So one thing I been really focusing on is getting my movie Hustle 101 a distribution deal backed by a company that could get it in stores and retail outlets. Of course this is something that isn't really all that easy for more then one reason. Some would say without already having the right connections its a very long shot.
That really means nothing to me. I see this whole entertainment thing as a game to be played, and to me making things like this happen are just based on how well you can play the game. My approach to this whole distribution deal was lets sell these online downloads first (which we did) and try to figure out how to build up our hype to the point where we look more credible. Then lets connect with some of the people who are in a much better position then us to help bridge the gap to people who can make distribution happen for us.
The second part is really the biggest issue we're facing. At this point, on the film side of my things me and my partner don't have the type of name where we can make things happen off our name alone. I'm 21, he's 19, and this is our first major movie. So in my opinion for us to go trying to work out talking to distribution companies on our own would be a COMPLETE waste of time.
Its been my experience these things work better when you have someone who's more established then you working on your behalf. I had been thinking for the past week how can in touch with a lawyer or agent who can work on our behalf to get us through the door based off his belief in our project. Then the day before yesterday the funniest thing happened...'
I was at a club with a mentor of mine. A guy who is alumnus of my college Morehouse and graduated in the mid 90's. He's a mover and shaker in the industry who I'm glad to have the opportunity to learn from. So we were talking about Hustle 101 and he says straight up that he already has a deal in the bag for us. I'm sitting there almost in disbelief like what????? Was it really this simple all this time????
Come to think of it, he had told me a while ago when he saw our 1st trailer before we even completed the project that he could help us get distributin. But being a person on the come up in this industry Ive kinda grown jaded to what people say they can do and hadn't even really got back to him. I almost wanted to kick myself in the ass for being so stupid while I listened to what he was saying.
So now, I'm at a point where I'm definitely going to need a lawyer to help me work this out so that we don't sign anything where we get screwed. I've read to many bad stories about that. And I need to start thinking about the next step...so if we get distribution...how are we gonna get the word with marketing and publicity...
www.hustle101themovie.com
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
HUSTLE 101 UPDATE
Allow me to paint a picture for you if I could. Its Jan 6th 9:45 PM and at this very point I realize that although we heavily promoted a midnight Jan 7th release date for Hustle 101 it is not going to happen. My partner Mike and I are talking with our web developers and suddenly it becomes clear that because of last second complications we are looking more at a release around noon the next day. I think to myself, damn this is really not a good look but then I try to comfort myself by convincing myself that most people are not going to watch it until the afternoon of the 7th anyway…right? And then it happened…
It started slow at first…just a few facebook messages in my inbox, myspace messages, a few text messages but nothing major. Then after the clock struck midnight it happened all at once….phone call after phone call…facebook inbox must have got about 20 new messages in 5 minutes…friends calling me saying THEIR friends back home wanted to know what was up with the movie, instant messenger on my sidekick beeping every 30 seconds and I got so many text messages my phone couldn’t get any more. No seriously, even after I left the blog on the site saying we would be up the next day I swear someone commented no later then a mnute after.
We didn’t go to sleep, we spent the next 15 hours figuring out how to get this video online and then finally at approximately 4:45 PM Jan 7th the video was up. Before I even had a chance to start telling people we had fixed the problem we had 7 people streamed the video in the next 5 minutes. So then we waited, up until this point we were all hype, it was time to see if the hype was worth it.
So far we’ve heard nothing but good stuff. One of the things we keep hearing most is that the ending was GREAT…the soundtrack was crazy (shout out to everybody involved with that)…people seemed to really like the storylines…and the thing that I personally got great satisfaction from is that no two people seemed to say the same thing on what they thought we were trying to say in the movie. The fact that the same video could make people feel two different ways is great to me…that’s what real art is all about. Plus, to date we've sold a considerable amount more then I thought we would so now we have $$$ in the bank to be able to take this thing to the next level. Stay tuned....
It started slow at first…just a few facebook messages in my inbox, myspace messages, a few text messages but nothing major. Then after the clock struck midnight it happened all at once….phone call after phone call…facebook inbox must have got about 20 new messages in 5 minutes…friends calling me saying THEIR friends back home wanted to know what was up with the movie, instant messenger on my sidekick beeping every 30 seconds and I got so many text messages my phone couldn’t get any more. No seriously, even after I left the blog on the site saying we would be up the next day I swear someone commented no later then a mnute after.
