My sister won a 2009 Ford Focus

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darbsllim

darbsllim

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Mar 28, 2008
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London, Ontario
Hey guys, my sister graduated from Concordia's film school in Montreal last
April, and her final project has been winning some amazing awards.

It's about an experience she had while she was traveling in Australia and
ended up being a nanny for a family where the mother was dying of cancer.
The mother ended up passing and the film is about how the kids dealt with it.

n654590682_1540349_9830.jpg

dvd image
n654590682_1540348_9545.jpg

dvd cover

Anyway, here's a list of what awards her short has won just in the past 8
months:

Best New Canadian Director (Montreal World Film Festival)
Best Student Cinematography (Toronto International Film Festival)
Best Sound Design (Atlantic Film Festival)
35mm Blow-Up (Technicolor Montreal)
Nominated for "Canada's top 10 shorts of the year"
Best Film (Air Canada enRoute Student Film Festival).

The prize she won for the last one (Air Canada) was a trip to the Palm
Springs Film Festival (she's leaving today) and a brand spanking new
2009 Ford Focus.

n654590682_1539883_122.jpg

accepting the keys from the Ford rep.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jankvaPV_I]YouTube - Air Canada's enRoute Student Film Festival 2008 Gala[/ame]

I wrote a feature film in 2005, and in August 2008 (thanks to internet
marketing) I raised 50k on Facebook and actually made the movie (I'll keep
you posted, the trailer should be ready soon).

n513462900_951979_856.jpg

(I'm on the left in the white sweater looking at the script, she's at the
camera)
n584305073_4183860_3824.jpg

us again on the shoot

So I wrote, produced and co-directed this horror/comedy feature with my
sister in August, and I have sorta been supporting her ever since she got out
of school because she wants to keep pursuing film and not have to work as a
waitress somewhere.

We're in post production on the film, and she's starting pre-production on a
feature project of her own, which is very exciting as she has the film version
of the midas touch.

So anyway she won this car, but my sister doesn't drive a car, she
drives a bike (which got stolen the day after she won the car). She doesn't
have a place to park a car as she lives in a friend's apartment in Montreal (no
room for a car).

So she has no need for this Ford Focus. It's awesome that she won it, but
she needs the money much more. She's going to use the money to get her
by until she finishes the script and gets a grant from the government.

So she's selling the car.

Right now we have it on ebay, but I want to do something more. I don't want
to just put up a bland ebay auction...my IM partner and I think this is a huge
PR opportunity.

I think it can kinda turn into a million dollar pixel or red paper clip type of
story.

The car is work 20k, but I think we can find someone who'd buy it for 30k or
more so they can have a credit in her movie and an invite to the premiere, as
well as help support her.

So right now it's on ebay:

Ford : Focus - (eBay.ca item 190278354368 end time 12-Jan-09 10:41:05 EST).

Does anyone have any good suggestions on how we can turn this into a
publicity opportunity and help my sister sell this car for at least what it's
worth?
 


go back to ford...and tell em you'll place their product in the movie for a fee :D... juice em for all they got!

Good luck though...film biz is tough. I wish you guys much success.
 
Local media? TV, radio, newspapers?

Contact Concordia and see what they might be able to do for one of their successful alumni?

Do some sort of charity thing whereby someone buys the car, your sis gets the money and the charity gets the car?

If you can get the eBay auction some press coverage then it will most likely do quite well.

Good luck!

edit: after looking at the eBay listing I would suggest really jazzing it up, it's pretty plain as it is. Maybe include some pics like this thread has, and use headers, bold fonts, colours, etc. It has no human element now.
 
I'd be real careful of what you do. Sis is building up a nice resume in a tough field. Don't do something that might cheapen her cred. Consider the film arts community and charitable endeavors that would be inline with their ideals. Perhaps a reserve price that she keeps and anything that is bid beyond that goes to a charity. Win/win for her and the bidder.

Congrats on the success and good luck.
 
darbsllim said:
Hey guys, my sister graduated from Concordia's film school in

So anyway she won this car, but my sister doesn't drive a car, she
drives a bike (which got stolen the day after she won the car). She doesn't
have a place to park a car as she lives in a friend's apartment in Montreal (no
room for a car).

So she has no need for this Ford Focus. It's awesome that she won it, but
she needs the money much more. She's going to use the money to get her
by until she finishes the script and gets a grant from the government.

So she's selling the car.

Right now we have it on ebay, but I want to do something more. I don't want
to just put up a bland ebay auction...my IM partner and I think this is a huge
PR opportunity.

I think it can kinda turn into a million dollar pixel or red paper clip type of
story.

The car is work 20k, but I think we can find someone who'd buy it for 30k or
more so they can have a credit in her movie and an invite to the premiere, as
well as help support her.

