A "before the film" commercial that you actually want to see: "BA Speaks: Revolution—Nothing Less" ... at the Movies!
March 10, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
The following is from people who are part of building for the premiere in New York City.
Beginning on Friday, March 8 and running for one week, before all showings at each the nine screens at the AMC Magic Johnson Harlem 9 Theater in the center of Harlem, moviegoers will get to see a 60-second spot promoting the premiere of BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!
Right-click here to download for off-line viewing.
That BA Speaks: Revolution—Nothing Less! is going to be shown at the AMC Magic Johnson Theater on Saturday, March 16, right in the heart of Harlem—at a theater that youth frequent and that is the only first-run major movie theater in Harlem, has caused people to sit up and realize that we are serious about people experiencing BA and being part of the movement for revolution that he is leading. If the film is going to be shown at a mainstream commercial theater, we thought: of course there should be an ad for the premiere that runs on all the screens. We found out the cost and announced the idea at program at Revolution Books—$250 was raised on the spot. Later that night, someone donated $350 upon hearing of this, and later another $100 was contributed through phone banking, raising 2/3 of the cost within 48 hours.
The BA Everywhere crew got encouragement from a local representative for the AMCI Magic Johnson, and we applied to the national ad agency that places these spots in theaters nationwide. To say the least, this was not a typical before-the-previews ad. And, we were past agency deadlines to boot, and they have formal restrictions on ads being non-controversial. But we pushed through and made the ad in 48 hours. We put before the ad agency that we have built support for the film in NY and Harlem and that funds for the ad were raised through individual donations. At the same time, we sharply countered their stipulation that ads can't be controversial by saying that ads for super-sized soft drinks and the U.S. Army are quite controversial to many. This had an impact, and we got a green light to submit the finished ad for approval. On March 5 we heard from the ad agency: "Happy to tell you that we moved mountains but did get the rush approved. The ad will begin on Friday... "
The ad itself beautifully and simply projects the essential info about Bob Avakian and the NY Premiere of BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! The ad should be used far beyond the Magic Johnson. Besides the wide screen high-definition version made for the theaters, there will also be a version (download here) for the "grass roots": in high school and college class rooms, on street corners, at community centers and spread through social media.
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