Film As A Product: MVPs in the world of filmmaking
- Hazel Watts - The Worker Bee
- Apr 21, 2020
- 5 min read
The future of storytelling and making impactful change. An application of lean startup methodologies to film content
Making a swift and measurable impact in almost any form of content created is ubiquitous in this fast-paced saturated market. With Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO, AppleTV+, Disney+, all having platforms demanding our eyeballs and ears, how are producers ensuring their content is having any impact?
Storytelling is so important when it comes to making big changes in how we consume. Think of the iPod. There were many Mp3 players out there, but the story Apple sold us in 2001 was that there were ‘1000 songs in your pocket’. It was different. It wasn't about features such as battery life, or the exact dimensions, the funky circular touch wheel of the product. It was 1000 songs, a round, easy-to-remember number, in your pocket, something that everyone has in their trousers or handbag. The design, the scale the story.
Steve Jobs showcasing the first generation iPod for Apple in 2001.Storytelling has a huge cross-over between producing content and product management, and I realised this, even more when watching the docu-film ‘The Game Changers’, a film about the benefits of veganism.
Veganism has a notoriously hard time in convincing others that the benefits are huge. I wouldn’t normally go out of my way to watch a film about veganism, but the film caught my eye. I didn't want to be preached at about my ‘bad choices’ — which is what most people don't want but it was obvious that something was different about this specific film in the way that it was marketed and promoted.
The amount of A-List celebrities involved and the high-end production stood out. So I decided to watch it and was astounded that not only did I enjoy it, I came away feeling informed and it made me think more about the amount of meat that I consume. When thinking more about how this film achieved this result in me, I came to think about how this film came to be the ‘product’ that it was, and also evident to me that the lean startup product management methodology could be applied to this film, so, I decided to retrospectively break down this ‘film as A product, what the problem is and how this film in particular tries to solve this problem by persuading others to adopt a plant-based diet. (Just for the sake of argument — I currently eat all foods, from meat to tofu…apart from Celery. Also, the following exploration contains ‘spoilers’, and with that, I mean how the production is structured.) Many citizens of the United States, especially males, consume too much meat and need a way to cut down meat consumption because there is a health and environmental crisis.
Framing the Problem
Validating The Problem (Based on the Game Changers Movie website and some light research)
3. Men exhibited significantly stronger implicit associations (A) between meat and the attributes healthy and delicious, respectively, than did women and also tended to explicitly (B) rank meat as healthier and more delicious than did women. ∗p < 0.05, #p = 0.067.
Value Proposition Canvas: Middle-Class Male US Citizens (Americans)
Based on my own assumptions.
Jobs to be done:
Enjoys good food and eating out
Enjoys watching sports
Patriotic
Politically Engaged
Educated to a high level
Values quality in everything they consume from food to content.
To be seen as powerful in the work they do and physically
Pains
Does not want to be sold something inferior
Bad health can be costly due to the private health insurance model
Don’t want to be seen socially as uninformed
Does not like being wrong
Does not want to be ostracised.
Does not want to be emasculated.
Gains
Likes to be ahead of the curve
Likes to feel in control
Wants a sense of community
Likes to make a positive impact on those they love
Wants to be seen as virile and healthy
Wants to be accepted and confident
Hypothesis
Esteemed athletes and ‘heroes’ debunking theories that masculinity, health, power and virility is associated with eating meat, who have adopted a plant-based-diet, without it sounding preachy or scary, might empower the viewer to cut down or re-assess their meat intake.
How Might We… (HMW)
HMW teach middle-class male Americans about the benefits of veganism?
Don’t call it veganism. The word is politically loaded and can be alienating. There are connotations People might feel attacked. It needs to sound scientific, like a choice, and sound healthy. Let’s call it ‘Plant-Based Diet. (PBD)
HMW show the science around the benefits of a PBD? Show live experiments and tests around the increase in virility (YES THEY ACTUALLY SHOW THIS IN THE MOVIE!)and the visible effect on the blood following consuming meat.
HMW improve the profile of this film? Let’s get high profile vegan/PBD/healthy eaters to become Exec Producers, and also star in the film so that they also get an ROI on their mission to improving the world, and perhaps a financial incentive. For example: Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Cameron, Jackie Chan, Lewis Hamilton, Novak Djokovic, Pamela Anderson just to name a few.
User Story Mapping Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Let’s test this So, we shouldn’t put all our eggs in one basket, and before we go to sell this idea to celebrities (and provide them with some equity i.e executive producers) let’s shoot a segment of the video which will be low cost but high impact and tick one of our boxes. Let’s get a group of American Heroes who are respected across the board, politically neutral and whose time is at a lower cost than that of celebrities, to run an experiment in adopting a plant-based diet for a few weeks. We will provide them with all the food they need, run some blood tests and show the positive results.
Cue: All-American firefighters with high blood pressure!
These burly masculine firefighters show their surprise and delight in the results of adopting a PBD and cutting down on meat. This, therefore, ticks a lot of the jobs-to-be-done on the value proposition canvas. Testing: Play segment in front of a test group. From here we will play this segment in front of a test group of people and following ask them whether they would be persuaded to try a plant-based diet.
And there’s your Film As A Product MVP.
Now you can use this proven MVP to go out and get investment, backers and create other features to support your 360 approach to showing that a PBD is not only good for you but great for your sex life and the environment.
Of course, there are many similarities with the traditional ‘pilot’ model when creating a series, but what is interesting is the impact of this film and the change of individual viewers behaviours.
Rotten Tomatoes are reporting very high audience score ratings compared to other documentaries, especially compared to others promoting veganism.
Alongside this film comes a whole host of products too. There’s a website with resources such as recipes to help support a Plant-Based Diet.
Summary
Now — I am not claiming that any of the content in this film is unbiased, I can see that there are holes in the presentation of the movie and that there are a lot of criticisms. I just wanted to show that lean methodologies can be applied to filmmaking and that if you’re going to tackle the storytelling of a complex alienating subject matter and are trying to challenge others in their thinking, as a filmmaker/product manager, you can work backwards from the intended viewer/user and work to change some behaviours and leave a lasting impression.
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