Throughout my grassroots marketing adventure, I've had the unique opportunity to interact with people from all backgrounds. From retired professionals, to active service members, to Vietnam veterans, every person I speak to has their own way of relating to The Way We Get By. As someone who's father and brother are both military veterans, I find the people I personally connect to the most are other family members of veterans and active service members.
These folks, often belonging to groups called Blue Star Moms, know how important the Maine Troop Greeters are, as they're the ones who receive the phone calls from Bangor when their loved-ones depart and return home from Iraq and Afghanistan. It's especially moving for them to know that strangers are opening their arms up to their sons and daughters and welcoming them back the first time the set foot on American soil.
One day last week as I was working on our Los Angeles outreach, I emailed an L.A.-area Blue Star Mom group to notify them of our screening times at the Laemmle Music Hall 3. About 30-minutes later, my phone rang and I didn't recognize the number. I picked up and on the other end of the line was Maria Riley, a Blue Star Mom from L.A.. The leader of her Blue Star Mom organization had forwarded their group members the movie info and she wanted to personally thank me for The Way We Get By. All three of her children served in the military and had gone through Bangor, Maine. Just watching the trailer had brought her to tears. According to Maria, whenever her children called from Bangor, that was when she knew they were finally home safe. Needless to say, speaking with her was incredibly moving. This post is dedicated to all military and veterans family members. The production team here at The Way We Get By sincerely hope your loved ones return home safely with a hero's welcome-- even if they don't get the pleasure of passing through Bangor!
Don't forget to buy your tickets to see The Way We Get By in Los Angeles now playing August 14-20!!! Click HERE for tickets!
Jessica Barnthouse
Associate Producer
Showing posts with label Jessica Barnthouse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jessica Barnthouse. Show all posts
Friday, August 14, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
"The Way We Get By" Goes Hollywood...
Associate Producer Jessica Barnthouse delves into the L.A. Grassroots Marketing Outreach for "The Way We Get By"...
As you know, The Way We Get By will be having its Los Angeles premiere from August 14-20 at Laemmle's Music Hall in Beverly Hills. As with New York City, I've been busy with grassroots outreach to make sure that the people who would love The Way We Get By are aware of the venue and screening times. With all of the press we've been getting, from The New York Times, to national NPR, and countless television interviews, one would think that word about The Way We Get By would have already spread like wildfire all the way to the West Coast. This is not necessarily the case, however. And trust me when I say that if you ever make your own amazing film, you can never do too much grassroots outreach.
So how do you get an audience to come see your film when you're 3,000 miles away from them? It's not like New York City where I can just show up and hand out fliers (yes, I did this for four days all across NYC). The key is to be meticulous, creative, and persistent. First, I compiled a 12-page list of every veterans group, military recruiting station, aging association, and volunteer organization within a 30-mile radius of the movie theatre (I was like Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive-- our audience would not escape!). Next, myself and our new intern, CJ, began calling and emailing each place on our list.
New intern CJ charming L.A. by phone.
The film, because it's such a great story (shameless plug), turned out to be an easy sell over the phone. Calling the military recruiting stations was especially rewarding as time and time again, the soldier on the other side had either heard of the Maine Troop Greeters, or had experienced them himself. I suppose that's the benefit of making a movie about three people who've already been met by almost one million American troops from across the country. And that's what's so great about this human story: that coming to a movie theatre can reconnect you with the strangers who cared enough to give you a hero's send off to war and welcome you back home as a respected veteran when you returned.
And in case you haven't heard, we've even had a few celebs talking about the film, with Alyssa Milano and Milo Ventimiglia from the TV show Heroes supporting the film on Twitter! I definitely believe that with the combined grassroots efforts of myself, CJ, and our new celebrity friends, Los Angeles is going to be a major sucess! Buy your tickets now while they're still hot: Laemmle Music Hall ticket info
Jessica Barnthouse
Associate Producer
As you know, The Way We Get By will be having its Los Angeles premiere from August 14-20 at Laemmle's Music Hall in Beverly Hills. As with New York City, I've been busy with grassroots outreach to make sure that the people who would love The Way We Get By are aware of the venue and screening times. With all of the press we've been getting, from The New York Times, to national NPR, and countless television interviews, one would think that word about The Way We Get By would have already spread like wildfire all the way to the West Coast. This is not necessarily the case, however. And trust me when I say that if you ever make your own amazing film, you can never do too much grassroots outreach.