We didn’t go to sleep, we spent the next 15 hours figuring out how to get this video online and then finally at approximately 4:45 PM Jan 7th the video was up. Before I even had a chance to start telling people we had fixed the problem we had 7 people streamed the video in the next 5 minutes. So then we waited, up until this point we were all hype, it was time to see if the hype was worth it.
So far we’ve heard nothing but good stuff. One of the things we keep hearing most is that the ending was GREAT…the soundtrack was crazy (shout out to everybody involved with that)…people seemed to really like the storylines…and the thing that I personally got great satisfaction from is that no two people seemed to say the same thing on what they thought we were trying to say in the movie. The fact that the same video could make people feel two different ways is great to me…that’s what real art is all about. Plus, to date we've sold a considerable amount more then I thought we would so now we have $$$ in the bank to be able to take this thing to the next level. Stay tuned....
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Image is EVERYTHING pt. 2
Ok so allow me to continue where I left off on Image is Everything pt.1. So basically I was facing a problematic situation. This situation being the 5 minute clip I was to release for Hustle 101 The Movie was not as good as I thought it was. At this point, I'm sweating bullets. Putting out a bad video would have HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE, BAD EFFECTS. My whole promotional method to this point has been based on putting out good content, which our loyal following has virally spread through sites like facebook. If we were to not put out a solid video, we would not have a leg to stand on.
So I thought to myself, self what is it that we could use to represent this creation we've been working on for the past 5 months. Then it hit me....CONTROVERSY SELLS. I thought to myself, what is the most controversial clip we have, one that will get people talking even if they don't know much about party promotions. And then it happened...
I thougt about the most controversial clip we had. A clip in which members from rival promotions group Hittsquad & NVUS Ent. go back and forth throwing shots at each other. For people in our most loyal fan base who understand the history behind these two groups I knew it would shock them. For people outside of Atlanta or unaware of the promotions scene I knew it would make them want to know more. Check out the video here...
So after making a few changes to the footage we had we put the video up. And literally the facebook video had 40 comments within 4 hours. Over 70 comments in two days. Heres the link to the facebook video ( What helped us was the tension onscreen actually spilled over to the comment section and NV.us and Hittsquad members went back forth over the comments. It was great as a promotional tool for sooooo many reasons.
1st- everytime someone comments on a video on facebook it pops up in their friends minifeeds......so with over 70 comments the viral spread of the video through that alone is ridicolous.
2nd- People found it so good they reposted the video themselves so that all their friends on facebook could see it....
3rd- People sprad the word telling other people they should watch the video.
Theres no way to track how much that one facebook video spread virally because facebook doesn't keep a video count....but it had to be crazy though. I had people telling me their friends in other states had saw it. So at the end of the day, the last second switched worked. Now its all about promoting for this Jan 7th online release date. Updates on that coming soon..
www.hustle101themovie.com
So I thought to myself, self what is it that we could use to represent this creation we've been working on for the past 5 months. Then it hit me....CONTROVERSY SELLS. I thought to myself, what is the most controversial clip we have, one that will get people talking even if they don't know much about party promotions. And then it happened...
I thougt about the most controversial clip we had. A clip in which members from rival promotions group Hittsquad & NVUS Ent. go back and forth throwing shots at each other. For people in our most loyal fan base who understand the history behind these two groups I knew it would shock them. For people outside of Atlanta or unaware of the promotions scene I knew it would make them want to know more. Check out the video here...
So after making a few changes to the footage we had we put the video up. And literally the facebook video had 40 comments within 4 hours. Over 70 comments in two days. Heres the link to the facebook video ( What helped us was the tension onscreen actually spilled over to the comment section and NV.us and Hittsquad members went back forth over the comments. It was great as a promotional tool for sooooo many reasons.
1st- everytime someone comments on a video on facebook it pops up in their friends minifeeds......so with over 70 comments the viral spread of the video through that alone is ridicolous.
2nd- People found it so good they reposted the video themselves so that all their friends on facebook could see it....
3rd- People sprad the word telling other people they should watch the video.
