An Anxious Update

#7 Nonlinear Film School - lesson learned!

Hi friends,

After an intense PR campaign in Bulgaria for “Kaval Park” I returned to Seattle with a lot on my mind. Admittedly, it was a huge deal to release “Kaval Park” in movie theaters in Bulgaria. I detailed some of the excitement here.

But after all of the effort and a substantial amount of money spent in advertising what did we accomplish?

We had billboards across major cities, featured radio commercials, subway and bus stop ads. Taxi drivers, friends of friends and random people off the street knew about the film. Why didn’t they come see it? Attendance hovered around 500 brave Bulgarians for the whole theatrical run. Everyone that came to see the film fell in love with it, but herein lies the first lesson. In hindsight, it seems like a no brainer.

People loving your film will not translate to people coming to see it. Treat your film and its marketing like two different events. One has nothing to do with the other.

That may seem radical, but I’ve come to believe that this sort of sober, astute and cold approach is the best one to harness. I will be the first to admit that being too close to the film failed to give me a much needed perspective.

Grassroots

We’re building a grassroots Marketing Team. Led by Gabriela our team is hard at work applying the lessons learned to the release of “Kaval Park” on Amazon Prime Video and the Bulgarian streaming service Neterra.TV. These releases are happening in the next month. You will be the first to find out.

Early on my partner and I chose to invest in the potential of people. Ben calls them “little rodents” after the name of our company Itchy Rodent Films. We wanted them to be with us from ground zero, giving them the tools and freedom to fail and to shine. Our Team is now managing our social media presence which frees me up to focus on my new documentary while Ben is turning his novel into a feature film screenplay.

Mirroring

“Kaval Park” was released in 19 movie theaters across 16 cities in Bulgaria. In all cities but two, you could see it only once or twice during the week. In all instances, moviegoers had only one time slot in the day to choose from. Usually, they would have four or five showtimes to choose from.

Why would I go out of my way to see a documentary on Monday at 9PM, when at home I can see a movie anytime?

Fair question. One we should have asked ourselves at the beginning. The money we put into marketing the film didn’t mirror the number of screens it was released on. In other words, I, your average moviegoer, see ads all over Bulgaria and I expect the scope of these ads to translate to plenty of choices for me. But when the film is released I have next to no choice. Unless Robert De Niro is in the film, why would I go out of my way to find a babysitter for Monday night?

I know my folklore is special

We focused our marketing on the love of folklore in the film and targeted Bulgarians who shared this love. It was the wrong approach. It had a precedent which I failed to recognize.

When we toured the US with the film, most of our American audience wanted to buy t-shirts with the Bulgarian spelling of “Kaval Park” - Кавал парк. We still have a huge inventory of t-shirts in English. Most had fallen in love with Balkan music in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. They wanted the t-shirt to reflect their long-lasting romantic love for our culture and music.

Why would a Bulgarian living in Bulgaria, one who loves and cherishes our folklore, go see a movie about Bulgarian folklore? They wouldn’t. They don’t need further validation. They dance a few times a week. They listen to folk music on the radio. They don’t need a foreigner to tell them how special our folklore is. That is not to say they would dislike the film. They love it when they do show up, but it was the wrong approach to get them into the movie theater.

Our most popular trailer for the film on Bulgarian social media turned out to be the one which opens with Alexander Eppler saying,

“People call me a fascist, a communist, an archconservative, a liberal. Basically, everyone sort of hates me…”

It goes on to show him making crepes and talking about praying for our enemies…

In conclusion, people in the industry told me there is little money to be made putting a documentary film on the big screen. I defied them. Not for the sake of a profit, but genuinely wishing Alexander Eppler to reach more of us. I failed. But then again, this is my nature - to challenge the status quo. I wouldn’t have made this film if I listened to most of what people told me. But blinded, by the moral value of the film, I ignored the warning signs which warranted a deeper look into the phsychology of Bulgarians in Bulgaria.

Was I anxious about it all? I had my moments, but overall I would say I wasn’t. I had fun promoting the film. I believe “Kaval Park” will continue to give for generations to come.

What did Bogdan do upon his return?

Upon my return I deleted my Instagram account. I disliked the farce of posting on social media to attract attention to the film and my cause. I also deleted my Facebook Page account. I now have only my personal Facebook page where I post when the muse strikes me. I’d rather focus on developing this newsletter. Here, Bogdan the film director, writer and human being is in direct touch with you. You are part of my journey and I hope what I share here inspires and informs your journey too.

The biggest shift since returning to Seattle has been to focus my energies where my passions lie. To simplify my daily routine. To simplify my creative process. I feel a strong calling to return to writing. And to serve my creative process I’ve decided to combine two novels into one. I have been working on both at different times for the past fifteen years. In short, I’m turning my grief and anger at the current state of affairs with social media and phones into a journey of friendship, healing and hope. The voices of the teenagers in my book have been calling to me - it has become impossible to ignore them. My love for my teenage step-daughter is a huge driving force moving me in this thrilling direction. I recently purchased the book “The Anxious Generation” as part of my research. Here is an excerpt from their website:

We rewired childhood and created an epidemic of mental illness.

After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures.

I was part of a ZOOM meeting with the author. Concerned parents, demoralized teachers and Gen Z’s entering the workforce turned up from all over the world. We ended the sessions with a rap-recap by BABA BRINKMAN. You can see me rocking in the video bellow with my wild hairdo in our new office. No more working out of the living room!

The mass migration of childhood into the virtual world has disrupted social and neurological development.

This disruption includes social anxiety, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, and addiction. Alarmed by the rates of anxiety and depression in adolescents, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt wrote The Anxious Generation. The book explores these growing phenomena and attributes them to the transition from a play-based childhood to a phone-based childhood.

I leave you with a final image which I hope is a call to action for us all. A teacher in a classroom asked their students to count their phone notifications during 4th period. Here is the result.

Till next time,

Bogdan