The Filmmaker’s 5 Main Marketing Myths

You’re a filmmaker, not a marketer or promoter.

Right?

Wrong!

That approach to filmmaking can lead you basically nowhere.  You might end up with a gem of a film, a film that’s important, a film that could succeed - and a film that gets lost.

As a novelist, playwright and PR consultant, I know both sides of the street.  I understand your marketing misgivings as an artist, as well as your promotional necessities as a marketer.  I know the practical and emotional hurdles that often come with having to market your work.

So, let’s cut to the case, when it comes to filmmaking, PR is not a luxury.

PR is a necessity.

But simply understanding you need to market isn’t enough. It’s important to know how to effectively promote you and your film.  Trouble is, there are quite a few myths floating around about how PR works. Myths that can make you feel that you’re moving forward in your PR and marketing efforts, when you’re actually standing still.  So, let’s tackle some of them.  Below are five of the main culprits

The Filmmaker’s 5 Main Marketing Myths:

1)            Sign with a distributor; and your marketing and PR will be taken care of.

2)            Regularly updating your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram is enough.

3)            Send a press release out through a paid wire service and that will take care of your PR needs.

4)            Online promotions and giveaways is all you need to establish your film in the marketplace.

5)            One magazine article or TV interview will launch your film and your career.

There are definitely more myths than these five, but these are some of the main culprits.

If you can hire a PR team or consultant, do it.  It will be well worth the money and save you headaches.  If you’re not able to, do your homework.  Learn the dos and don’ts of promoting your work.

Truth be told, a mediocre filmmaker who promotes will generally be more successful than the talented one who doesn’t.

But talented filmmakers who also market and promote are truly ahead of the game.

That’s the club you want to belong to.

 

Bart's Books: An Interview with Matt Henriksen

Based in Ojai, California, Bart’s Books is a bookstore unto itself.

I was first introduced to Ojai by actors who were in my first play, Bang! A Love Story. That’s going back a few years now, and although my wife and I have visited several times since then we somehow never got around to visiting Bart’s. Truth be told, one of our cousins continually suggested we stop by, but, for whatever reason, we never made the trek.

Until finally we did.

Bart’s was a revelation.

A literal love-at-first-sight experience. Both my wife and I are writers and book fanatics, which works out well, because once we arrive we both know we’re basically there for the day. Eventually as dusk falls, one of us has to drag the other out. Bart’s visits have become regular pilgrimages akin to religious experiences.

I’m not one for buying books online, because I seldom start with a specific book in mind. For me the pleasure is in browsing, searching and finding a book I’ve never heard of, that seems to call out. And Bart’s has yards and rows and shelves filled with books. It’s a magical place bursting with fiction and non-fiction, the popular and the arcane. It’s a wonderful space in which to lose yourself and enter other worlds.

potteryBart’s is the largest independently owned and operated outdoor bookstore in the U.S. The story goes that in 1964 Bart’s Books was little more than a sparkle in the eye of Richard Bartinsdale whose collection of books had gotten so overwhelming that he constructed a series of book cases along the sidewalk so that passersby could peruse the titles.

In lieu of a cash register, “Bart” left coffee cans atop the book cases. People would select a title or two and leave payment in the cans, giving birth to Bart’s world-famous tradition of selling books via the honor system. Since that time Bart’s Books has become host to nearly one million books ranging from the thirty-five cent special (that have now gone up to a whopping fifty-cents) which line the outside walls and are still for sale on the honor system, to rare, out of print first editions, and art books valued in the thousands of dollars.

Matt Henriksen Bart’s general manager kindly took some time to tell us a bit more about the magic of Bart’s.

What initially drew you to the bookstore?

I have been coming to the store since I was in middle school. I used to ditch school to come here to hang out.

How long have you run it?

I've been managing the place for seven years.

How would you describe Bart’s to someone who’s never visited the store?

The slogan from the bookmark back in the eighties said, “everything under the sun.” I think that’s a fair description, used new antique rare and valuable books, inside and out of a 30s honeymoon cottage and its courtyard.

Does Bart’s have a mission?

To get the best possible book into the hands of the person who needs it most, to preserve ideas and ideals and encourage their circulation, and to get our customers to try something just a little bit outside of their zone of comfort.

