Week 1 - 2022
Intro
For many years Together Films was referred to as the ‘secret sauce’ behind a number of leading film releases and film festivals. We focussed on promoting the work. We were so proud to have the chance to be a small part of the journey with our filmmakers. We celebrated their success but didn’t necessarily highlight our own.
This was driven in part by my own personal anxieties. It’s something that I’ve been more open about over recent years in the hope that we normalize conversations around mental health. If I was personally feeling insecure that was projected onto my business. If I was feeling down, I wasn’t sharing our wins publicly. I certainly wasn’t focussing on our own branding and website as I was hiding behind a mental block (or literally hiding under the duvet in bed!).
In 2020 we launched the Digital Perspectives webinar series, a simple weekly live stream to help people navigate to virtual screening opportunities. It changed my perspective and gave me focus during the lockdown, whereby sharing the tricks and tools that we had used for previous successful campaigns, was enabling thousands of people to keep their businesses alive. I could also lean on my network of industry peers to share their wins, how they work, how they deliver, in order to provide value for our industry.
I decided it was time to leave my anxieties at the door, and start sharing our wins in public. I made a new years commitment that in 2022 I would reflect with my network each week on what I had achieved, in the hope that it might inspire or provide insight for someone struggling with the same things I had previously.
I'm being diligent with my goal setting, and tracking results. I'm being open with colleagues and partners about our ambitions and how they can support us. I'm asking for help when needed. I'm celebrating the daily small wins to remind me of how we are constantly improving.
Each week you will find a summary of my (sometimes personal) and professional wins that might help you reflect on your goals.
Have you set your goals for this year? What are you hoping to achieve?
✅ Announced Together Films as the new Marketing & Audiences lead for Sheffield DocFest
I have been attending Sheffield DocFest since 2008 when I was working for Doc Society (previously known as BRITDOC). We had our own festival in Oxford (the BRITDOC Festival), which ran from 2006-2008. It was where I got my start in the industry. It was the first time I had seen feature documentaries on the big screen. At the same time, Heather Croall had been brought in as the new Sheffield DocFest CEO and grew the festival with the introduction of the MeetMarket, a rollerskating disco, and other leading industry initiatives. BRITDOC decided to host a bar at Sheffield and invite the commissioners to pull pints for the filmmakers. We even hosted a karaoke night with me on the keys!
Ping Pong UK Premiere
In 2012, we literally converted a car park in Sheffield into a Ping Pong nightclub for the UK Premiere of the film. Crazy that this picture signifies 10 years since that campaign. As voted the ‘house party queen’ of my school, this is the best professional party I’ve ever hosted…
We had branded ping pong balls, it was epic.
In the years since that party, I’ve attended Sheffield as a Producer (alongside Director & Producer Johanna Schwartz when They Will Have To Kill Us First was selected for the MeetMarket), Decision Maker (meeting with filmmakers to see whether we could sign the rights to their film), a presenter (giving keynotes and presentations about impact, marketing, and distribution) and as a mentor (to support upcoming filmmakers at the festival).
I love to talk
Many of you will have seen me present a panel at Sheffield. I promise you whatever Sabine Bubeck-Paaz was saying in 2015, was extremely interesting as part of this Documentary Campus panel…
Also my Inside Pictures classmate Signe Byrge Sorensen was talking about the Oscar-Nominated campaign for The Act of Killing.
I am delighted to be supporting the senior leadership team, under the new Interim CEO Clare Stewart (of previous London Film Festival fame) to enhance the marketing & audience strategies alongside our new Head of Digital Marketing & Partnerships John-Paul Pierrot.
Sheffield DocFest new Senior Team
Left to right: Raul Niño Zambrano, Francesca Panetta, Sarah Mosses and John-Paul Pierrot.
✅ Approached to work on an #Oscar shortlist campaign
I managed to make it over to the US in November 2021 to meet the rest of my DOC NYC New Leaders cohort. I hadn’t been able to be in NYC for nearly 2 years due to COVID (!) and I truly missed my east coast network. Good things always seem to happen when I’m in the city. It always feels like a homecoming when I land. We previously ran the marketing for DOC NYC and it was a joy to work alongside Raphaela Neihausen and Thom Powers to help grow the reach of the festival. I can’t tell you how excited I was to finally arrive in JFK after so many months.