Theres no way to track how much that one facebook video spread virally because facebook doesn't keep a video count....but it had to be crazy though. I had people telling me their friends in other states had saw it. So at the end of the day, the last second switched worked. Now its all about promoting for this Jan 7th online release date. Updates on that coming soon..
www.hustle101themovie.com
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Image is EVERYTHING pt. 1
Ok so allow me to get across how important it is to brand yourself right by telling ya'll a story, actually something that happened to me today. So I wake up today, around 10:30 and in the back of my mind I know its a huge day. Hustle 101 The Movie drops Jan 7th and I've promised our cult following of fans that I will have a 5 minute clip up by 2pm that day. The night before me and my partner Mike had picked a scene and he was working on it so late he said by the time I woke up it would be there.
So I wake up...and there it is, the scene that we decided to use. This is real important because everything we have done in promotions has built up to this point and this could be the difference between our following being more then convinced that they will buy the movie and will help virally to spread the video (as has worked in the past); or, people will find it not that interesting and lose interest in the project. This is so huge, because as you'll see in my next blog on promotions before I can do what I wanted to do promotions wise in the next few days, which is gonna be one of the greatest independent grassroots coordinated facebook guerilla marketing techniques ever, I need to have a really hot video to anchor this movement.
See a lotta people dont get that. You get so caught up in how you're gonna promote your song, yourself, or whatever it may be that you really forget to step back for a second and make sure that what you're presenting is top notch. So back to the video. I wake up and look at the video and as I'm looking it over I'm thinking to myself shit...this just isn't gonna do it...and now herecomes the second problem. I didn't have a backup option. I called my partner and told him how I felt, and it looked like we weren't on the same page. Mike was really convinced this scene was good. And shit I thought it was good too...BUT...in terms of people seeing this 5 min clip and it making them watch the movie...hell naw it just wasnt gonna happen. I wasn't shooting for some people, or a few people, I wanted everyone that saw this video to finish thinking damn I wanna see more...I wanna put down $1.99 to watch this online. So then on the day when we should already have everything ready to go we were back at ground zero, ultimately with the fate of our project relying on the video that we were about to release. Read Image is everything pt. 2 to find out what happened.
So I wake up...and there it is, the scene that we decided to use. This is real important because everything we have done in promotions has built up to this point and this could be the difference between our following being more then convinced that they will buy the movie and will help virally to spread the video (as has worked in the past); or, people will find it not that interesting and lose interest in the project. This is so huge, because as you'll see in my next blog on promotions before I can do what I wanted to do promotions wise in the next few days, which is gonna be one of the greatest independent grassroots coordinated facebook guerilla marketing techniques ever, I need to have a really hot video to anchor this movement.
See a lotta people dont get that. You get so caught up in how you're gonna promote your song, yourself, or whatever it may be that you really forget to step back for a second and make sure that what you're presenting is top notch. So back to the video. I wake up and look at the video and as I'm looking it over I'm thinking to myself shit...this just isn't gonna do it...and now herecomes the second problem. I didn't have a backup option. I called my partner and told him how I felt, and it looked like we weren't on the same page. Mike was really convinced this scene was good. And shit I thought it was good too...BUT...in terms of people seeing this 5 min clip and it making them watch the movie...hell naw it just wasnt gonna happen. I wasn't shooting for some people, or a few people, I wanted everyone that saw this video to finish thinking damn I wanna see more...I wanna put down $1.99 to watch this online. So then on the day when we should already have everything ready to go we were back at ground zero, ultimately with the fate of our project relying on the video that we were about to release. Read Image is everything pt. 2 to find out what happened.
Friday, December 21, 2007
RESPECT
"R-E-S-P-E-C-T" -Aretha Franklin
This blog is dedicated to all my up and coming go-getters that are out there doing what they do and try to get respect for what it is they do. Respect is a funny thing. Because I’ve come to the conclusion you can’t ask for respect, you gotta TAKE it. Period. Theres two types of people that respect come from. The first is respect from your peers, and the masses of people out there. The second is respect from the people in power and people with the influence to either put you in the spotlight, or advance you in what it is that you do.
The way I see it first and foremost, you gotta get the respect of the people, your peers, the masses. Because once you have their respect its inevitable you’ll get the respect of people in power. With this upcoming movie I have coming out Hustle 101 The Movie that’s exactly what we’ve done. We’ve built damn there a cult following just off the release of our trailers through facebook and myspace. We know we have a hot concept because that’s what we continually hear from the people.