 What type of events to you have at the bookstore?

Art, music, book signings, wedding receptions, poetry readings, private dinners. Almost anything one could imagine if we think it will support our goals.

 As you mention on your site you offer “thirty-five cent specials which line the outside walls and are still for sale on the honor system, to rare, out-of-print first editions, and art books valued in the thousands of dollars”. 

How good are people at honoring the thirty-five cent honor system?

They have actually been 50 cents for over a decade now.   the honor system is after hours only and seems to generate somewhere between 20 and 0 dollars every month.

What are some of the more valuable books you’ve sold at the bookstore?

Value is relative, we have sold books I consider valuable from fifty cents to tens of thousands of dollars.

 What are some of the most unusual books that have found their way to Bart’s?

My current favorites are four bound volumes of New York Times mid-week pictorials featuring beautiful rotogravure reproductions of Europe throughout the first world war, an uncorrected proof of Ernest Hemingway's " A Movable Feast”, and   an early California promotional book published in Oakland in 1888 advertising for people to settle in east Los Angeles which includes an article by John Muir on the San Gabriel mountains. I also Have a couple john Muir first editions, "Travels in Alaska" & "My First Summer in the Sierra"

The sheer number and types of books you carry is dizzying.  That said, is there a prototypical Bart’s patron?

As a location that benefits a lot from tourism we get a large number of one time customers, many of whom are not regular bookstore visitors.  As far as repeat customers the single unifying feature of a Bart’s customer is curiosity.

Learn more about Bart’s at bartsbooksojai.com

Upcoming Event: Beyond The Trailer - Movie Marketing Strategies

Beyond The Trailer: Movie Marketing Strategies and Promotional Tactics
Presented by American Marketing Association (AMA) Los Angeles

Want to learn how to create an effective PR and marketing campaign for your film?

Actually, that’s a rhetorical question. I can tell you, the answer is YES. You want to develop and launch the most effective PR campaign possible. You’ve put your heart, soul, time and money into your film project. You now owe it to the film and to yourself to give it a chance to succeed.

With that in mind, join me and other film PR and marketing experts on Thursday, November 2.

Beyond The Trailer: Movie Marketing Strategies and Promotional Tactics
Moderated by Philip Rebentisch, AMA Los Angeles President

Thursday, November 2, 2017 - 6:30 – 8:30 p.m
WeWork La Brea
925 N La Brea Ave, 4th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90038

So, what will be covered?

Why PR is important for your film and your career as a filmmaker

How to find your most compelling stories

What the media is looking for

How to pitch the media

Which media outlets to pitch

How to meld your social media outreach with traditional media

How to utilize your PR to reach your target market, distributors, investors and influencers

...and much more.

Dive into your film project. Make the very best film you can. But be smart about it. Realize that PR and marketing are not an option, they are essential. You owe it to your film to give it the best possible chance to succeed.

Learn more and get tickets here!

The Indie Filmmaker’s Secret Weapon: PR

If you’ve finished shooting, or have locked your film—congratulations!

I know from experience that is not any easy process. It takes, blood, sweat, tears, and persistence—not to mention funding. So, do congratulate yourself, but then do a reality check and realize that your journey has just started.

You now need to get your film into the marketplace and promote it. What are your plans for distribution and marketing? If you’ve secured distribution that’s a huge step forward, but that in and of itself does not assure that your film will be successfully marketed. If distribution is still on your to-do list, an effective PR campaign will not only help create a buzz and establish your brand as a filmmaker, it can also solidify distribution and film festival interest.

With the film industry in such flux and more competitive than ever, effectively positioning yourself in the marketplace is more challenging than ever. At PR for Writers & Filmmakers, we’ve been promoting independent feature films (both narrative and documentary projects) for years. Having worked as a screenwriter and indie film producer, I know the hazards and pitfalls of getting a film from concept to the market. With that in mind, we’ve developed a unique PR and distribution approach designed to publicize and market films to the public, but also to help secure distribution.

