One unexpected source came from a Kickstarter-type project through United States Artists to help support expansion and distribution of my local radio show. Another has been to focus more locally and to reach out more to the community as I gestate my ideas for a national project. It’s also been a time of getting back into freelancing chops by producing feature stories on national radio shows.

But the main source of funding for my projects has come and will always come from writing grant proposals and getting public agencies to fund my work. This site has played host to many of my grantwriting tips. I’m more formally offering small group seminars to help others sharpen their writing, pitching and promotional skills when it comes to seeking funding.

Check out my Funding Your Bliss Grantwriting seminars on two different weekends in July 2012. If you’re in the Portland, OR area and would like to attend a small group group of six people to hone your writing/fundraising skills, let me know!

The dates are July 8th or July 21st at 1-5pm in my office/studio in SE Portland (where I took the above photo). Find more here.  And if you want to make a weekend of it, I’m also offering the popular ‘How To Make Stunning Interviews” seminar on interviewing and professionally recording.

It’s just six people and me. The $100 seminar fee through MediaRites Productions also includes one free grant critique after the seminar. So far some great people are attending, and I’m looking forward to working with them.

It’s time for me to come back to this topic and to talk with you again. Please let me know what topics you might like to explore!

Take care, Dmae

A great part the success of my work in radio and theater has involved knowing how to promote. For theatre it used to entail sending out lots of postcards and posting flyers of the production and calling newspapers and radio stations in hopes of getting mentioned or interviewed. In my national radio documentary work, it used to involve sending out postcards and cassettes and more recently CDs to station managers and program managers with hopes of getting airplay. We still send out CDs but also offer stations the option to download the audio directly for broadcast.

Now there are so many options to getting the word out that doesn’t involve spending a great deal of money especially if you don’t have much of a budget. For this reading event, I asked a graphic designer to make a postcard but also come up with a graphic I could send out online. Then I sent out evites and set up an event page on Facebook. I’ve been following this up with emails to my email list. I got a free trial at Constant Contact to see how I like it. There is a bit of a learning curve but I’m finding it to be good way to send out your email list.

Though I send out a few postcards, I generally opt to have a lot of postcards or small flyers I can take with me throughout the day or to events. That way if I see a friend or meet someone new, I can hand them the info about the event or radio show.

I also have been having good response to tweet messages about events and radio programs particularly my weekly live arts show, Stage and Studio, on KBOO 90.7 FM. I performed a short reading from a different part of my memoir-in-progress on my radio show and let people know about the upcoming public event.

I’m really excited about debuting this new work and the Templeton Council Chamber is a warm inviting space so I’m looking forward to reading and performing my work! I haven’t spent a ton of time publicizing this but hopefully I’ve reached a lot of friendly faces who will be in the audience. Together with the colleges promotion, we’ll fill a lot of those seats!

Anyone else have success with low to no-cost promotional ideas for your artistic work? Please share them if you do!

And if you’re in Portland come see my reading/performance November 11th at 7-8pm. I’d love to see you!

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Office Kitty Kiki says read these blogs...

It’s Friday, I’m trying to work on my memoir but darn it people keep sending me interesting tweets with writer’s tips. So here are some blogs with practical hard-hitting advice for professional writers.

At the Hawaii Writers Conference, I met Literary Agent Kristin Nelson and have followed her blog, Pub Rants. Kristen has a no-nonsense approach that’s fun complete with music accompaniment.

Willamette Writers brought in Jane Friedman, publisher and editorial director of the Writers Digest brand community. Her blog, “No Rules,” carries quite a punch, too.

The Swivet has tell-like-it-is advice on dealing with rejection. Colleen Lindsay, a publishing consultant and literary agent maintains the blog, another one I’ll definitely be following.

I really appreciate these professionals taking the time to blog useful tips about the hard realities of the literary world. Kudos to them for helping us in our efforts to fund our bliss!

Send me your suggestions for professional blogs that have helped you!

