"I feel the need- the need for... social media?"

This week I traveled south for the Fort Myers Film Festival. My brother-in-law had his film Hellbent on Boogie headlining the event. This film follows the story of two siblings: Alan and Quinn. Alan- struggling with the death of their father- is much like a tornado while his sister Quinn- an aspiring dancer with autism- is like a bird in a cage. The film follows these two as they navigate the struggles of their past while pursuing the dreams of their future.

My brother-in-law frequently recounts that the hardest part of their film was finding the right actress to play Quinn. They looked for months through over 2,000 young women to find a talented individual who could act, dance, and play a character on the spectrum. Then one day, the producer’s son saw, on TikTok of all places, Alyx Ruibal: a young woman who could act, was an amazing dancer, and actually has autism. The rest is history.

When talking about film making with my brother-in-law, he surprised me by sharing how much he uses social media for film-making research. In addition to his experience with TikTok, he also utilizes Instagram for movie creation. He frequently saves posts and reels to utilize when writing future scripts. Social media has also been a wonderful means of providing interested viewers with updates on the film, its festival success, and -hopefully- their future plans for distribution. Long gone are the days of roadshows and the states rights system of film distribution; now social media can serve as a critical method of discovery, production, and promotion wherein we bridge the gap between creator and consumer.

  

-SMT