At the Netflix filmmaker’s party, I bumped into an old friend, Senain Khesghi, the Founder of Majority. We got talking about our current slate of work and it became apparent that there was a lot of cross-over. In particular a new short film - A Broken House - directed by Jimmy Goldblum. After a few weeks of discussion, we made it official, and we are now helping to uplift this film (available via The New Yorker and POV) during the awards season. We are leaning into the connections from our time on the Action For Sama campaign to bring further focus to this title.
It just shows that being in the right place at the right time really works. I’m aiming to be in NYC every quarter this year, as we have also recently opened our NYC office.
A Broken House
When Mohamad Hafez received a single-entry visa to study architecture in the United States, he realized if he couldn't return home to Syria, he could make home. A skilled architectural model-maker, he spent his years in exile sculpting life-like renditions of his Damascus neighborhood.
When the civil war broke out and his parents fled to the United States as refugees, Mohamad's bottled-up frustration erupted on his models. In a fit of mania, he broke his artworks, leaving them shattered, bombed-out replicas of the Syrian buildings he saw on the news.
And yet, when word of his broken pieces spread, Mohamad became an inspiration to refugees and immigrants in the diaspora who dreamed of homes that only existed in memories.
Senain Kheshgi
A Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, Senain has directed several feature and short films, including the three-time Emmy-nominated feature documentary THE DIPLOMAT (ESPN), and the award-winning PROJECT KASHMIR (PBS/Independent Lens). She created, wrote and directed the comedic docu-web series DIVAS OF KARACHI (PBS) and directed virtual reality films with Here Be Dragons (formerly Vrse) for Facebook, Johnson & Johnson, and Save the Children. She was commissioned by The Annenberg Center for Photography to make a VR film in Havana, Cuba as part of the Pacific Standard Time exhibition. Her films have premiered at Tribeca Film Festival, International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), The Human Rights Watch Film Festival (NY and London) as well as other film festivals around the world.
Senain is a three-time Sundance Fellow and has served on panels and juries at Sundance, Hot Docs, Sheffield Doc/Fest, ITVS, and Film Independent. She is a former board member of the International Documentary Association and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
✅ Energetic meeting with a potential investor (yes we are raising)
The biggest thing about having anxiety is not asking for help when you need it. I have always struggled when it came to raising money for my business. I am super happy pitching a film we are working on or writing a grant bid on behalf of someone else, I do it most days at work. I’ve raised millions on behalf of other people. But sitting down and telling someone how awesome our ideas are scared me. Like many in this industry, I’ve had knockbacks from grants that we didn’t get, or investments that didn’t come in. It really affected my confidence for a very long time. It’s one of the biggest reasons why I needed therapy and coaching over the years.
It was joyful this week to therefore have a conversation with a passionate investor about our mission. Someone who truly valued our focus on social impact entertainment, and the ecosystem of services that we have built up (across marketing, distribution, and technology). Who knows what will come from this call and whether we will end up closing, but to start the first working day of 2022 with someone saying the words “I believe in you, and I believe in what you are doing” was an incredible feeling.
If you are procrastinating on submitting that grant application or emailing that investor, do it now. What’s the worst that can happen? They say no… But if you don’t even give them the chance to say no, you are never giving them the ability to say yes.
In order for us to hit our goals for Together Films we will need to bring in more support this year, and I’m determined to not let past failures in this area hold me back. There are literally thousands of investors, funders, and grants available worldwide, and I just need to get 1 or 2 to say yes. This is my year of yes.
✅ Creating a brief for an amazing new #brand client.
We have supported brand clients for the last 4 years, especially with our collaborations with Patagonia (as their European impact engagement team). We released Blue Heart and Artifishal across Europe, reaching over 500+ screening hosts and delivering screenings in 27 different countries. We have always thought about expanding this area, but lockdown put a pause on those plans.
Starting 2022 with the ability to pitch to a major iconic brand about a new social impact campaign is exciting. The increase in awareness of social impact, diversity, and inclusion initiatives at the heart of big business is so crucial to building a better society. We cannot rely on governments to make the changes so desperately needed and instead must put our focus towards brands who can help to speed things along.
I’ll be able to share more details if we get to move forward, but also taking this time to recognize that having a seat at the pitching table for this campaign is a win in itself. I couldn’t have imagined this kind of campaign when we first launched Together Films a few years ago. I’m super proud and humbled to have even been asked.
What did you achieve this week that you were proud of? What goal are you aiming for over the coming weeks, months, or years? Let me know on Twitter.