So how do you get an audience to come see your film when you're 3,000 miles away from them? It's not like New York City where I can just show up and hand out fliers (yes, I did this for four days all across NYC). The key is to be meticulous, creative, and persistent. First, I compiled a 12-page list of every veterans group, military recruiting station, aging association, and volunteer organization within a 30-mile radius of the movie theatre (I was like Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive-- our audience would not escape!). Next, myself and our new intern, CJ, began calling and emailing each place on our list.
New intern CJ charming L.A. by phone.
The film, because it's such a great story (shameless plug), turned out to be an easy sell over the phone. Calling the military recruiting stations was especially rewarding as time and time again, the soldier on the other side had either heard of the Maine Troop Greeters, or had experienced them himself. I suppose that's the benefit of making a movie about three people who've already been met by almost one million American troops from across the country. And that's what's so great about this human story: that coming to a movie theatre can reconnect you with the strangers who cared enough to give you a hero's send off to war and welcome you back home as a respected veteran when you returned.
And in case you haven't heard, we've even had a few celebs talking about the film, with Alyssa Milano and Milo Ventimiglia from the TV show Heroes supporting the film on Twitter! I definitely believe that with the combined grassroots efforts of myself, CJ, and our new celebrity friends, Los Angeles is going to be a major sucess! Buy your tickets now while they're still hot: Laemmle Music Hall ticket info
Jessica Barnthouse
Associate Producer
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Associate Producer Jessica Barnthouse Conquers NYC!
Let me tell you-- excitement is definitely brewing in New York City for The Way We Get By. I know this, because I spent the last four days on foot all over Manhattan and Brooklyn handing out and putting up fliers for the theatrical run starting Friday at the IFC Center. All in all, it was definitely an amazing experience. Here's the rundown of what I did:
Saturday I started in Union Square taping fliers to anywhere there was room. I was nervous about doing this at first-- I mean, I'm an outsider to NYC so I wasn't even sure if what I was doing was legal. However, after taping up fliers in front of numerous police officers without so much as a quizzical look, I realized they probably had bigger fish to fry on the streets of Manhattan. Armed with my cell phone GPS, I put fliers up from Union Square Park down the streets to Washington Square Park, then all over Washington Square Park, all the way to the IFC Center, and then to Tribeca, and back up to the IFC Center. I used up a brand-new roll of Scotch tape that day.
Here are some photos from Saturday:
1. The Way We Get By at the Union Square subway stop!
2. The Way We Get By at Washington Square-- it definitely adds to the scenery.
3. I gave some fliers to police officers I met while postering Washington Square. One of them said his dad is a veteran and plans to take him.
4. As you can see here, Hermoinee Granger is fully endorsing our Battle Buddy promotion for The Way We Get By.
5. Check out that guy's awesome trumpet!
6. I took this at the IFC Center. Notice how The Way We Get By flier is in the center, like the sun. Now, notice the other, smaller, postcards circling it.
Sunday I woke up early to do something I haven't done in about six years: I went to church. Actually, I went to five churches. I'd never been to a mega church, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect and I was kind of afraid everyone inside would somehow "know" I hadn't been in a while. Fortunately, everyone was incredibly welcoming and had an earnest interest in The Way We Get By. That day I focused mostly on youth groups and volunteer organizations. Hopefully we can get a ton of volunteers of all ages out to the screenings this weekend.
Sunday photos:
7. One of the directors for the St. Paul Community Baptist Church was excited to hand out fliers and show the youth group the film trailer.
8. This is the Christian Cultural Center. It looked like the Pentagon from the outside and had a rock band playing all throughout the sermons. I'd never been in a church this large before-- they probably had about 100 different flat panel TVs inside! Perfect, I might add, for watching The Way We Get By trailer on.....
Monday and Tuesday I spent both days going to as many veterans and military recruiting organizations as possible. This was by far my favorite part of the whole trip. Every person I met was so helpful and excited about the film coming to NYC, it made my whole trip worth it 10 times over. I had the pleasure of meeting Iraq veterans, Afghanistan veterans, Gulf War veterans, Vietnam veterans, Korean War veterans, and WWII veterans. I've never gotten to go to Bangor and experience the "real deal" of troop greeting, but I shook a lot of hands and thanked every soldier I met while in New York. It was fantastic!
Monday and Tuesday photos:
9. This is one of the recruiting officers from an Army National Guard recruiting station in Manhattan. Hopefully he can recruit people to The Way We Get By!
10. The Marine Corps Band had an amazing outdoor concert in Manhattan. I tried to pitch the film to one of the officers present, but she told me she'd heard about it already and sent the information to everyone she knew. It was great to know that the word was really getting out.