Our firm specializes in media placement, media training and image development. We’ve placed clients in a wide range of local, national and international media venues including Time, Newsweek, The Today Show, 60 Minutes, CBS This Morning, CBS Evening News, People, US, Entertainment Tonight, Premiere, Fox News, USA Today, CNN, MSNBC, 20/20, Oprah, The London Times, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Entailment Weekly, and many more media outlets.

Making a film can be a magical experience, but the mistake many filmmakers make is to focus solely on the production and forget about next steps, specifically marketing and securing distribution. Too many filmmakers forget to develop an action plan they can implement once their film is completed. How are they going to get their film, promoted, marketed, distributed? What is their gameplan for building that bridge between the finished product and the audience?

Each film is unique and there are a number of different strategies we can utilize depending on the needs of each project. Effective marketing and promotion will help you achieve your primary objectives: to find your film’s audience and to make your project profitable, which will allow you to make your next film—and the next after that.

If you have a completed independent film, you need PR.

It’s that simple.

PR Secrets for Independent Films

I met with an independent filmmaker the other day about his PR needs for his upcoming film.

Why is that news?

Because he met with me to discuss launching a public relations campaign for his film six months before he will start shooting.

We’ve been representing films for over two decades and believe me this is news.

Generally we'll be contacted by filmmakers once their film has been shot and locked, often a week before the first screening.  These filmmakers have generally put a great amount of thought into the making of their film, but little or none into the marketing or promotion.

And that is the kiss of death. 

You can make an amazing film, but if you don’t find some way to get it in front of the public only you, your family, and your closest friends will know about it.

So, back to my meeting: the filmmaker wanted to launch well before principal shooting began in order to create an early buzz about the project.  He then wanted to do some on-the-set promotion to offer the audience behind the scenes stories and then shift the focus once the film was ready to screen.  He hadn’t locked down distribution, so part of the PR outreach was to interest distributors as well as to begin to build a name for himself in the industry. 

Before contacting my firm, he had been sending out press releases through a wire service and was unhappy with the results.  People commonly mistake sending out press releases with launching a PR campaign and nothing could be further from the truth.  Press releases are a tool, but nothing more.  Sending out a release through one of the paid wire services can help a film’s SEO, but seldom (unless there is a strong newsworthy element or an A-list celebrity attached) will it result in actual media coverage. 

He then brought on an intern and had her try her luck at landing media coverage for his production company and upcoming film.  That was unfair both to the intern and the media.  It placed the intern in a no-win situation since she had no idea how to launch a film PR campaign and it wasted the media’s time.  She was busy trying to sell a product, whereas what the media was looking for stories.  She inundated producers, editors and writers with the film’s one-sheet which is a sales sheet designed to attract buyers and distributors. 

The media hates one-sheets.

I’m repeating myself here, but this can’t be overstated, journalists want stories.  If you try and sell them, you lose them.  It’s as simple as that.   

For a media relations campaign to work:

  1. Start early
  2. Know the right contacts
  3. Develop compelling stories 
  4. Remember less is more
  5. Be persistent
  6. Be creative
  7. Follow through 
  8. Treat the media with respect
  9. Remember effective PR is effective storytelling

 

Why PR is Crucial for Your Film

Technology and the digital world have caused huge changes to what was once considered business-as-usual in the entertainment world. While the last decade has seen the music and publishing arenas changed forever, the world of film production, distribution, and marketing is also in a state of flux. There are new approaches to production, distribution, and marketing that were previously unheard of. Technology has also made it possible for full-length films to be created on minimal budgets, and there are a myriad of new distribution channels available.

Still, one question remains. What comes after you've produced your film? How is it possible to establish yourself in the industry, secure distribution, or reach your target market?

Social media is one very important piece of the puzzle. However, to get the attention that's needed to move forward, an effective and well-targeted PR campaign is your best approach. A traditional media campaign is critical.

Why is PR crucial when launching a feature film?

Simple.

PR is the only form of marketing that offers you (as well as your film) the validation and credibility of being featured in newspapers, magazines, TV, and radio in online media outlets. Being featured in the media creates an undeniable buzz, building a brand for you and your movie. Being able to land that type of press coverage puts you a cut above the competition. And finally, it puts your film on the map, and shows that you can be a key player in the marketplace. Once you've put these elements into place, you can start to broaden the scope of your own marketing outreach.