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View from Hawaii Writers Conference

After attending both public radio and writers conferences for a number of years, I find a positive experience really depends on your attitude and the preparation you do ahead of time. I’ve gone to conferences generally to network, promote my latest projects and learn something new. Here are some tips I can offer if you’re thinking about investing time and money to go to a conference:

1. Open your mind and let go of expectations. Don’t assume everyone is dying to hear about your project or book. Think about meeting people and learning about them as people, not rungs on a ladder to success. Do your best to promote yourself and your passion but set the bar low on expectations. You’ll leave yourself open to getting more out of the conference.

2. Study the schedule and presenter bios and photos BEFORE the conference.  A good many interractions happen in the hallways, events and after a workshop or session. Be very choosy about which session you’ll attend. Try to learn as much as you can while you’re at the conference.

3. Be prepared to meet anyone, not just people you THINK may be helpful to your career. I don’t know how many times people have been rude or have ignored me when I meet them at lunch and then later I’ve presented at a panel and they’re friendly after they find out who I REALLY am. That’s just plain silly. Don’t be a conference snob. Be nice to everyone!  The worst case scenario: you’ll make friends!

4. Prepare a postcard or small flyer ahead of time with your project or book idea. Have the title, your name/contact info and a short book/project blurb in 25 words or less. Include a great photo to draw attention to the idea. It’s simple and something you can do and print out in color at home. You don’t need a lot of copies. Just enough to hand out when you meet people.

5. Practice your pitch at home in 25 words or less. Write up your blurb and then paraphrase it. Say it in front of the mirror or with a friend. It can’t sound memorized. Just conversational. I even added a bit of Hollywood to my pitch about my memoir: It’s “Joy Luck Club” meets “Terms of Endearment.” And an editor at a prominent publishing house loved it!

6. Have fun! People love hanging out with people who are having fun. Don’t you? Guaranteed, if you’re having a good time, people will want to meet you. That’s just human nature.

Check out the flyer for my memoir that  I took with me to the last writers conferences. And send me your tips for getting the most out of conferences!

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Sunset on Waikiki

While the Willamette Writers Conference is a  conference covers screenwriting, fiction/non-fiction, the strongest aspect of the conference seems to be the screenwriting workshops and sessions. Under the leadership of Screenwriter Cynthia Whitcomb, WW has brought in some top names in the industry. I think WW has done a better job with the caliber of agents and producers they’ve brought in from Hollywood than the Hawaii Writers Conference. However, the non-fiction track was limiting and not as helpful to professional writers who make a living from their work. I found the legal consultant session extremely helpful though. Overall the agents I talked with were a mixed bag too and given how many women are working on memoir, I would have wanted more memoir sessions. The non-fiction track isn’t as strong as I would have liked it to be this year. Yet it’s my understanding WW has a good record of authors getting their books published through the conference contacts. Certainly as a smaller conference, there is more chance for interaction between gatekeepers and writers.

Royal Hawaiian Hotel at conference

The Hawaii conference has brought in Michael Arndt (screenwriter of Little Miss Sunshine), I didn’t see many film agents and producers listed. I’d recommend the WW conference for screenwriters and filmmakers over the Hawaii Conference.

Overall, the Hawaii Writers Conference (formerly the Maui Writers Conference) held the strongest non-fiction/fiction publishing track at any conference I’ve attended. The list of presenters was impressive this year. I found the sessions really fit together well. You could stay in one room for the next session that followed through with the literary track. The sessions flowed well into each other and built on each other, so that at the beginning of the day you could learn about query letters and proposals and by the end of the day you’d be well versed in publishing contracts and rights issues.

And it is Hawaii after all. Though I preferred the Maui location because there was more interactivity and (come on, it was Maui!), I found agents, editors and publishers even in the Honolulu setting were friendly and didn’t mind you approaching them. Still everyone was welcoming and positive. Even in my consults, agents and editors walked out the door with me to give me their final words of wisdom.

Maui shore

(Another observation: I’d say roughly two-thirds of writers conference attendees are women. And yet as echoed by my interview with Debra Gwartney, a good of writers published are men.)