I’ve yet to come across a person who really watched our trailer and wasn’t at least interested in what it was they saw. For the most part people are FASCINATED. BUT STILL I am dealing with the problem that comes with being a Go Getter that’s still on the come-up. And that’s lack of respect from the people in POWER, the industry types (most of them with their heads stuck up their asses).
I mean don’t get me wrong, we’re not doing too bad. Shit the movie hasn’t even dropped yet and we have interviews/articles that are upcoming in publications like the Atlanta Sentinel, Hot Block Magazine, The Atlanta Whirl, and a segment in the upcoming Raw Report DVD #7. Not a lot of filmmakers (and hardly any our age) can say they got pub like that BEFORE their movie dropped. But still, I’m not gonna front, I get a tad upset when I hit up some writers from other publications and don’t get a response.
But then again I guess I can’t really get too mad right? Because like I said respect is taken and not asked for. Look at somebody like a 50 Cent. 50 got dropped form his label the first time around. His label thought his first single was so bad they didn’t even release the album and eventually dropped him from the label. What did 50 do? 50 regrouped and started pumping out classic mixtapes like crazy and got the streets on lock. He didn’t ask for respect, he took it.
From there it only made sense that he would get signed again and have another chance. That second chance turned out to be the classic (or at least I think it’s a classic) album Get Rich or Die Trying. Now everybody looks at 50 like a genius and a man who can make a hit in his sleep. I personally think 50 is damn there probably the same as he was when he got dropped, the only difference now is people respect his genius.
So with that said I guess I’ll take all the unanswered phone calls, e-mails, and overall lack of respect from the people in power in with a grain of salt. As long as the people keep supporting what we do, and our shit keep spreading I know we’re on the right track.
Hustle 101 The movie Theatrical Trailer Coming Jan 7th
Add to My Profile More Videos
This blog is dedicated to all my up and coming go-getters that are out there doing what they do and try to get respect for what it is they do. Respect is a funny thing. Because I’ve come to the conclusion you can’t ask for respect, you gotta TAKE it. Period. Theres two types of people that respect come from. The first is respect from your peers, and the masses of people out there. The second is respect from the people in power and people with the influence to either put you in the spotlight, or advance you in what it is that you do.
The way I see it first and foremost, you gotta get the respect of the people, your peers, the masses. Because once you have their respect its inevitable you’ll get the respect of people in power. With this upcoming movie I have coming out Hustle 101 The Movie that’s exactly what we’ve done. We’ve built damn there a cult following just off the release of our trailers through facebook and myspace. We know we have a hot concept because that’s what we continually hear from the people.
I’ve yet to come across a person who really watched our trailer and wasn’t at least interested in what it was they saw. For the most part people are FASCINATED. BUT STILL I am dealing with the problem that comes with being a Go Getter that’s still on the come-up. And that’s lack of respect from the people in POWER, the industry types (most of them with their heads stuck up their asses).
I mean don’t get me wrong, we’re not doing too bad. Shit the movie hasn’t even dropped yet and we have interviews/articles that are upcoming in publications like the Atlanta Sentinel, Hot Block Magazine, The Atlanta Whirl, and a segment in the upcoming Raw Report DVD #7. Not a lot of filmmakers (and hardly any our age) can say they got pub like that BEFORE their movie dropped. But still, I’m not gonna front, I get a tad upset when I hit up some writers from other publications and don’t get a response.
But then again I guess I can’t really get too mad right? Because like I said respect is taken and not asked for. Look at somebody like a 50 Cent. 50 got dropped form his label the first time around. His label thought his first single was so bad they didn’t even release the album and eventually dropped him from the label. What did 50 do? 50 regrouped and started pumping out classic mixtapes like crazy and got the streets on lock. He didn’t ask for respect, he took it.
From there it only made sense that he would get signed again and have another chance. That second chance turned out to be the classic (or at least I think it’s a classic) album Get Rich or Die Trying. Now everybody looks at 50 like a genius and a man who can make a hit in his sleep. I personally think 50 is damn there probably the same as he was when he got dropped, the only difference now is people respect his genius.