When pitching the media, keep in mind that the stories and pitches that interest you aren’t necessarily those that will interest the media. Take time to study the media outlets you’re approaching. What type of stories and angles do they focus on? Let those be your guide.

Remember, you don’t want to simply focus on reviews for your film. Rather, what you need is a mix of interviews, features and reviews about you and your film. Brainstorm, come up with some creative, unique media pitches and hooks about you, your film, the cast, the story, etc. Once you’ve secured some press, you can utilize your media coverage in your social media outreach. That allows you to amplify the media you’ve secured.

A campaign that blends traditional and social media is going to be the most effective. But to start, you need to land some media coverage.

Our motto is effective PR is effective storytelling.

So, what are your stories?

.

James Elden on Keeping Noir Alive in the City of Angels

James Elden is producer, director, actor, and self-publisher of the PL.A.Y Noir series staged annually in North Hollywood by his company, Punk Monkey Productions. James can be seen sporadically on television as reoccurring characters on both CONAN and General Hospital and has performed Off-Broadway in the critically acclaimed Santasia: A Holiday Comedy. He is currently working on two full-length screenplays and hopes to produce his two short films, Bobo and Two Kids, a Clown and a Babysitter. He also recently launched the Los Angeles Collegiate Playwrights Festival, a national festival geared solely towards bringing up-and-coming college playwrights together with working Hollywood industry professionals.

I’ve known James for several years and have had the opportunity to work with him in the past. My play Silencing Silas was included in PL.A.Y Noir in 2012, as was Ann Convery’s play Shoofly. The plays were also included in the premiere volume of the PL.A.Y Noir book series. A consummate professional, James is known for his passion and creativity. I caught up with James to discuss theatre, acting, writing, directing, and noir in the City of Angels.

PL.A.Y Noir is rapidly becoming an LA institution, how did it initially come about?

I almost hate to use the word, but PL.A.Y Noir was sort of a fluke. My wife at the time, Sarah Kelly, and I had just come off producing our second full-length play, The Maiden’s Prayer by Nicky Silver, and were discussing our interest in staging a series of one-act plays. I had just directed a tongue-in-cheek Noir piece the previous year called The Zone Ranger written by then high school students, Ben Goldstein and Mac Taylor, as part of the Young Playwrights Festival at Harvard-Westlake School in North Hollywood, and starred Tony Award-winner Ben Platt and singer/songwriter Kathryn Gallagher. I mentioned my interest in revisiting and staging The Zone Ranger, and Sarah followed up with the suggestion of just doing a series of all Noir plays. From there we announced our first “call for entries” and in 2012 staged our first year of PL.A.Y Noir. We had such a great time, we decided to do it again the following year.

The series is produced by your production company, Punk Monkey. What is the genesis of the name?

Sort of another fluke, I suppose. Maybe fate. We had been producing plays under the name Epiphany Productions for our first three years. As our interest in production expanded, we began looking into domain names in order to establish a web presence. Unfortunately, Epiphany Productions was already taken. We went with what would later become a dedication to our dog, Leo, a rescue mutt we found wandering the I-5 freeway in 2008. Leo’s personality was that of stubborn independence, a bit of a punk. That combined with our other “pet name" for him, Monkey, led us to Punk Monkey. Unfortunately, due to rapidly deteriorating health, we had to say goodbye to Leo shortly before the opening of inaugural year. I think Sarah said it best in the origin story from our website, "as a tribute to him, our aim is to produce this show (and all future Punk Monkey shows) with the same independent spirit that he embodied. We aspire to produce theater that is original, courageous, playful, and of course, full of heart. Just like Leo.”

How would you describe PL.A.Y Noir?

Simply put, a series of Film Noir styled one-act plays set in the City of Angels (hence the emphasis of L.A. in PL.A.Y) and revolving around the classic themes of murder, greed and betrayal, involving the classic stock characters of the hard-boiled detective, the seductive femme fatale, and the unscrupulous heavy. That said, we’ve produced many plays that do not have all of the above criteria. Some pieces may have none of the characters but all of the themes, after all, Noir is a genre that even the critics cannot agree on what qualifies.

