I love getting new work seen and respect the nuances of audience satisfaction, so here’s a brief look at how I’ve done both in my career.
Untethered: Producer and Editor
As co-producer on this short film, we had two crowd funding opportunities. 1st was a variety show at Junction Pub to entertain an audience and discuss the film in pre-production. 2nd was a friends and family screening / Q&A to cover post-production costs, held at The Cinematheque in Vancouver. To thank our generous donors, we offered benefits IE: names in credits of the film, opportunity to visit the set during production, custom posters, refreshments, and meeting our cast and crew.
Background / Audience
After her first short was completed, I contacted the director Rachelle Younie as she was finishing a script and looking for producing partners. We developed a budget of $15,000 and anticipated funding through events, producer contributions, and angel investment in the project. Producing requires extensive people and resource management, and I was both humbled and inspired by the experience of taking someone else’s idea from script all the way to festival distribution.
The demographic for the film is LGBT+ adults 20-35, and any individuals impacted by Alzheimer’s disease.
Objectives
Ther goal was for crowd funding to cover the majority of costs, while producers and angel investors would cover the remainder.
Execution
Main social account (@queerprov on Instagram) posts were re-shared by 4 production team members (2 producers, 1 director, 1 writer). This was combined with individual outreach for donations over the course of the campaign (no paid ads or re-post incentives). We offered tier-based rewards depending on the donation amount, including name in the credits of the film, visits to set, attendance to the friends and family screening, and more.
Results
1st event (19 day campaign) raised $3925.15, 2nd event (46 day campaign) raised $3213.53.
Conclusion
Our combined networks were sufficient for the needs of this production. Tying campaigns to live events reduces labour often required from crowd-funding fulfilment (IE merchandise delivery and follow up communication). The two campaigns raised $7,138.68 with no direct spending at approx. 80 volunteer hours.
The funds helped us complete the film and apply to multiple festivals across Canada. We’re honoured to have been selected for the Chilliwack Independent Film Festival and are waiting to hear from our last round of submisions in 2025.
QueerProv: Social Media and Treasurer
2018-19 Social Media Director: Designed website and social media schedules, encouraging departments to schedule workshops and shows in advance.
2022-23 Treasurer: Advocated for expanding the Social Media Director role into Marketing Director, and have that director paid a percentage of show profits.
Background / Audience
QueerProv (QP) is a long running LGBT+ improv troupe in Vancouver, but the show’s biggest change was the shift from a competitive, monetized structure to a community-oriented volunteer structure. QP accepts donations after every show, which go directly to players, and later to the Directors (Marketing, Workshops, Bookings, Artistic) for running programming. Though the commitment was largely volunteer, regular attendance and donations were key to rewarding players and supporting staff.
We wanted an audience that reflected our players: queer adults in their 20s-40s, not looking for a raunchy or expensive night out, but still enjoying community with other queer comedy fans.
Objectives
Part 1. Schedule programming to let social media director and cast members promote events: the weekly show + workshops.
Part 2. Find a regular audience of at least 15 attendees per show, 5 attendees per workshop.
Part 3. Clarify web presence for gigs and curious attendees.
Part 4. Mitigate volunteer burnout.
Execution
Part 1 – Scheduling
• Entire cast submits availability, Artistic Director schedules hosts and cast, show hosts decide themes and send them to the Socials/Marketing Director.
• Social Media Director sets show promotional schedule. Hosts are free to provide more material if interested.
• Social Media Director creates initial posts, and all hosts and cast are encouraged to re-post, as well as send individual invites at least once a month.
Part 2 – Audience
• In 2018-19, the social media director relied on hashtags and batch posts across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via Hootsuite. However, links don’t survive on IG, and would get deprioritized on TW. This led to pausing tweets temporarily, linking on FB if needed, but otherwise sticking to a content-first strategy, rather than “blasting” ineffective posts and links.
• Posted at least three times a week: 1 pre-show, 1 post-show, 1 pre-workshop.
• Gigs were often obtained through individual networking, not online.
• Our team met the task consistently. Large casts ensured a large secondary network was aware and invited to shows every month.
