In January of this year I started a campaign called “Die Hard for the National Film Registry.” Through Twitter and other social networking sites, I went about informing people what the National Film Registry was all about; how they were set up more than 20 years ago to help honor and preserve classic films. The Registry’s board selects up to 25 films each year, based on their criteria which states a film must be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” The board accepts recommendations via email and they take them seriously, so I also set about asking people to send their votes in for DIE HARD. It’s not in the Registry, but it’s a worthy candidate. Then I thought, what’s a great way to honor and show off how great the movie is? Why, I have to screen the movie, of course. That’s where Tugg comes in.

I immediately loved the process behind Tugg when I first heard about it. Setting up screenings and promoting it to your social network. It’s a process that was made for a campaign like mine that thrives on a social network made of movie fans. I set up a screening a day after the film’s 24th year anniversary at the greatest movie theater I’ve ever been to, the Alamo Drafthouse. Tugg went about it pretty quickly and got an even page started in about a week. That was probably the easiest thing about the whole process. The hardest part was getting the screening filled up.

I sent the event page link to everyone I knew. I went to my @DieHardNFR Twitter page, Tumblr, Facebook, etc, in order to promote this to all DIE HARD fans. I think the key was to get not just DIE HARD fans interested, but regular movie lovers. When you have a movie that is as beloved as DIE HARD, it’s only a matter of time when the right people hear about it via their social networks.

Seeing a more than 20-year-old film like DIE HARD on the big screen doesn’t happen every day. The “event” angle is important to promote. “Come see this classic on the big screen!” and “Don’t miss out seeing DIE HARD the way it was meant to be seen!” were phrases I kept repeating. With just a few days before the event’s deadline I met my goal of tickets sold. It was the biggest success for the “DieHardNFR” campaign.

The screening itself was a lot of fun. I chose to screen the movie in 35mm, because I’m a fan of film and thought it would be great to see the film how it was meant to be seen. The movie ended up a bang and the crowd loved it. It was a great night and I can’t wait to set up my next screening.

Yippee-Ki-Yay!
Marcelo Pico
“Die Hard for the National Film Registry”

Here at Tugg, we often celebrate leaders: especially the individuals who step up to take on the challenge of creating a Tugg screening and rallying their communities to make it happen. But a leader is not a leader until they have followers, and that starts with one person who sees the potential and who is bold enough to join in and make a movement grow. In honor of the “first follower” we dug up one of our favorite TED Talks to share with you.

“When you find a lone nut that’s doing something great, have the guts to be the first one to stand up and join in.”

Marc Ferman of KeepItClassic.com

I had first heard rumblings about Tugg last year, not much more than just its basic concept.  When I attended SXSW this past March I was hearing more about the new company and decided to check out Tugg.com and learn more.  Being a HUGE film geek, the idea of bringing indie films that might not get a wide theatrical release, or classic films that I grew up with to the big screen here in Miami, Florida got me all types of excited.

Right after SXSW, I contacted Tugg and built a good working relationship with Alex Dobrenko, who I have now done two screenings with and am currently promoting my third.  My first two Tugg films were THE FP which sold 54 tickets and COMIC-CON EPISODE IV: A FAN’S HOPE which sold 59. 

Keep in mind that even though those do not seem like large numbers, it was my first time promoting Tugg screenings, which had never been done in Miami before and I did not give myself enough time to promote, which was one of the first things I learned: always give yourself enough time to promote a screening.  A 30 day window would be ideal.

Even though I was not able to fill up my first two screenings, I still made sure those who attended had a good time.  I even gave out prizes from companies I got to donate.  For example, for COMIC-CON, I got a local comic book store to donate comic books for me to give out.  

A Happy Comic-Con Crowd Shows Off Their Door-Prizes

For my upcoming ROBOCOP 25th Anniversary screening in Miami, Florida, I contacted NECA toys and they donated 6 collectable ROBOCOP figures which I can give out as a special prize during the screening.  Adding those little extras to your Tugg screening helps make it a unique experience.

Going the extra mile, Marc created a personalized poster for his upcoming screening.

