Spotlight: Made in Seattle
By Brian Corey February 18, 2014
This article originally appeared in the March 2014 issue of Seattle magazine.
What makes Seattle? According to some local filmmakers, we do.
We Make Seattle, a short film about local residents and the city they live in, will be released this summer with the aim of bringing new business to Seattle.
Two years ago, Scott Berkun attended a roundtable at which former Mayor Mike McGinn posed the question, What can we do to grow business in our city? Several people spread out investment plans, each needing 10 to 15 years to come to fruition. Berkun had a different idea: a movie that would have a one- to two-year turnaround. The mayor loved it.
Berkun reached out to Bryan Zug at Bootstrapper Studios and asked him to take on production of the video. While the goal is to bring new business to the Seattle area, the team also wants local companies to be able to use the film to recruit out-of-state talent and showcase the Seattle lifestyle. It will let us get our story out there better, simpler and in a compelling way, Zug explains.
To fund the project, the team turned to the community for support. A successful Kickstarter campaign would allow them to keep creativity in their own hands while allowing local businesses and individuals to participate in the project. The campaign raised $35,998 before fees, including a late donation by Tableau Software, which put the Seattle company at the top of the contributors list and the team more than $7,000 above its goal.
Berkun is interviewing potential stars for the video, which will run about three and a half minutes. By late January, the list had been whittled from more than 70 suggested candidates to 15. It eventually will be cut to three persons representing Seattle at its finest. Since Im focusing heavily on audio, Berkun says, I framed my list on people who have a voice for radio and an energy that comes through their voices alone.
The video will show the subjects everyday lives, from what gets them up in the morning and their commute (if they have one) to their work experiences and the activities they participate in during their free time. After the launch this summer, the video will be hosted on YouTube and Vimeo. Some backers agreed to help distribute the video through other channels, but no plans have been formalized.
We want to make sure our signal is above the noise, Zug says. We will let people outside of Seattle know what its like to live here. Well show people theres a lot of people here just like them.