For those of you following me on Twitter you know that I had a great time in Malibu on Saturday. I even uploaded a photo of me at my favorite Seafood Shack NEPTUNES NET on Facebook. You can check it out on there!
 
Other than that, I actually started off the weekend with a very inspiring interview I did with filmmaker Chris Jones. (Chris is also author of the Guerrilla Filmmaker Handbook series). Chris is just winding down off the festival circuit with his Oscar short-listed short film called GONE FISHING. For all of you out there who have a completed short, or are thinking of making a short as a career move, you've got to check out this interview I did with Chris! I've been following his webisodes for a year while he's been on the film festival circuit and have been waiting patiently to corner him for an interview. And I finally did it!
 
I don't want to give too much away but let me just say there is a whole new model for short films emerging – and it involves the power of Webisodes and Viral Video.
 
OK, but before I link you to the Chris Jones case study I wanted to go over a few tips for leveraging Viral Video for your own film, whether it's a feature, doc, or short.  There were some questions pertaining to this on one of my group coaching calls recently, so I figured it's a good time to tackle this.
 
TIPS FOR LEVERAGING VIRAL VIDEO FOR YOUR FILM
 
1. Be sure to upload your chosen video clips to multiple platforms including your blog, your Facebook Film Page, your You Tube channel, even Twitter.
 
2. Remember that for any video clip or webisode to go VIRAL, it needs to be good enough, or compelling enough for people to want to pass it around and forward it on to their friends. So what's so special about your video clip that will make them do that?
 
3. Always link to your main website or blog from the video, either by putting a watermark on the bottom, or have it be on the last frame so people can immediately link off to your site and find out more about your film, or buy a DVD copy if it's available.
 
4. Remember to make your videos FUN. You want people to look forward to seeing the next installment. If you can engage people enough with your videos, you have a great shot of getting them to want to watch your film. And this is how you can begin to build your audience.
 
5. For the love of God, make your video easy to watch by using one of the flash based services like You Tube or Vimeo. There's nothing worse then pressing play and having to wait for a video to download. You'll lose people's attention IMMEDIATELY.
 
If anyone has any examples of great viral videos they want to send along, please do. I'd love to see them!
 
NEW FOR FILM SPECIFIC MEMBERS THIS WEEK….
 
To hear how Chris Jones is blazing new ground with his short GONE FISHING, and how he's making MORE money with it than he ever did with his features… AND how it is catapulting his career, you must check out this exclusive interview here:
 
http://www.filmspecific.com/members/850.cfm