11. This was at a VFW post in lower Manhattan. When I asked if I could take a picture, the veteran on the left replied, "Sure you can, but don't get my cards in the picture!" I'd say I did a pretty good job of that.
12. This is Richard Dugal from the Catholic War Veterans. He was a huge help and took me around to all of the other veterans offices in his building to hand out fliers to.
13. This is Lieutenant Commander Suzanna Brugler from the Navy Office of Information. She was super excited about the film and was nice enough to email our fliers to a lot of other Navy offices around NYC.
As you can note from the pictures, my grassroots marketing experience in NYC was great. My feet are sore and I'm about three shades darker from walking around in the sun, but it was all worth it. I don't want to speak too soon on this, but I predict the film will be a major hit at the IFC center this weekend. If you live nearby, it's definitely going to be a film you'll want to see, but get your tickets online early-- it's going to be a sell out!
Saturday I started in Union Square taping fliers to anywhere there was room. I was nervous about doing this at first-- I mean, I'm an outsider to NYC so I wasn't even sure if what I was doing was legal. However, after taping up fliers in front of numerous police officers without so much as a quizzical look, I realized they probably had bigger fish to fry on the streets of Manhattan. Armed with my cell phone GPS, I put fliers up from Union Square Park down the streets to Washington Square Park, then all over Washington Square Park, all the way to the IFC Center, and then to Tribeca, and back up to the IFC Center. I used up a brand-new roll of Scotch tape that day.
Here are some photos from Saturday:
1. The Way We Get By at the Union Square subway stop!
2. The Way We Get By at Washington Square-- it definitely adds to the scenery.
3. I gave some fliers to police officers I met while postering Washington Square. One of them said his dad is a veteran and plans to take him.
4. As you can see here, Hermoinee Granger is fully endorsing our Battle Buddy promotion for The Way We Get By.
5. Check out that guy's awesome trumpet!
6. I took this at the IFC Center. Notice how The Way We Get By flier is in the center, like the sun. Now, notice the other, smaller, postcards circling it.
Sunday I woke up early to do something I haven't done in about six years: I went to church. Actually, I went to five churches. I'd never been to a mega church, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect and I was kind of afraid everyone inside would somehow "know" I hadn't been in a while. Fortunately, everyone was incredibly welcoming and had an earnest interest in The Way We Get By. That day I focused mostly on youth groups and volunteer organizations. Hopefully we can get a ton of volunteers of all ages out to the screenings this weekend.
Sunday photos:
7. One of the directors for the St. Paul Community Baptist Church was excited to hand out fliers and show the youth group the film trailer.
8. This is the Christian Cultural Center. It looked like the Pentagon from the outside and had a rock band playing all throughout the sermons. I'd never been in a church this large before-- they probably had about 100 different flat panel TVs inside! Perfect, I might add, for watching The Way We Get By trailer on.....
Monday and Tuesday I spent both days going to as many veterans and military recruiting organizations as possible. This was by far my favorite part of the whole trip. Every person I met was so helpful and excited about the film coming to NYC, it made my whole trip worth it 10 times over. I had the pleasure of meeting Iraq veterans, Afghanistan veterans, Gulf War veterans, Vietnam veterans, Korean War veterans, and WWII veterans. I've never gotten to go to Bangor and experience the "real deal" of troop greeting, but I shook a lot of hands and thanked every soldier I met while in New York. It was fantastic!
Monday and Tuesday photos:
9. This is one of the recruiting officers from an Army National Guard recruiting station in Manhattan. Hopefully he can recruit people to The Way We Get By!
10. The Marine Corps Band had an amazing outdoor concert in Manhattan. I tried to pitch the film to one of the officers present, but she told me she'd heard about it already and sent the information to everyone she knew. It was great to know that the word was really getting out.
11. This was at a VFW post in lower Manhattan. When I asked if I could take a picture, the veteran on the left replied, "Sure you can, but don't get my cards in the picture!" I'd say I did a pretty good job of that.
12. This is Richard Dugal from the Catholic War Veterans. He was a huge help and took me around to all of the other veterans offices in his building to hand out fliers to.
13. This is Lieutenant Commander Suzanna Brugler from the Navy Office of Information. She was super excited about the film and was nice enough to email our fliers to a lot of other Navy offices around NYC.
As you can note from the pictures, my grassroots marketing experience in NYC was great. My feet are sore and I'm about three shades darker from walking around in the sun, but it was all worth it. I don't want to speak too soon on this, but I predict the film will be a major hit at the IFC center this weekend. If you live nearby, it's definitely going to be a film you'll want to see, but get your tickets online early-- it's going to be a sell out!
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