So with that said I guess I’ll take all the unanswered phone calls, e-mails, and overall lack of respect from the people in power in with a grain of salt. As long as the people keep supporting what we do, and our shit keep spreading I know we’re on the right track.
Hustle 101 The movie Theatrical Trailer Coming Jan 7th
Add to My Profile More Videos
Monday, December 17, 2007
Vol 2- Sleep- A luxury I can't afford
"24 Hours in a day
7 days in a week
That ain't enough for me
so I aint wastin time
cuz only dreams come to sleepers
And my life aint gettin cheaper
So you know them dollar signs stay on my mind"
- Chamillionaire
As tired as I am I'm going to try to keep this as coherent as possible. So right now its currently 5:00 AM Eastern time and honestly I don't plan on going to sleep anytime soon. Between working on some plans for the release of my movie Hustle 101 The Reality Movie ,(myspace.com/iwannaseehustle101ontv ) and also planning the next movie idea I have sleep feels like a luxury I can't afford.
My friend asked me a question the other day, and the funny thing is I don't think he realized that he answered his own question by asking it. I told him I was too busy to do some things that I'd like to do (like sleep), and he goes why nigga, you ain't no Russel Simmons or P.Diddy
Exactly....
Like for me, until I get to a point where I'm extremely comfortable with where I'm at in life I'm gonna have this feeling that gnaws at the pit of my stomach and makes me feel guilty if I even think of going to sleep early. Actually Ive reached this point where I don't even really consciously go to sleep anymore. I just work on something or will think and plan out things until suddenly my eyes get too heavy and I pass out.
For all my fellow Go Getters and those of you who consider yourself addicted to your grind, ask yourself this question. How important is sleep to you?
I remember a few years ago when I was a freshman in college I had this RA who was one of the hardest working people I ever met. He was president of like 3 organizations, was a R.A, and had one of the highest GPA's in his classification. One day my, one of my friends asked him how he managed to get any sleep doing everything he did. He looked at my friend....laughed...and said one of the realest quotes I've ever heard.
"I'll sleep when I die".
D. Mur
DoYoDance.com- Co- Owner/Marketing Director
Hustle 101 The Movie Creator/Co=Director
www.myspace.com/iwannaseehustle101ontv
www.hustle101themovie.com
www.doyodance.com
www.myspace.com/doyodancecommunity
7 days in a week
That ain't enough for me
so I aint wastin time
cuz only dreams come to sleepers
And my life aint gettin cheaper
So you know them dollar signs stay on my mind"
- Chamillionaire
As tired as I am I'm going to try to keep this as coherent as possible. So right now its currently 5:00 AM Eastern time and honestly I don't plan on going to sleep anytime soon. Between working on some plans for the release of my movie Hustle 101 The Reality Movie ,(myspace.com/iwannaseehustle101ontv ) and also planning the next movie idea I have sleep feels like a luxury I can't afford.
My friend asked me a question the other day, and the funny thing is I don't think he realized that he answered his own question by asking it. I told him I was too busy to do some things that I'd like to do (like sleep), and he goes why nigga, you ain't no Russel Simmons or P.Diddy
Exactly....
Like for me, until I get to a point where I'm extremely comfortable with where I'm at in life I'm gonna have this feeling that gnaws at the pit of my stomach and makes me feel guilty if I even think of going to sleep early. Actually Ive reached this point where I don't even really consciously go to sleep anymore. I just work on something or will think and plan out things until suddenly my eyes get too heavy and I pass out.
For all my fellow Go Getters and those of you who consider yourself addicted to your grind, ask yourself this question. How important is sleep to you?
I remember a few years ago when I was a freshman in college I had this RA who was one of the hardest working people I ever met. He was president of like 3 organizations, was a R.A, and had one of the highest GPA's in his classification. One day my, one of my friends asked him how he managed to get any sleep doing everything he did. He looked at my friend....laughed...and said one of the realest quotes I've ever heard.
"I'll sleep when I die".
D. Mur
DoYoDance.com- Co- Owner/Marketing Director
Hustle 101 The Movie Creator/Co=Director
www.myspace.com/iwannaseehustle101ontv
www.hustle101themovie.com
www.doyodance.com
www.myspace.com/doyodancecommunity
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