Another Bit of Proof to Do What You Love—GEEK OUT!

Nirvan Mullick is the filmmaker who documented the awesomeness that is Caine's Arcade. If you don't yet know about Caine's Arcade, first, have you been under a rock?! Second, I suggest you watch Nirvan's short film documenting 9-year-old Caine's cardboard arcade RIGHT NOW.

Nirvan posted the following on Facebook, which was then shared by Caine's Arcade on Facebook. 

One-year ago, I submitted Caine's Arcade to the SXSW Film Festival, but was rejected. One-year later, I got invited to speak on a SXSW panel about the impact of Caine's Arcade. I wanted to share the rejection letter as hopefully a little motivation to fellow filmmakers (and others) to not take rejection to heart.

I'm in Austin for SXSW to speak on a panel tomorrow about the impact short docs like Caine’s Arcade can have online. What's funny is that a year ago, before I posted the Caine's Arcade online, I had submitted a roughcut to the SXSW Film Festival. However, like most films entered to SXSW, my film was rejected.

Though kindly worded, these letters still sting.

I thought about submitting to other festivals, but after consideration, I decided to just post it online. While this would mean abandoning any sort of Academy Award potential* Caine was getting older, and I really wanted the film to get out there while he still had his arcade open so people could come out and play.

I posted the film April 9th. I had no idea how quickly and how far the film would spread.

Within a day over 1 million people watched Caine’s Arcade on Vimeo and YouTube, over $110,000 was donated toward Caine’s Scholarship Fund, and thousands of kids around the world were building cardboard arcades. The engagement viewers could immediately take online (between donating and/or sharing photos/videos of their cardboard creations) became a new and important part of the story. This in turn fueled global media coverage, which then led to more views, and more engagement.

Within 5 days, over 5 million people had seen the film, over $150,000 was raised for Caine, and we received a $250,000 grant to start the Imagination Foundation.** Best of all, one-thousand people spontaneously came out to play at Caine’s Arcade the first Saturday after the film was posted. It felt like a fairytale.

I wanted to share this rejection letter with all of you filmmakers out there who have received one of these. Don’t take it to heart.

There are some funny similarities between Caine, who made a cardboard arcade that he ran for months before getting a single customer, and indie filmmakers, who make movies using limited resources that often don’t struggle to find an audience. Both require persistence.

Do not give up. 

And if you're at SXSW, come by our panel Monday at 2pm. Shooting for Impact - Online Doc Shorts Now: http://schedule.sxsw.com/2013/events/event_FP15618

Best,
Nirvan

Find me on twitter @nirvan http://twitter.com/nirvan

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* Note For Filmmakers: One of the main reasons to premiere your film in a festival first is so that your film can qualify for the Academy Awards. If you premiere your film online, you can't qualify for the Oscars under current rules. Also, many big festivals won't screen your film if it isn't a premiere. That said, if these aren't the priority goals for you, definitely consider premiering online. You get to skip the film festival rejection letters and the submission fees! 

** Since launching the Imagination Foundation, the impact has continued to grow. 5 months after Caine's Arcade was posted online, we made "Caine's Arcade 2" follow up film to launch our 1st Global Cardboard Challenge; 3 weeks after that video, over 270 Challenges were organized in 41 Countries with over 10,000 participants! This year, we’re looking to scale our Global Cardboard Challenge with a goal of 250,000 participants in 70 countries. Join us! http://imagination.is/join

Thank you Nirvan, for following through with your passion project. It gives others inspiration and motivation to just keep geeking out on what we love to do. And for sharing your rejection letter. You, sir, are AWESOMESAUCE incarnate. And, of course, so is Caine and his father—but that goes without saying.

Thanks for reading!
Cami  =)

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