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Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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Can blogs turn a film into a blockbuster?

Joss Whedon, whose “Firefly” TV series didn’t last a season, convinced a studio to produce a feature-length motion picture based on the series when DVD sales went through the roof. Still, the band of sci-fi fans who scooped up the DVD represent a fraction of the audience necessary to make the movie profitable. Whedon, who had a long, successful run with his series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (after the original film he scripted fared less well), isn’t content to hope word-of-mouth and a strong, traditional ad campaign will boost ticket sales. He’s turning to the blogosphere.

Or, at least, somebody associated with the film—dubbed “Serenity” (the name of the spaceship)—is turning to the blogosphere, and is using an A-list blogger to serve as a kind of online Pied Piper. According to a blog at KnoxNews, the online version of the Knoxville News Sentinel, InstaPundit’s Glenn Reynolds has 150 tickets to an advance screening of the film available for local bloggers. News Sentinel blogger Michael Silence notes, “it’s a chance to blog a review on the new movie, due out Sept. 30. It’s also sound marketing for movie studios. If you want to go, confirm in my comments.”

There are plenty of enthusiastic confirmations, like this one: “I’m delerious with the possibility of two tickets? Why? ...I’ve got every episode of Buffy on video and DVD, and every episode of ‘Firefly,’ the basis for ‘Serenity.’ See my Camera Obscura post on my blog regarding creator Joss Whedon (Sept. 9th) and the Buffy convention in Knoxville.” Can you imagine the review this guy’s going to write? Add another 149 similarly-inclined sci-fi fanatics and Buffy fans, and you have the potential to build some genuine buzz.

A quick search of Technorati turned up one other screening—already held—in which Grace Hill Media swapped Serenity tickets in exchange for blogged reviews. (Grace Hill is a media company that helps “Hollywood reach people of faith.”) One suspects there will be a few more such outreach efforts before the film debuts. This notion of turning to the blogosphere to promote books and movies isn’t new, but we can expect to see it become more institutionalized as the payoff becomes more evident. Why give your free screening tickets to anybody passing by when you can focus on bloggers with far greater reach and influence?

09/27/05 | 7 Comments | Can blogs turn a film into a blockbuster?

Comments

  • 1.It's way beyond one blogger Shel. Firefly really is nothing short of a guerilla marketing movement. I blogged about it last week, and thanks to family members who are DEEPLY involved, get regular updates on what is happening with Firefly/Serenity. And yes, I will be seeing the film on opening day. I'm just as hooked as the next guy. Serenity Sept. 30th in the US.

    Susan Getgood | September 2005 | Massachusetts

  • 2.Enjoyed your post.

    In addition to the recent round of free screenings where fans were invited to attend alongside press there have also been a number of paid screenings of Serenity. Notification of these screenings was entirely through the internet and disseminated quickly through the various fan forums ( a directory of some of the online communities can be found at http://www.bigdamnboard.com/ Some of these websites were created before the television show ever started filming back in early 2002 - http://www.fireflyfans.net for example). These screenings sold out within hours, minutes in some cases (and some tickets sold on e-bay for over US$150 each). More details on the early rounds of screenings can be found in the following article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/08/DDGQJD4D2O1.DTL

    Ken Carrizosa | September 2005

  • 3.Nice article. I agree though very much with the previous comment about this being an all out guerrilla marketing campaign. Those of us who have been fans of Joss Whedon for a long time are well honed in fighting from below and beneath (Buffy ? isn?t that just for kids? Angel ? what a stupid name?). ?Serenity? is one of those (rare) campaigns where the corporate marketing effort isn?t just thrust upon us but works in happy co-operation with grassroots support.

    Worth also mentioning in the context of blogs is the role of community places like http://www.whedonesque.com, this is the site where I came across the link to your very own entry (you may be aware of this already, but I mention it just in case). If you want to get an idea how actively people are pushing the Whedonverse, this would be a good place to start.

    Technically the site is probably a blog (honestly, I find the whole terminology quite confusing), but I rather like to think of it as a clearing house, where news/reviews/blog entries, anything and everything, comes together, both for our information and to take action (these movie polls don?t do themselves by themselves you know).

    Helen Bradshaw | September 2005 | London, UK

  • 4.Just following on my previous comment. One of the things fans have done is a podcast called The Signal, which has been a top rated podcast in Podcast Alley for the past couple of months. A feature on the podcast was specifically called Guerrila Marketing and gave tips to fans on how they could help convert fans to Firefly. I cover a lot of this in the post that I referenced earlier: http://getgood.typepad.com/getgood_strategic_marketi/2005/09/the_power_of_th.html and you can find The Signal podcast at http://www.serenityfirefly.com/

    Susan Getgood | September 2005 | Massachusetts

  • 5.Well maybe not completely....but blogging can certainly attract some amount of attention to the film. Turning it into a blockbuster is difficult.
    antonio

    antonio | September 2005 | Us

  • 6.Since movie studios themselves have been so slow to adopt blogs as part of their own marketing mix I think this is a positive first step. At least they're realizing what reach and impact blogs can have.

    Chris Thilk | September 2005 | Chicago, IL

  • 7.Thanks much for plugging my blog on your page, as I notice it brought in a few new readers. Yes, I did post my review of the movie and hopefully you'll actually read it as well.
    As for how the Web is working with movie promotions, I think you'll agree that the massive number of sites created to promote "A.I" is the grandpa of marketing on the Web, and I also note that ABC is making use of the Web for "Lost" to keep the fans gabbing.

    Joe P. | September 2005 | Tennessee

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