Part 3 – Web Presence
• Chose visual language based on input from the Board and Artistic Director.
• The Board agreed to invest in a website in 2019 for upcoming events, contact info for gigs, and information about the troupe’s history.
• Occasionally hired photographers to capture high quality assets for further marketing material.
• In 2023 the website was replaced with a streamlined linktree page.
Part 4 – Resources
• My 2018-19 experience as Social Media Director taught me about volunteer burnout. Even though the work and community were rewarding, the grind of promoting 2 (sometimes 3) weekly events was not sustainable, and I couldn’t find support for my role.
• A personal break from troupe was extended by COVID restrictions. Then, in 2022 I saw Treasurer as the role that could pay directors more for their work.
• Payment structures were: honorariums for every director position, a 20% comission for anyone who books and manages a gig, and an extra “share” per week for the Marketing Director. (The Board developed a “shares” system, in which every performance would count as one share, and the month’s revenue would get divided evenly to determine the share unit, then multiplied by how many shows a member participated in).
• The Marketing Director faced a unique bottleneck, often missing information needed to post accurately. They frequently had to wait or send reminders to hosts, the Artistic Director, and the Education Director.
• Despite this, post frequency and quality stayed high, and we’re very proud of the 2022-23 season of marketing.
Results
2019 returned $6,961.79 from November 2018 to August 2019. Note that revenue didn’t always rise with social media engagement, and our highest spike in revenue (Pride season, July-Aug) was the result of fundraising for Rainbow Refugee.
2023 returned $9,159.62 from January to November 2023. Again, revenue rose with social engagement during Pride in July, otherwise it appears loosely correlated overall on Instagram (see Posts compared to Revenue).
Conclusion
While every show received donations, constant effort was required to have regular attendance. Our board president would often say “volunteering should be fun”, and I agree. I’ve noticed that if labour is not shared or compensated, volunteers simply decide what they’re willing to do, and leadership can either accept the limitations or deal with repeated disappointment. This is common in the arts, but the lesson can be applied to any work! Provide support, pay fairly, or adjust scope.
Volunteers usually start with novelty and passion for the cause they’re joining, and its crucial for leadership to carefully watch for burnout as a result of high expectations and lack of support.
DigitalFilm Tree: Reels Editor
DigitalFilm Tree is a long running post-production studio based in LA (see their 2024 lookbook). When work slowed during the 2023 SAG and WGA strikes, a B2B communication strategy was developed by the COO and administrative staff.
My team and I created VFX (visual effects) promotional reels. I was also tasked with writing and editing a “VFXE explainer”, as clients would ask what “Visual Effects Editorial” included and if it was similar to IO editing. They are synonymous, and the following video covers both of those job responsibilities within a few minutes:
Here’s a VFX reel of some work done for Ted Lasso, one of DigitalFilm Tree’s most-watched clients (16.9 billion viewer minutes in 2023):
CircusWest: Social Media Manager
Membership surveys revealed that new members heard about CircusWest via word-of-mouth from existing students and members. Therefore, if we had informed membership, they would spread word to new members.
Background / Audience
The CircusWest Performing Arts Society was first established in 1984, and has remained a pillar of the lower mainland’s circus community. Services they offer include: classes, camps, workshops, birthday parties, corporate/community events, team building and workshops for individuals/schools/companies, as well as advanced training for practicing artists. With so much going on, it was easy to schedule posts reflecting current events.
Audience was adults in their 20s-40s as well as parents of circus students, (we couldn’t advertise to students directly).
Execution
Created a daily calendar each month to promote upcoming programming. anticipating best times to fill classes, announce merch and shop deals, and keep our followers aware of volunteer opportunities. My posts begin May 2019 and end March 2020.
Conclusion
The campaigns were warmly received by the managing director and board at the time. I ended my work there due to COVID lockdowns and pursuing an Associates at BCIT.
Other Viral Work
My creative goals are to enjoy the process and try things that scare me. This keeps me sharp and inspired, rather than chasing trends or ignoring my interests. Through that process, I’ve had the good luck of a few projects striking a chord online – enjoy the eclectic work the internet has chosen! Oh, and some strong language ahead.