Early Starts and Late Nights: The Reality of Global ICO Funding
Having lived in the UK for two-thirds of my life, winters in Sydney are a breeze compared to winter in London, where the different evocative vocabulary for the weather comes flying in stage left with the “mizzle” — yes it dos exist- and flies out on the wet westerlies. Sydney is mild and sunny in the winters, but the mornings can be chilly. At their sub-tropical worst they can get down to 7 degrees Celsius, and last Friday morning at 5.15am the thought of slithering out from under the cosy warmth of my duck feathered eiderdown left me cold — in both sense of the word. But, as part of global marketing campaigns you have to suffer for your art…
Whilst I absolutely love Sydney, from a time-zone perspective it sucks. We have snagged an interview with a Russian Youtube channel that specialises in the cryptocurrency space with around 22,000 subscribers, and 1,800 in their English channel. Now, Russian wasn’t my first choice of language at school — like most I was forced to study French — where “my aunt’s pen was always in the garden” was the de facto langue de rigour. But this Youtube channel had expressed interest in interviewing us after we pitched them. The challenge is the anlayst who wants to interview lives and works in Oslo. So our diaries synchronise — I am in office at 6am; for the analyst interviewer, Lina, its 10pm the previous night. We are winter, she is summer.
This is the first Youtube interview we have secured, so I am slightly nervous as I know the importance of this first interview. Interviews shape how others may view us and how their audiences may or may not buy into our ICO. I have my best shirt on; have had a shave and get myself installed. It is at this point that my film director’s hat comes into play as I look around.
Given its six in the morning the co-working space we work out of is empty, and dark and its dark and cold outside. So, I play with the lights that will be in the background and position myself to get the best angle possible — to have as much greenery in the background . So many Youtube interviews I have seen look so bland and boring. The background image that people will see is part of the overall landscape. I have no idea if the science works but if it gets us an additional 10, 20 , 50 more views then its worth it.
I install myself comfortably and re-read the questions Lina had sent me beforehand as preparation, and then the pleasantries begin.
Both of us are tired at different ends of our respective days — the advantage is that I can have a coffee to keep me awake. We greet each other with mutual apologies — me for keeping her up and for her for getting me up early. Politeness is such a European thing and I almost recourse to my English gentleman persona.
As the interview progresses I become so very conscious of my performance — it is these interviews that could mean the difference between getting funds or not from their Russian audience who are crypto-friendly but don’t have the greatest reputation for respecting Intellectual Property. I feel as if I almost owe it to indie filmmakers around the globe to singlehandedly stop piracy.
The interview last half and hour and time flies quickly past as the analysts seems very engaged with our project. I hope so — because we need their support to help promote us to their audience.
The end result is below and please feel free to give any observations or constructive feed back.
About the Author: Tim Lea is the CEO of Veredictum.io that is re-thinking film and video distribution by creating a decentralised anti-piracy and distribution platform that hits the drivers of piracy and not just its symptoms. Veredictum has a Token Sale/ICO in progress that finishes September 11 08:59am
