When the Credits Roll, What Comes Next?
Why we are taking our UBI documentary on the road to build a community-driven safety net from the ground up.
You just finished watching an amazing documentary. You can still feel your heart radiating joy from its inspiring story. As the credits roll and your eyes recover from the tears, you think to yourself, “I need to do something about this!”
You’re ready to take action… but how?
What Is an Impact Campaign?
An impact campaign is a strategic initiative (or several initiatives combined) designed to create positive change through media, particularly documentaries (film or series). Impact producers work with filmmakers to create a clear distribution strategy, build communities around the film, develop partnerships, and organize events to initiate conversation.1
Overall, these campaigns are meant to channel the energy of a documentary. It helps you provide an answer to the audience member who says, “I want to get involved. What do I do now?”
Each impact campaign is different and depends on the documentary; although, most campaigns share similar main goals, such as:
Mobilize audiences to watch and take action.
Bring the core issues presented in the film/series into mainstream conversations.
Provide a platform for the real-life people affected by the issues
Create lasting change by building strong communities and shifting societal structures.2
Here’s a video that covers the 8 elements of a great impact campaign:
A compelling “impact statement”
A deep understanding of the target audience
Developing strategic partnerships
Defining the ways that audiences and partners can get involved
An easy-to-use communication system
Media and publicity materials
A feedback strategy to improve
Impact campaigns often include events, screenings, educational materials, social media campaigns, podcasts, etc. All of these moving parts need funds outside of what was used to create the film itself. That’s why it’s common for filmmakers and their partners to have donation pages like this:
The Impact of Storytelling
We, as humans, have loved stories for a millennia. Stories connect us, motivate us. Stories break down complex topics into something relatable. They make the bitter pills of reality easier to swallow.
“Messages that feel like commands — even good advice coming from a friend — aren’t always received well. If you feel like you’re being pushed into a corner, you’re more likely to push back. But if someone tells you a story about the time they, too, had to end a painful relationship, for example, the information will likely come across less like a lecture and more like a personal truth.”3
Data and economic charts can only take us so far. Bootstraps is meant to go beyond the quantitative metrics and explore how our lives, relationships, and communities would actually change if there was a financial safety net.
Watching episodes of a docuseries is only the first step. Just like how you first learned about universal basic income is the first step towards the bigger feats.
We’ve been working hard behind-the-scenes to make sure the impact stories you’ll see in the docuseries can result in measurable change.
We don’t want to leave people feeling inspired but powerless when the credits roll.
We want to transform viewers from passive observers into active participants, connecting you to our partner projects and to your local community members, so we can start building and experiencing that safety net together, from the ground up.
Impact Campaigns 101: How Stories Drive Change (Empact Blog)
Out in the World: The Vital Role of the Social Impact Producer (Filmmaker Magazine)