Producers, social media experts and a distributor reveal secrets of using Facebook, Twitter and email for TV and film projects during session at Showbiz Expo on Sunday, April 25th

By Robin Rowe - Note: Rowe is one of the panel organizers

Heroes, Facebook and Twitter engage audience

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 4/24/2010 – “At Heroes we use social media sites to engage our audience,” says NBC-TV Heroes executive producer Adam Armus. “We give them details about characters and plots that they can only get if they log on.  It makes for a more interactive experience. Television plots and television characters are getting richer and deeper thanks to social media. We created a Twitter account for The Sullivan Brothers Carnival this past season on Heroes. It was great to see the audiences’ immediate feedback to a new element to our show. “

MTV-TV The Buried Life is being written into a textbook as a textbook example of how a show that starts as social media can become series television. Funny or Die is now a series on HBO. William Shatner will be starring as the dad in SH*T My Dad Says, a new series based on a hilarious Twitter feed.

“These young men took a two-week trip around British Columbia and came back to their email boxes filled with mail from fans,” says MTV-TV The Buried Life executive producer Jan Coleman. “We went into Hollywood and did the usual soliciting of production companies. That The Buried Life was already in 140 countries with Facebook validated the show. We have 360,000 fans on Facebook.” Where there are already fans, such as from a best-selling book, the Facebook numbers can reach even higher.

“The Twilight fan page from Summit was up over 5 1/2 million fans in just a few months,” says Buddy Media CRO Jeff Ragovin. “Twilight growth has been so impressive. It’s one of the largest Facebook pages of all time.” Buddy Media has helped Summit Entertainment use Facebook to promote many of their film releases including Twilight New Moon, Remember Me and Letters to Juliet. Buddy Media also works with ABC-TV shows Days of Our Lives, The View and General Hospital.

“Producers are turning to social media networks, both open like Facebook and MySpace, and closed self-developed networks the studios create, to shape and define their product,” says social media consultant Todd Greene. “For the first time in the history of development, producers and studios can get real-time, authentic feedback. It increases loyalty exponentially when fans see their opinions in action.” Greene has created and executed digital programs for Coca-Cola, Philips, Nestle, Universal, Paramount, Gillette, Disney, Apple and Mattel.

“Because social media platforms like Facebook actually engage fans and are a two-way conversation, film and TV content creators are able to truly understand their fans motivation for watching,” says producer-distributor Linda Nelson. ”Huge communities are being built around content.  The earlier that content creators tap into this concept and start building their communities, the better.” Nelson is a producer at Nelson Madison Films and a founder of the distribution company Indie Rights that distributes films digitally through iTunes, Hulu, Snag, and Amazon VOD.

Social media is making a difference in how films get made and distributed. “We were the first company to successfully cast part of our film using Facebook,” says Nelson. “We were able to save a huge amount of money producing our film by making use of social media to develop and produce our film. Since we have built a community of fans with social media, we’re being sought out by festivals and corporate sponsors.”

“I was working with a client on a branded entertainment project and we needed Gene Simmons,” says Greene. “Trouble was, I didn’t know him. But using LinkedIn and Facebook, my phone rang two days later. The caller was the master of disaster himself.”

“I like the concept that people can connect,” says Gosh!TV producer Gabrielle Pantera. “Im one of the few people who removed herself from Facebook. With Facebook you get emails. I still get emails that say Facebook, but I know it’s spam. I Twitter. I like communities to be self-contained.” Pantera produces entertainment and fashion news stories distributed on YouTube.

A typical social media plan includes Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and email. “The Buried Life is getting 800 to 1,000 emails a day,” says Coleman. “People are telling us deeply personal stories that we feel obligated to respond. It’s disturbing and shocking that young people are writing to say that the inspiration of our show gave them a reason to live.” It takes about three hours a day for the stars of the show and staff of four to handle all the email. Coleman uses a system of separate mailboxes for each star, press and speaking inquiries along with a set of mail templates to automate as much as possible the task of personally responding to that much email.

“Online networking sites amp up the gossip factor that’s always been important in our business,” says writer-producer Bonnie MacBird who teaches at UCLA Extension.

How is social media used to launch or build community for TV series and feature films? How do agents, networks and studios discover new TV shows or films using this medium? To find out more, come to the session tomorrow.

The Showbiz Expo panel “Social Media for Film and TV” is Sunday, April 25, from 3:30 to 4:30pm at the L.A. Convention Center. The panel includes Adam Armus, Jan Coleman, Todd Greene, Linda Nelson, Gabrielle Pantera, Jeff Ragovin, and Robin Rowe. Rowe and Pantera are co-presidents of the 4,000-member TV and film industry association ScreenPlayLab.

http://www.screenplaylab.com/2010/showbizexpo.html