Real People | Real Stories

We watched the documentary “Art & Copy”* last night, and it featured this old (1995) Nike ad, “If You Let Me Play”. They got to it differently than we hope to, but this ad leaves me with the feeling we want Girlworld to bring across.

That chest-heavy, head-spinny mix of possibility and empowerment and urgency and responsibility.

Only this is 30 seconds and we want to sustain it for 90 minutes.

* (I gave “Art & Copy” a super solid four stars and Amy wished Netflix offered half-stars so she could give it three and a half.)

Applying for grants and and sponsorship, and asking individual donors for support all require presenting some kind of budget for the project.

Which is quite sensible, of course, as if we’re doing our jobs, the project already has a budget; we must know how much the project will cost (is costing!), how much we have, and where our points of flexibility and vulnerability lie.

What is confusing about this, however, is that different (potential) funders have different priorities. A huge spectrum of them.

To put it as simply as possible, at one end of the spectrum we see funders/grantmakers/donors who want to see a stripped down, lean budget that reflects our passion, resourcefulness and efficiency.

At the other end of the spectrum are the folks who want to see a budget that fully takes into account all of the financial realities of undertaking a project of this scope. They want to know we have a handle on everything we might bump into, so we don’t get caught out by some unexpected expense. They want to see we aren’t underpaying ourselves or our collaborators, or underestimating the needs and expenses of promoting the film, etc.

Some folks want the budget to reflect just the hard production expenses; some must see that every bit of project preparation, production, promotion, postproduction, outreach/impact strategy and anything else even vaguely related to the project is accounted for.

We end up writing very different-looking budgets for different potential funders. Which felt a bit funny at first, as though it were somehow dishonest.

It is not, however. And we’re going transparent on this point, because we believe it’s something important for everyone involved (mostly ourselves) to understand.

Say we show a project budget of ~$450,000 to one funder, and ~$75,000 to another, to pluck a couple numbers out of the air. What are the implications? Have a look at the sample budget PDFs linked below, if you like:

1) GWBudgetLOWLINE.xls

2) GWBudgetHIGHLINE.xls

Well, first things first. We’re used to doing this work for almost nothing. We’re in this for passion, not for money, and have accustomed ourselves to living pretty humbly. We’re content with that, and it affords us the flexibility to make pretty nice looking little films for not much money.

So if you look at the “Lowline” budget, it reflects us, out there doing this work, being a little bit scrappy, but ultimately getting to make pretty much the film we believe needs to get made.

That said, whenever we look at the highline budget, we get all quivery, thinking of what it would be like to actually get paid to do this work.

From our immediate family perspective, the main difference between the lowline budget and the highline is that the former would enable us to make a film without going into debt. The latter would enable us to work and live (and save a bit!) as though we had a real job, albeit a modest paying one.

And more to the point, we get Super Excited thinking about building a fully up-to-speed social impact/outreach/education/call-to-action campaign around this thing. That costs a LOT of money, but we are coming to believe it is truly the key to making the movie do its job.

We hit upon the idea of laying our fundraising process bare, making it fully (or almost fully) transparent, in the hope that everyone will be richer for it.

We want the high dollar funders (Hello, Sundance? Girlworld on line three) to know that we are going to make this movie, even if it means doing it for table scraps. And we want the more efficiency oriented funders to know that we have really well developed ideas about how to scale our project larger if/as funding permits. That they’ll be in line to be part of something even bigger than they bargained for, in other words.

So over the next few weeks (or longer, likely) we expect to be laying out our fundraising strategy(/ies) in unusual detail. To the degree possible, we will lay out what we’re thinking and doing, including the numbers that are swirling all around us.

We will talk to a handful of individuals and organizations who have given to support Girlworld, and we will ask them to share their reasons. We will ask them what we can do to ensure continued support, and what we might have done differently in approaching them.

And we will ask them to let us share their responses (anonymously if they prefer). With some luck, this thread will become a lively discussion of fundraising strategies, and we will learn something which will help us fulfill the potential of Girlworld.

Keep an eye on this space.

In the last two weeks, I have spent a lot of time researching how Girlworld is going to be seen and used by girls. First, I went to the Seattle Girls School and met with four amazing teachers, Rosetta, Wendy, Brenda and Trina. They got me super fired up. Then I flew to Oakland to my old place of work, the toughest job I will ever love — where I became enthralled with the plight of middle school girls, the Julia Morgan School for Girls.(I fly back home to Seattle tonight.)

