Fathom for Indies

Last night I went to Boston to see a Fathom event for CARE. The event's listing can be seen here. It brought together the authors of "Half the Sky" - by NYT reporter Nicholas Kristof. It included a number of musical artists as well as Maria Bello and Marisa Tomei, who made a short film that also aired as part of the event. The even's purpose was to raise money for CARE and raise awareness for women's health and education in the 3rd world. This event wasn't live, the original event took place at NYU in early February. But FATHOM can do live events.

I immediately thought of Ted Hope, the legendary Indie producer and twitter/facebook phenomenon. (Hey, I knew him when he lived in Carrol Gardens with a stuffed dog. Really.) The first person to put together a Fathom event for an Indie film will probably unloose the floodgates.

Here's the idea: You've got an Indie film and you didn't get distribution, even though you garnered some attention at a major festival and got good critical notices. You've got at least one well known actor or and actor who is a monster with social networking. You've got a cool band to do your soundtrack. The director is an up-and-comer. So rather than go straight to DVD you organize a one night only Fathom event in 10 cities. You pull out all the social networking stops - everyone on the crew tells their friends and family. The event begins like a screening at a film festival - the director comes on stage and introduces the film. The film is shown. Then the crew, stars, director, producer, and musical guests open the floor up to questions (via tweet and facebook and email and text) The musicians play a number or two.

If the film is a documentary, and tackles a social issue, the event can be a co-fundraiser with an NGO, and utilize their email and social network assets. In the event I saw, the audience was asked to text a code that would link them to the CARE social network, and, I assume, give CARE a donation above and beyond the ticket price.

A Fathom event could also be an exclusive screening - only invited guests - say, friends and families of the crew, or people on the band's "1000 True Fans" list.

The possibilities for political organization are also immense. Sad to say, but Glenn Beck has already figured that out, and had a Fathom event of his own. More on this subject as I brainstorm some more. Comments appreciated!

Note: Ted Hope also wrote about FATHOM today, at the same time I was writing. Clearly, the 100th Monkey Effect was operating here...