So right now it's on ebay:

Ford : Focus - (eBay.ca item 190278354368 end time 12-Jan-09 10:41:05 EST).

Does anyone have any good suggestions on how we can turn this into a
publicity opportunity and help my sister sell this car for at least what it's
worth?
Click to expand...

You should try to sell it on lespac.com

It worth the registering $.
 
Jizzlobber said:
I'd be real careful of what you do. Sis is building up a nice resume in a tough field. Don't do something that might cheapen her cred. Consider the film arts community and charitable endeavors that would be inline with their ideals. Perhaps a reserve price that she keeps and anything that is bid beyond that goes to a charity. Win/win for her and the bidder.

Congrats on the success and good luck.
Click to expand...

Great suggestion. Yeah we'd definitely need to market to the right kinda people, most likely angels and artisans.



Fatbat said:
Contact Concordia and see what they might be able to do for one of their successful alumni?

Do some sort of charity thing whereby someone buys the car, your sis gets the money and the charity gets the car?

edit: after looking at the eBay listing I would suggest really jazzing it up, it's pretty plain as it is. Maybe include some pics like this thread has, and use headers, bold fonts, colours, etc. It has no human element now.
Click to expand...


Thanks good suggestion as well.

Re: the auction, yeah she put that up herself, I know it blows I want to take it down and then do something much more visual that will hopefully get the word out virally for a month or so.

vjstar said:
You should try to sell it on lespac.com

It worth the registering $.
Click to expand...

It's all in french, what is lespac?
 
Kudos to your sister, wow amazing story especially for those who experience it.

Can your post the picture of the car, maybe someone here interest to own it. ;)
 
darbsllim said:
Great suggestion. Yeah we'd definitely need to market to the right kinda people, most likely angels and artisans.






Thanks good suggestion as well.

Re: the auction, yeah she put that up herself, I know it blows I want to take it down and then do something much more visual that will hopefully get the word out virally for a month or so.



It's all in french, what is lespac?
Click to expand...

it's a french craigslist... it is the most visited site in quebec after google
 
kenpachi said:
Kudos to your sister, wow amazing story especially for those who experience it.

Can your post the picture of the car, maybe someone here interest to own it. ;)
Click to expand...

She doesn't have the car yet, it's en route from Ford and will arrive at a dealership in Montreal any day...

it's a black 4 door 2009 Ford Focus, but I'm not asking W effers to buy it, just looking for some help promoting it and ideas, I think I'm gonna get her to take down that ebay auction so we can get something better going.
 
I clicked on the ebay link and it looks like your sister already sold the car.

I like the film a lot...
 
darbsllim said:
She's going to use the money to get her
by until she finishes the script and gets a grant from the government.

quote]


since she already sold the car, maybe I can help her out with the government grant. Just PM me and I will send you a few links. kthnx


and def good luck on the movie.
Click to expand...
 
well she didn't go through with the auction because she needs this money to get her by for the next year.

She is unemployed and this is basically going to carry her through her loans for the year, as well as help get her some time to stay home to work on her next film project instead of getting a low paying job.

I'm going to try to help her sell it for more, as it's worth at least 18k.

Thanks for the kudos' and I'm glad you guys liked the short.
 
darbsllim said:
well she didn't go through with the auction because she needs this money to get her by for the next year.

She is unemployed and this is basically going to carry her through her loans for the year, as well as help get her some time to stay home to work on her next film project instead of getting a low paying job.

I'm going to try to help her sell it for more, as it's worth at least 18k.

Thanks for the kudos' and I'm glad you guys liked the short.
Click to expand...

Carmax?
 
Congrats! That is really quite an achievement!

Fatbat said:
Local media? TV, radio, newspapers?

Contact Concordia and see what they might be able to do for one of their successful alumni?

Do some sort of charity thing whereby someone buys the car, your sis gets the money and the charity gets the car?
Click to expand...

These are some excellent ideas.

This is a very inspirational story.. I am really happy for her and you! Let me know if you need any help sending emails, making phone calls, etc. I am very willing to help and I am sure others here are very willing to also.

-sgtryan
 
I don't see how she can sell something again that has already been sold. How's she going to deal with two lawsuits?

Thanks Ryan, but that was advice that he was supposed to follow before rushing to list the car on eBay, not after. The car has sold and his sister has an obligation to close the deal with the buyer.
 
Fatbat is right. If the car sold on eBay, she's obligated to follow through with the sale.

Try going to a place like prosper.com to get microloans. That place is full of individuals that loan money outside traditional lending channels. Most people are getting loans to pay down debt, but I see people getting them to start or expand businesses. I'm sure your sister's situation would get a lot of positive response.
 
Damn, congrats on everything to both you and your sister. Always cool shit to see people on WF that excel in areas outside of AM (excel is this case would be an understatement.)

Like everyone else have said -- Kudos man!
 
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