Next up some advice to make the most use of your conference experience. Remember writers, these conferences including the travel are deductible, so save all your receipts!

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Flyer for my memoir

For the last year and a half, I’ve been working on my multicultural memoir based on my personal radio pieces, Mei Mei, A Daughter’s Song, The Journey of Lady Buddha and Secret Asian Woman. The working title is now Lady Buddha and the Temple of Ma and the memoir focuses on the last three years of my mom’s life as I took care of her during her second battle with breast cancer. I flash back on our turbulent cross-cultural relationship and how her tragic childhood impacted my upbringing.

I decided to take this year off from fulltime radio work in order to focus on my writing. It’s been an amazing process of relearning to write after 25 years as a radio journalist and as a playwright. In both radio and theatre, “less is more.” In writing a book, “more is best” especially more visual and emotional description.

In order to help support my work, I applied for and received a small grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council. As part of this work, I’ve been attending some writers conferences this year: Fishtrap, a writers gathering, the Willamette Writers Conference and the Hawaii Writers Conference from which I just returned. I’ll be writing about these conferences in the next couple posts and giving some insight on the value of conferences for writers. I’ve also solicited some thoughts from other writers who will be posting soon.

Dmae interviewing Rich Wanshieder, co-founder of Fishtrap

In part two, I talked acclaimed writers Elise Paschen (who started the Poetry in Motion program) and Memoirist Debra Gwartney. They all give insight into the writing process but also about how they support their work spiritually and how they motivate themselves.

Debra Gwartney & Elise Pachen

Let me know what you think and share your experiences with writers conferences. I’ll be posting my thoughts on Willamette Writers and the Hawaii Writers conferences soon.

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Tell me where you got the idea for these videos.

Mike Vogel

Everyone worked for “deferred payment” on my first feature, “The Waiting List.” So the second time around, I wanted to at least attempt to secure some sort of funding. After I wrote the script for “Did You Kiss Anyone?” I made a production schedule, budget, and a handsome PDF with headshot photos and charts and all that. But then it occurred to me that I don’t know one person who would drop $10,000 to be an equity investor in a feature, let alone ten or twenty people. But I know a handful of people who might donate $20 or $50, and so if I could target those people and the people they know, then maybe I’d have enough to cover basic production costs. But in order to get those contributors engaged, I wanted to give them something upfront, not just the promise of a movie I hadn’t shot. So, inspired by webisodes like “Wainy Days” and shows like “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” I outlined the first five episodes of “Did You Cast Anyone?” and started asking favors from actor friends.

How do these fundraising/marketing videos represent the project you want to produce?

Both the movie “Did You Kiss Anyone?” and the webisodes “Did You Cast Anyone?” are comedies. But the webisodes are much broader comedy. Goofy, silly things that are better suited for the web. The actors in the webisodes will actually be in the movie playing the characters they talk about in the webisodes. The webisodes will continue into production and post-production because it’s a good way to build an audience regardless of whether or not that audience is donating money right away. Hopefully they’ll feel more involved and will want to tell friends to go see or buy the movie when it’s available.

How’s it going so far? Has it accomplished what you wanted?

We’ve received a few donations on our website DidYouCastAnyone.com but not enough to start shooting yet. There’s a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) style of filmmaking that I think is dead. If it’s not dead, it’s totally uninteresting. DIWO (Do-It-With-Others) is a lot more exciting. Ideally, the webisodes might help us find someone who wants to invest $10K or $20K in an independent film. But even if that doesn’t happen, we’re building an audience for a movie before we even make the movie. And we’re having a hell of a lot of fun doing it.

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Julie Sabatier (Photo: Cameron Browne)

There’s nothing more DIY than funding your own bliss and independent radio producers really know how to do practically everything themselves.

One of the talented and inventive radio producers I’ve worked with is Julie Sabatier. She produces an amazing show , Destination DIY,  about revolutionary do-it-yourself projects and really explores the topic in unusual ways. Her most recent show describes various way people represent themselves. I found the “avatar” section really fasincating especially in light of all the social networking sites now. You can hear it online as well as other fascinating shows. Sabatier has built up a following through podcasting her show as well as distributing it regionally. 

