Saturday, January 23, 2010
What if you gave a movie series, and no one came?
Tonight R., Liz, and I made our way over to P0 for the film only to find the room locked and dark. We went over to the police station and that was closed too, so we called the police on the number they had posted at the door, and they said they didn't know anything about any movie. I guess no one else did either because no one, not even one person, came. We watched the film anyhow, and I have to confess it scared me silly, as much as the first time I watched it, and I was annoyed, just as the first and second times, at the behavior of the wife, Wendy. What a ninny. She just stood there and cried and acted like a moron. It strikes me that I felt that way because it reminded me of the way that my mother dealt (or didn't deal) with my father's violent behavior when I was a child. I am sure that is why that movie still scares me so much.
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7 comments:
Oh what a disappointment. These things are very hard to get off the ground, and I really think you need some spread-the-word help in the department.
Are you volunteering to help me publicize it, Lou, because I could really use your poster making help?
By the way, I did send a notice to Claudia, intending that she send it to all faculty members. She didn't. She sent it only to the film faculty, one of whom publicized it to her students, I know for sure because she wrote to me.
Yes, I agree with Lou - these events are hard to get off the ground. One of the things I've learned through years of trying to do this kind of stuff is that if I don't know exactly who is coming - confirmed, names, numbers - then it is very likely no one is.
We had a film and documentary series at IVC years ago - we scheduled it in the afternoon during the week. The numbers were never great but they were good enough. We publicized it through classes, asking likely instructors to encourage their students to attend.
We did do a couple high profile film evenings - but those were more difficult to pull off because of our students and their off-campus obligations.
I could switch it to Friday afternoon, but I hate to give up my Fridays, which I so often need for other things.
I used to do a reading series, back when I was teaching--the key was always to browbeat with charm. I urged all classes to go, and so did my colleagues. We had some packed-out readings... But it took a ton of publicity--back then, in that more primitive era, I used mostly word of mouth and teacher handouts and small colored posters. Oh, and newspaper articles.
We had crowds for national names, but we also had crowds for little names. But it always took a lot of flogging. I was always asking people if they were going to attend...
I used to do a reading series too when I was in grad school, and I don't think we had trouble with attendance. But I certainly need to do more publicity now, or move it to during the week, I guess.
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