Why did you decide to make it a series of one-act short plays as opposed to one full-length noir play?

There are so many facets of Noir, I don’t think a full-length play would, or even could, represent them all. PL.A.Y Noir is homage to the genre and staging multiple one-act allows us to give an of evening of variety that touches upon those facets, including classic and neo Noir, as well as comedy and drama. We always try to present an evening that is well balanced in all aspects. A series of one-acts also allows us to give voice and opportunity to multiple playwrights opposed to just spotlighting one.

How many years has the series been running now?

Six. We will be presenting our seventh year of PL.A.Y Noir in the fall of 2018.

How has it changed throughout the years?

We’re always changing. The content. The cast. Overall, though, I think we’ve matured. I think PL.A.Y Noir has become a well-polished machine from a production stand point. We’ve gotten to a point where we know what works and what doesn’t, but I think we played it a little safer in the beginning. We’ve certainly taken more chances, especially with content. You read something that works well on the page, but when it comes to actually staging the play, it may not translate as well as you would have liked, or the audience just doesn’t connect with it to the extent you would have hoped. We’ve learned a lot in that regard. I’ve learned a lot. Noir is an anomaly. Not everybody is familiar with it. They’ve heard the term Noir or Film Noir, but they couldn’t tell you what it is. I think even in trying to find our definition of Noir, we’ve changed and will continue to do so.

You produce PL.A.Y Noir. You also direct and act in many of the plays. Is it difficult to wear that many hats?

There’s definitely a hierarchy; producer, director, performer. Nonetheless, the show comes first. It’s only difficult when the unexpected occurs, but you have to roll with it. Sometimes you lose a director or an actor, and that definitely throws a monkey wrench into the plan. I have a very supportive core group of people, some who have been along for the ride since the beginning, and if something goes awry they step up to the plate. I certainly couldn’t do it without their help.

Which of those (producing, acting, directing) would you say is nearest and dearest to you?

I love to act and direct, but when it comes to PL.A.Y Noir, I’d have to say producing, from the first submission to the closing performance. The wonderment that goes along with the entirety of the production is fascinating, the number of plays we’ll receive that year followed by where in the world they’ll come from. Our most responsive year we received over 250 plays, and we haven’t received less than 100 since our third year. We've received plays from England, Ireland, Wales, Spain, France, Italy, Israel, New Zealand, and Australia, and routinely from our friends in Canada and, of course, the United States. To sit and read them all, make the selections, bring them from page to stage, and hopefully have the opportunity to meet the playwrights should they make the trek from afar; the whole process is gratifying.

You are now also publishing the plays. Tell me a bit about that.

It’s a bit of building and expanding the brand, but most of all, it’s about creating opportunities, and I hope publishing the plays will provide that. I researched publishing through Dramatists and Samuel French, but the obstacles seemed too laborious and daunting. It always comes down to getting someone else to say “yes." We live in a world of accessibility. Now more than ever we can become our own gatekeepers, and that’s why I took the self-publishing route. There is some great content out there, and it’s come across our stage, but our stage is one of many. I hope by publishing the plays we’ve produced, we can open other doors for those playwrights.

What is next for PL.A.Y Noir?

I’d like to think we’ve got four more years in us, at least to hit 10 years. I have three more years of books to publish (2015, 2016, and 2017), and I’d like to do two larger volumes, PL.A.Y Noir Volume 1 (2012-2016) and PL.A.Y Noir Volume 2 (2017-2021). I’ve also been talking a bit with the Film Noir Foundation. They’ve been big supporters of ours and promote our calls for entry and productions. I’ve been corresponding with their PR rep, Anne Hockens, in hopes have having her write the introduction for PL.A.Y Noir Volume 1, and if we can get him onboard in the next few years, Eddie Muller for Volume 2, but we’ve got some time to build to that.

Learn more about James and PL.A.Y Noir at: http://www.punkmonkeyproductions.com/pl.a.y-noir.html

The Art of Fiction in the Time of Trump

Fiction can generally reveal truth more powerfully than fact.

And in these times when the definition of what we once knew as facts and truth is melting every bit as fast as glaciers, fiction is perhaps more needed than ever.