First, the Seattle Girls School. SGS is special place. It has a great vibe. It is so similar to the Julia Morgan School for Girls. They are both schools that TRULY understand girls and empower them. Although the only teacher I had met  before was Trina, an art teacher that has since left SGS to get her masters in fine art, I immediately knew I had a good crew together for brainstorming about Girlworld and education outreach. I showed them the trailer and they GOT IT. Brenda, Rosetta, Wendy and Trina helped me come up with a big education outreach idea. This is how it went down.

First of all, they  got down and dirty with the social media idea. Some funders might get excited about social media in theory (it is so buzzy, right?), but do they really? How would using social media/ technology really work?  There is the logistics of access to technology and time zones. And then, what really would it accomplish? The SGS teachers pointed out that it could very well be a set up the most basic level of learning, comparing. This is low on the ladder of learning—comparing. If we hooked girls from HERE with girls from THERE, it would be all about WE do this and THEY do that.
But really, the more powerful lesson is how much girls have in common. Girls want to learn. They yearn to learn. They yearn to be independent. Brenda, a 6th grade teacher brought up that Shanta has what many girls want, to be independent. “If you are not going to take care of me, then I have to learn how to take care of myself.” She is defiant and is striving to be self-sufficient. Wendy also said about Shanta, she feels like her family has so many so kids, that they don’t care about her. This is a familiar feeling for many middle schoolers whether it be true or imaginary.

All the women said they have never used Social Media in their classrooms. Wendy, who is working closely with her students on a project with students in Rwanda (and taking them there next week? More on this in my next entry!) said the one time they tried to communicate with the Rwandan students via Skpye, it didn’t work. The time difference, technology and just shyness got in the way. Totally makes sense.

But the biggest thing, is why? Why have girls here communicate with girls there? What is the outcome?

Then I brought up what I got out of the Working Films Consultation with Robert West. I asked what if the film was a catalyst for getting girls from girls school all over Seattle together in order to create a girl-group call to action.

Rosetta put it like this:

Get the girls here to see their opportunity via their education on a personal level.
Then they can stand as allies with their fellow girl school peers to CALL ON LEADERS TO MAKE CHANGE!!! when it comes to girls education in the developing world.

Girlworld: Bringing together girls from girls school all over the country on a city wide basis to call on leaders to make a change.

Girlworld summit! (Girlworld, the name itself, just got cooler!!!!!)

What it looks like:

We makes friends with girls schools and orgs here in Seattle”
SGS, Forest Ridge, Girls, Inc., Reel Girls
We bring them together to the Central Cinema on a school day to watch Girlworld (I am thinking 7th and/or 8th graders). We open up a discussion about the film. Then we have activities about what to do. There is a whole curriculum around this day. Girls sit with girls from different schools. They brainstorm. They draw diagrams. They present. They write letters. They get fired up. We march on Olympia.

We do the same thing in the Bay Area including Girls Rock and Girls Moving Forward at Grand Lake movie theater.

But wait, there is more.  Sandra, the director of the Julia Morgan School for Girls and Ana, a JMSG  teacher, discussed the importance of context and build up for something like the Girlworld Summit. I hear that. Ana is currently working on 7th grade curriculum entitled Culture and Identity. Both of  them just returned from the National Coalition of Girls Schools Conference that focused primarily on social justice. WOW!

So what about this idea? This comes by way of my friend, consultant, hero, crush: Chris Boulton. What if students, from the beginning of the school year have pen pals? Pen pals from all over the developing world who are girls going to school— maybe a classroom sponsors a girl or a few girls and they write back and forth, old school, pen and paper kind of writing. This could be through an organization that has been sponsoring girls for years, like Plan International.

They girls bring the letters and pictures and information about their sponsees to the Girlworld summit. The girls meeting in the movie theatre for the first time will have a lot to share—a lot to talk about. Maybe also they have read Three Cups of Tea, excerpts from Half the Sky. They are prepared. Ready to form teams, delegations, Model UN style. They are ready to rumble and be heard.

One thing I definitely learned from teaching middle school girls:

they know how to get it done, you’ve just got to give them space to do it

Girlworld: The Summit: I know. It is big. A BIG IDEA, but also I think it is totally doable. Totally doable.

I think actually we should try out a mini-summit come fall. I am going to ask the Seattle Girls School teachers what they think about that?

This is getting exciting!!!

Sweet serendipity! This week we were introduced by our good friend from forever, Erin, to her friend, Jennifer.