Sabatier recently wrote in response to the “Brain-picking” posts and described an inventive way she deals with numerous requests:

“Though I still consider myself a bit of a “newbie” I have started to get some requests for mentorship. I struggled with it in a very similar way that you did, Dmae. Sometimes it turned out great and lead to opportunities for all parties, but many times emails went unanswered and good, solid advice unappreciated. This is one reason I put together a lot of my answers to frequently asked questions in zine form. I have no problem asking for a couple bucks in return for this little collection of information. And it’s great to be able to hand off something already finished to people who just want to know the basics.”

I thought this was a fabulous idea to give a primer to people as well as make $2 each time. Check out her “How to Make Radio” zine as well as her online archives of shows. We’ll be hearing a lot more from Julie Sabatier and Destination DIY in years to come!

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When writing your proposal narrative or any application for funding, use a strong lead sentence. Make it direct and compelling.

Here are two examples of an opening sentence:

1) “I would like to get a grant to write my play about artists who work really hard to make a living. I’m calling it “Funding Your Bliss” right now but it might change once I get funding and I’d like to do the play at one of the local theatres in town sometime next year.”

or

2) I request support for “Funding Your Bliss”- a play charting the economic survival of artists in the 21st century to be performed at the Magnum Opus Theatre in Spring 2010.

Which sentence makes you want to read more?

Another thing that calls attention to the lack of thought in a proposal is way an applicant writes about their work. Never write “see my resume or bio.”  Craft a strong bio and list accomplishments. This is no time for modesty. Write it with the objectivity you would have for someone else. Then when putting it into the grant application put it into first person if you’re applying as an individual. If not keep it in third person. It  bothers me when I read through a grant proposal and the applicant says little to nothing about his/herself. Never assume the reader knows your reputation or accomplishments.

Remember, before a grants panel can get to your demo or work samples, they must first be impressed by what you’ve written. Be direct, to the point and proud of the work you’ve done and are proposing to do. That way you’ll make it past the first cut!

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Skye Fitzgerald at work

Every week I receive at least a handful of inquiries from young budding filmmakers wanting to know how to make a living in the industry. And every time I find myself thinking: “Hell, I don’t know.  Who says my answer will be your answer?”

The second thing that always comes to mind is something a mentor in college once told me when I was struggling with whether there was a real value in getting a liberal arts education. To paraphrase:

A liberal arts education is not designed to learn how to make a living, but how to make a life worth living.

And that stuck with me.  It has guided me in strange and mysterious ways since. Maybe there is a power in simply sharing things we have learned over the years. With that in mind, here is my first pass at some precepts I live by as a working filmmaker:

Skye on location

1. Keep your overhead low – it allows you to squeak through in the stretches you like to euphemize as “challenging” once you’re through them.

2. Seek out artists attempting the same kind of work you are doing and join forces. In filmmaking, as a collaborative art form, it often pays off.

3. Pay it forward – we all get a boost from someone at some point in each of our careers.  I believe as working artists it’s our job to reciprocate when we can.

4. Work to cultivate an abundance mentality.  In the production community there is a tendency to hoard – whether it be jobs, clients, gigs or grants.  By living within a dearth mentality I think too many of us get trapped into a mindset that there isn’t “enough” to go around rather than reaching out and collaborating in ways that result in stronger work, more contacts and often – more work!

5. Always be working on at least one project that you deeply care about – it will carry you through what might be a roster of smaller projects with lesser meaning, but that need to be done nonetheless.

6. If someone burns you, let them know it. If they do it again, cut them out of your creative circle without a look back.

Now, I am no superstar.  I haven’t won any big awards, don’t have an Oscar to my name and certainly am far from independently wealthy.   But I make a living doing what I love and am passionate about – creating nonfiction films on human rights and social justice topics – on my own terms. And to me, that makes a life worth living.

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