After Speaking with the theater manager, Marc’s poster was placed front and center at the  guest services desk. Not every theater can do this, but it’s another great example of how a little initiative can go a long way.

Here are a few other things I have learned…

1) Location is key. Just like any business, you want to pick the theater that is easiest for your audience to get to, not what’s easiest for you.  Just because you have a theater down the street from your house, does not mean the people in your social networks can get to that theater just as easily.  Find out where the people you are promoting your screening to are located.

2) Posting on facebook and twitter is important, but that may not be enough.  Make it personal.  The first tickets you are most likely to sell are to people you know.  Contact them, tell them what you are doing and try to convince them to support the event.  More people will be willing to buy tickets once they see that they are actually starting to sell, so contact your friends first. 

3) If tickets aren’t selling as quickly as you had hoped, don’t give up.  It ain’t over till it’s over. 

4) Get to the theater an hour beforehand to make sure everything is set. I learned this the hard way on my first event when I discovered the theater hadn’t cleaned the auditorium between shows.

5) Introduce the movie, thank the people for attending, and make sure they know how much you appreciate that they supported your screening.

Tugg is offering something great for movie-lovers, and I am very happy not only to be the first person to bring Tugg to Miami, but to be able to do more screenings in the future.

If you live in South Florida, make sure to grab tickets to my ROCOBOP 25TH ANNIVERSARY SCREENING on June 21st here.

Marc Ferman

Keepitclassic.com

@Keepitclassic

With one successful screening already under his belt, one of our promoters, Spencer Howard, is already moving forward with his next. Here are some tips from Howard on how to make your Tugg screening a success, as well as information on his new screening.

I love movies.  You know all of the clichés about them transporting you to another world, the storytelling marvels and the flights of fantasy. For me, the communal experience of watching a movie beats all of those clichés. I’ve had the opportunity to go to many different special screenings where the audience was made up of people just like me. We were there with a common purpose and a mutual respect for the experience. I have laughed with these people and cried with them and cheered with them. I’ve had to drive 100 miles to Atlanta for these screenings. I’ve gone to New York and Austin for screenings. My town of Columbus, GA just didn’t do what other places did. So I decided to throw one myself.

All I had to do was sell 50 tickets. If I did that, the show would go on and I would bring a taste of that screening glory to my town. And sell we did. We met our goal in under a week and our show went on. Everyone had a blast, we gave out prizes, talked movies after and got people excited for more. You can read all of the details about it here on my blog. The screening inspired me to do many more and it also inspired me to believe everyone should be doing them. It’s not hard and if you’re considering it; do it. Here are a few things I learned that might be useful to you if you give it a shot.

The first thing to figure out is who your audience is. I screened Comic-Con: Episode IV a Fan’s Hope. So I stopped in at my local comic shop and talked to the owner, an old friend. He agreed to let me put flyers up and he told every customer who walked through his doors. Then I went online. I have a blog so I did a write-up there, telling people I was putting this thing together. I implored everyone that this was our screening and that with their help, we could make it happen. On Facebook, I invited every one of my friends, regardless if they even lived here (some bought tickets just out of support). With every ticket sold and milestone crossed I updated my page and the event page I created. 

We organized prizes for a raffle and started posting teasers for those and then announced them. It gave folks a reason to check back with us and encourage people to be talking about the screening. Twitter was a great help as well, I reached out to Morgan Spurlock, the director, and Harry Knowles of AintitCool.com. Both were amazing and retweeted me and even provided personal notes for me to read to the audience. The constant contact and conversation made our show reach its threshold in no time. We had a great group of people, a lot of whom I’d never met show up. I now talk to these folks all the time and they’re excited about the next show. It’s not hard, it just requires some legwork.  It is completely worth it.

Howard is hosting a screening of “Extraterrestrial” next. You can find more information about it by going here
 

There’s a moment of panic right before I head out to the theater. What
if nobody likes the movie? What if nobody wants to compete in the
tournament? What if any one of thousands of things goes wrong? There’s a
rumble of thunder as I walk outside to my car. They’ve predicted
storms, rain, flooding, the apocalypse. It seems fitting for my
current state of agitation…

But I’m getting way ahead of myself. Flash back to Austin Film
Festival, October 2011 when I sit down for the second screening of
ECSTASY OF ORDER: THE TETRIS MASTERS. Buzz is strong coming out of the
premiere and the anticipation of a documentary on what was a childhood
obsession has driven me to a point of nearly unbearable anticipation.
The lights dim, the movie plays, and the pre-formed grin on my face
only grows in size such that my cheeks hurt by the time it is over.