Jennifer found out about Girlworld via Facebook without knowing who we were at all. She chose Girlworl to be the fundraising focus for a Rocky Votolato concert she is hosting in her living room this summer. When she invited music connoisseur Erin to the show, Erin was confused as to how Jennifer, an old friend from high school, knew us, old friends from U of W.

Is the magic coming through? We didn’t know each other! Jennifer went looking for a cause she believed in, women’s empowerment, and found li’l old Girlworld! How fantastic is that?

Scott and I were getting all geared up to go shoot a wedding Saturday morning when we got the news. Jennifer asked us via a Facebook message if we were interested in coming to the concert to show the trailer and talk about the film. Umm, ABSOLUTELY!!!

You see, Rocky Votolato is doing a summer living room tour. He is playing for small groups of people in their homes and asking the host to make the evening about more than just the music, but about a cause of their choice. Not only does Rocky Votolato have a mission I admire, I really like his music. (I might have a crush even. Don’t tell him… or Scott. I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable.)

We are really excited. You should come to the show! We would love to have you there. I think it is going to be a pretty special night. It is August 7 in Long Beach, Washington! I have never been, but I hear that the beach is perfect for a midnight walk.

Wow! Robert West, the executive director of Working Films is a super smart guy. His whole thing is helping filmmakers create powerful audience engagement campaigns and he is really good at it. Working Films has facilitated outreach campaigns for films such as The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, Garbage Dreams (about two young garbage collectors in Cairo), and No Impact Man (about a family who lives one year with minimal harm to the earth). Working Films helps get documentaries that should be out there making a difference, out there making a difference. How cool is that?

This is some of what Robert suggested for Girlworld.

First that our goal for having Girlworld distributed to schools with a curriculum component is maybe too optimistic. I knew this, but it was really good to have him tell me this. I was a teacher for ten years. Getting new content into schools is difficult. I remember I rarely had time/ money to include new material into my year.

Robert suggested I look for our target audience, teen girls, in other places  like through orgs like  Girls, Inc. that runs after school programs in urban, underserved areas. Girls, Inc. is all about empowering girls through innovative programs. It is all over the United States and they have two chapters here in Washington. One in Seattle and one in Aberdeen.

Today I wrote a letter to the Executive Director of the Seattle branch to ask for an informational interview. I want to ask her how a organization like Girls, Inc. could use Girlworld. What would they want their girls to get out of the film? How would it fit their goals? Fit their mission? What would be an appropriate length of video for them to show a group of girls? What kind of activities could they see going with it? Basically, does Girl, Inc have a need for Girlworld?

Also, private girls schools could also be a good bet. Private schools are easier to get into, are part of a bigger organization, and have all girls. I immediately contacted the art teacher from the Seattle Girls School whose class I screened our trailer for last year and she is setting up a round table of teachers for me to talk to next week. (I love when things come together so quickly.)

But wait, there’s more. Robert had another really interesting, very specific, intriguing BIG IDEA that made me swoon a little bit when I pictured it: What if Girlworld were a catalyst to bring girls from (say) Girls, Inc together with girls from different kinds of private schools like  Seattle Girls School and Holy Names. Girls from different Seattle neighborhoods coming together to watch Girlworld and talking about what they can do to help girls a zillion miles away get an education. We could have a summit, a Girlworld Seattle Girls Summit! (Goose bumps!) My inner teacher just came out. It does from time to time.

Robert’s advice: Listen. Listen to those who are a likely audience.

This includes listening to the NGO’s who are already doing the work and the messaging around girls education. We are doing that already. Can’t wait to do more of it.

More Robert advice: Set yourself up for measurable results.

Funders want to give money to a film that is going to make a difference in the world. We need to be able to SHOW that Girlworld is making a difference. Like with metrics.

Part of this is not going too BROAD with our outreach—we may need to scale back a bit. Not only is having every organization working toward  empowering women linked to our website (which we talk about in our current outreach plan) cumbersome, it also may be ineffective.

Robert pointed me to the ‘How to Help’ link on the website for WarDance (incredibly beautiful, emotional film about a kids’ singing competition in Uganda—It is Mad Hot Ballroom with a Rip your Heart out and Step on it component.) WarDance focuses on one org for donations it generates—to the organization that runs the singing program in the film. Intriguing.

I know in my own life there is a lot to be said for focusing. More gets done. Hmmmm.

It was good. The consultation was really good. I am so grateful and learning so much.

Robert encouraged me