These are chaotic and unsettling times of walls, fear, and suspicion. The rancor and vitriol seems to be perpetually stuck in high gear. People feel unsafe and unsure, tossed about in the divisiveness and turbulence. Many feel helpless, hopeless, and voiceless.

And because of that:

The role of the storyteller is now paramount. This is an era of pomposity and empty rhetoric. More than ever we need the truth found in novels, plays, films, fables, and poems.

Fiction can communicate both subtly and deeply. It can shine light in the darkness. It communicates at a visceral level and can fly past the radar. It can be difficult and unsettling but can also create change and dissolve despair.

In a very real sense, writing is magic.

But instead of waiting for the return of Merlin, we now need boldness. We need the courage to believe in our unique vision and the daring to move forward with blind faith.

The world is sounding a call to action. If you ever doubted the importance of your creative work, this is the time to put that doubt aside. Others have paved the way and have shown the impossible to be possible. They have moved through their doubts and past their personal dark-night-of-the-soul, and have created. They have impacted their world. They have changed hearts and minds.

Blaze your own trail. To quote Emerson, which I seem to do quite a lot, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

This is no time for writers to doubt or hide their work.

This is not a time to be timid or hesitant.

Let your work shine particularly in the darkness. You’ll never know who the light will reach or what it will reveal.

Perhaps Francis Bacon put it best: “In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.”

Go forth, and write. 

I’m a Writer, not a Marketer! (You Still Need PR)

"I’m a writer, not a marketer or promoter!"

That can be a nice sentiment, but it’s also generally the kiss of death. If you write and don’t want to promote your works, you best team up with someone who will.

The fact that successful authors need PR and to market their books is not a new phenomenon:

These three were giants of literature who were also brilliant promoters.

There are more stories than we'll ever know from talented writers who are unknown because they failed to promote, and many accounts of mediocre writers who have successfully marketed their works. A mediocre writer who promotes will generally be more successful than the talented writer who doesn’t.

Talented writers who also market and promote—those are truly ahead of the game.

The trick is not only to become comfortable promoting yourself as a writer, but to do so effectively. Sadly, it’s not enough to decide you’re going to promote, jump on Facebook, Twitter, and maybe Goodreads and then sit back and wait. Nor is cobbling together a media list and sending out a press release going to suffice.

The secret? Effective PR is effective storytelling.

Perfect you say, you’re a writer, storytelling is your stock-in-trade. True, but when it comes to PR you need to know what stories to tell, how to tell them, when to deliver them, and to whom you should tell them.

If all of those pieces aren’t in place, chances are not much is going to come of your efforts.

So, if PR and marketing aren't your strong suit—delegate.

Find a PR team that understands how to promote books and authors, have worked in the field and who you feel comfortable with. Bring them on board and, together, move forward.

Effective PR and marketing can spell the difference between success and failure of a book and a career.

Give yourself the best shot to succeed.

A Voice with Legs: Laura Carruthers Translates Dance into Film

Laura Carruthers is a six-time national champion and world-ranked Scottish Highland dancer, a former member of the Ballet Arizona, and an award-winning filmmaker whose portrayals of dance on screen welcome mainstream audiences to its intricacies. Her latest film, Grace Fury, is an autobiographical exploration into the joy of creating art that has just been nominated for multiple awards at the Glendale International Film Festival, the San Francisco International New Concept Film Festival, the LA Underground Film Forum, and the World Music and Independent Film Festival. Fascinated by the journey that would take a young Los Angeles native from Celtic dance enthusiast to successful filmmaker, I chatted with Laura about what it’s taken her to get here, the inspirations and challenges that she found along the way, and the sense that “bonding with art isn’t always immediate escapism.”

Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA--Burbank, to be exact--Laura spent childhood summers watching her father compete in traditional Scottish sport, a subculture she describes as larger than life. “Not your traditional vacation,” Laura noted laughing, but one that quickly inspired her to enroll in Scottish Highland dancing herself. And she was good at it--really good: she went on to win six national championships. Things took a turn when Laura enrolled at Arizona State University to study history, but there she kept her passion for dance alive by studying ballet under former Kirov principal Zenia Chlistowa, and following graduation she was accepted into the prestigious Ballet Arizona by Director Michael Uthoff.