ECSTASY OF ORDER: THE TETRIS MASTERS is an entertaining-as-hell
documentary, a loving celebration of a universally loved game and a
nail-biting quest to crown the champion of Tetris. It’s everything one
could hope for given the subject matter and it ranks up there not only
with the best of gaming documentaries but of entertaining
documentaries of recent memory. I want others to see this movie, I
talk about it non-stop with everyone I run into and the answer to the
inevitable question is, “I don’t know.” The question of course being,
” Well, how I can see it?”

It’s a normal day at the office in February 2012 when a Tweet catches
my eye. It’s about something called Tugg. I skim through the article -
choose the movies that play at your theater; working with exhibitors
like Alamo Drafthouse, AMC, Regal, etc.- and my initial reaction is
pretty much my typical response for these types of things: skepticism.
So, of course I immediately fill out an application to become a
promoter.

When it comes time to work with Tugg and pick a movie, I
describe my tastes and favorite genres and receive a list of films
from the super helpful Mikaela. I scan through the list not knowing
what exactly I’m looking for but knowing I need to find something with
broad appeal since I don’t have a built-in movie group and will rely
on grassroots techniques to fill seats for my first event. Then I spot
it, right there almost at the bottom of the list and I immediately
fire off an email to Mikaela asking one simple thing, “Can we hook up
an NES in the theater at the Alamo Drafthouse?”

A date has been set, my Tugg page is active and I’ve made a grand
promise: reserve a ticket to my screening of ECSTASY OF ORDER: THE
TETRIS MASTERS and I guarantee not only a great movie but a
drama-filled in-theater Tetris tournament with a real NES hooked up to
the giant movie screen. Response is slow at first, but soon it catches
it on. Before I know it, we’ve confirmed the event and then a short
time later the unexpected happens- the event sells out. 118 tickets
sold, 118 people are going to show up to my screening. The day of the
tech check at the Alamo Drafthouse is filled with wires, cartridge
blowing, and anticipation. After 90 minutes and 3 projectors tried,
the Alamo projector scientists have Tetris playing on the movie
screen. It’s really going to happen.

So, back to my agitation. With impending bad weather, I expect a few
no-shows, but nightmares have also given me a glimpse of the worst case
scenario. I imagine the movie ending and everyone walking out, leaving
me and two other people to play a game of Tetris in awkward silence.
Of course, I wash these fears away with a few brewskies at the nearby
Highball before the event. When I get to the theater, I see a curious
thing.

A line is already forming and it’s not just my friends who I’ve
threatened into being there (or else!). There are excited people
waiting to sit down and enjoy ECSTASY OF ORDER and play a little
Tetris. My fears subside almost completely. For 2 hours the enjoyment
of these people will be in my hands and you know what? It will all be
okay.

And of course it was. I can take no credit for the wonderful ECSTASY
OF ORDER. All that goes to director Adam Cornelius. The audience ate
it up with laughter and cheering aplenty.

31 people signed up to play in the Tetris tournament. While I wish we had all night to play, we had limited time so I started everyone at level 15. It’s sadistic, I
know, but everyone had fun, even those who just stuck around to see who
would become our Austin Tetris champion.
 

In the end, our winners were
Dan (with 29,440 points), Adam (24,044) and Todd G. (14,451). Prizes
included a copy of Tetris for NES in its original box!
 

I’m no longer a skeptic. How could I be after being able to share a
great movie and some nerdy fun with a packed room full of people?
Without Tugg, I have no idea when my friends and fellow Austinities
would have had a chance to see ECSTASY OF ORDER. I’m happy to have
been able to share it with at least one audience and I’m already
working on new ideas for movies/events that Tugg can make possible.

— Brian Kelley, Austin, TX

Follow Brian on Twitter to join his next event!