, in some way, other filmmakers, game developers, and any other freelancing/indie creative types.
So, in that spirit, here is the story behind how we got ourselves onto 'The Electric Playground'...
Last week we were in Vancouver filming at an advertising firm for a client (a BlinkWorks gig booked pre-IGTM). We had to be at their offices at 9:00 am, and enlisted a Google search to help us narrow down their address. Google had ‘Dossier Creative’ listed as being on the third floor of their building. However, in reality, the firm was located on the fourth floor (imagine that: Internet information being wrong).
But, we trust the big G, (why wouldn't we?) and in doing so, directly headed to the third floor and started roaming the hallways. We couldn’t find the client, however, we did spot a familiar name nonetheless. A door with this familiar title on it:
Sooo, immediately our mind starts working:
- We're big fans of Electric Playground.
- They report (daily) on Video Game Happenings and
- We just happened to launch a Video Game Movie a few days prior.
Maybe we can make something happen here.
But, we do have that little matter of that client job. And we’d rather not do a completely cold call to some obviously very busy people (we’ve been involved in news, this is never a good idea). So, we head to the client to do our job, but on the way do a ‘soft’ reach out using the great connector: ‘Twitter’. We sent out this little feeler...
To which, Victor Lucas (Show Host & Creator) promptly responded, with this:
So, when everything was finished with our client, Lisanne popped into the EP offices, told them our story, they seemed to dig it, and pretty soon this interview was happening...
A huge thanks to Victor Lucas, and the Electric Playground gang for taking an interest in our story and carving out some time to do an interview. We really, really appreciate it. They’ve been producing a great program for years now, and if you haven’t checked it out - do so here!
Some Lessons for a Documentary (or game) Production?
The whole experience was lovely and a pretty good example of chance leading to real opportunity.
Firstly, serendipity can be a powerful thing. Countless small decisions and seemingly insignificant turning points can lead to very real opportunity. Opportunity that you must be able and willing to recognize when its presented. Without going all 'The Secret' on you, the interview above was a direct result of opportunity caused by the most random of circumstance.
Secondly, it NEVER hurts to ask. People like helping (in general). News programs need news. Any organization putting out a news program every day has a lot of time to fill, and needs content. And if you can help provide them with content, if things are a good fit, they'll often be extremely welcoming!
And If you don’t ask, you’ll never know. Of course, asking works much better when it’s an educated ask - and you know that you are a pretty good, win-win fit for whomever/whatever you are asking. Promotion is crucial for any endeavor, be it a film, game, charity, whatever. Quite often that promotion can occur just by asking the right people, in the right way at the right time.
If you look back far enough, the decision to do Indie Game: The Movie is the product of Opportunity, Random Events and Passion (plus a thousand other things I’m sure). It’s creation was certainly a mix of all that, and its future success will undoubtable be as well.
Thanks again Electric Playground!
And thanks to whomever is responsible for the incorrect address being listed on Google!
(oh, I should mention: No client work was harmed in the making of this interview. In fact, I’m happy to say, we rocked our shoot that day :)