At this point during our conversation, we paused a moment for me to ask the question that she says nearly everyone who’s not in her worlds asks: what exactly is Scottish Highland dancing, and is it anything like ballet? The answer: Scottish Highland dancing is very aerobic and demanding, requiring a simultaneous precision and buoyancy that results in what Laura describes as a “state of perpetual spring” (which as you might expect, is “very horrible on your legs”). Far from the synchronized pounding of its more mainstream Celtic sibling made popular with Riverdance, Highland dancing is relentless but never heavy. Ballet in turn depends on the same level of precision, but is, perhaps surprisingly so, less rigid than Highland dancing--a flexibility that Laura found very liberating and appealing.

Of course, one must acknowledge that Laura is blessed with preternatural energy and grace--born to a mathematician mother and a father who loved Scottish sport but not dance, Laura is the first of her family to become a dancer. And yet nearly everyone who has crossed her path can’t help but notice a natural exuberance and magnetism that translate across Celtic, classical, and contemporary techniques.

So, Laura made it to ASU where she discovered that the Scottish subculture of her Californian youth was minimal at best. She found herself living almost a double life: the side focused on that subculture, and the side in which her peers had zero connection to it or understanding about it; as Laura describes the dichotomy, “you’re either in it, or you don’t know much about it.” Despite pressure from her father to focus on academics and graduate, Laura discovered that ballet was a way to bridge the gap between Highland dancing and the mainstream professional dance world--and perhaps even a way to turn the dance realm into a long-term career.

Laura started introducing her fellow ballet dancers to the “strange little technique” of Highland dancing, and as a burgeoning choreographer she blended the Celtic with the classical. People took notice, and it was at this point that she started her transformation into the “voice with legs.”

Fast forward to today: Laura is still dancing, but is now also a successful filmmaker and a self-described sociopolitical activist. Her overarching artistic philosophy is intrinsically bound to her unshakeable insistence that art have a place in today’s increasingly money-focused and conformist culture: “I fear that in some ways we’re losing the innocence of just being artistic, allowing for a degree of freedom and room to do just what you need to do and say what you need to say...I feel like art, like science, is a space where we should be pioneering, and in many cases you don’t even know what contributions you might make--a way that might not seem huge in the moment but might influence people down the road. Even if it’s not entirely practical or doesn’t have a huge payoff, in some cases that’s the real stuff, the parts of the variation in our species that goes missing because we follow the same lines too often.”

It is impossible not to be inspired by the conviction with which Laura shares that vision for a world in which creativity continues not simply to exist but to thrive, and it makes it easy to understand why her latest film Grace Fury is picking up nominations across the festival circuit.

An autobiographical foray into Laura’s life and the necessity of artistic creation, Grace Fury combines her obvious long-time love of film (Kubrick and Coppola are some of her biggest influences) with a lifetime’s understanding of dance and self that’s challenged only by the technical innovation that five Panasonic VariCams offer insofar as true viewer immersion. The film is a beautifully intimate experience with a degree of “poetic mystery” that is all too often hard to capture, but it also speaks to the greater human experience. Laura notes, “I hope that some of the points I’m making, the questions I’m asking, are bigger and more core; I’m saying this little microexperience, this one person’s tiny shot at life that I have, that maybe there are some things I’m saying that might resonate with other people, that might speak to human nature.”

Grace Fury originally started as a festival opportunity offered to her by a couple producers in New York; when the larger project died, Laura decided to keep going with the film, realizing that maybe it was time to say what she really meant. If that’s not a metaphor for Laura’s entire drive in life, I don’t know what is. I asked Laura what she looks to get out of this film and the work she does now.

“I just hope the whole thing inspires people to do their own thing as well. To maybe be on the lookout for different kinds of artists who aren’t always in your view all the time. It’s important to inspire people in whatever capacity you have to make art. We should all have the experience of making art, and never resign ourselves to just being spectators or saying we can’t. It’s part of the human experience.”

 Check out Laura's work and upcoming film Grace Fury at http://www.lauracarruthers.com.