“Beyond The Still” Wins another Cannes Lion – A GOLD – here’s why YOU should care…

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I received  a text at 6:53 a.m. this morning from GREY EVP Nick Childs (who helped spearhead this contest and is also one of the judges.)

It read: “Call me asap this morning!” (That’s rarely a good thing folks…)

I was worried that I had announced the award too early and caused ire for my fellow Frenchmen… he laughed and shared the amazing news:

We won a second Lion from Cannes this morning – this time we won a “Gold Lion” from the 57th International Advertising Festival – in another category (more details to be announced tomorrow on the separate categories we’ve won in.)

That’s of course great for “us” – the people who launched this campaign – BUT – Here’s why YOU SHOULD CARE:

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First – Grey is calling “the largest collaborative user generated film effort in history”…

Second – this likely solidifies this campaigns as Grey Advertising’s campaign of the year… that’s a pretty big deal folks.   That means one thing:   the “Final Chapter” where the 6 winners come together and shoot together this fall – will be an EVEN BIGGER DEAL.   Truth be told – this was an experiment from the start and we never made solid plans on how we would end this campaign (everyone wanted to see how it went.)   Now that it’s this big of a success – I can comfortably go out on a limb and state that the final chapter will be a BIG DEAL.

Third – this is where YOU COME IN… there are TWO FINAL CHAPTERS LEFT TO ENTER. The Fifth chapter’s winner is just about to be announced.   Here’s what you have to understand – when this all comes together – and we shoot the final chapter – THAT AS A WHOLE will likely be re-entered into the Cannes Lions and many other advertising competitions.   In other words – you have a GOLDEN (or silver) CHANCE of potentially being part of a major award winning campaign.  Not too shabby to put on your resume.   If I were you – I’d be getting ready to submit the single best entry ever for the final Chapter 7 and/or Chapter 8.   The next entry deadline for Chapter 7 is July 18, 11:59.59 p.m. E.S.T.

So get to work.

Because this is gonna rock.

Big Time.

We’re already starting to prepare for the final film that I will be shooting with the 7 finalists this fall, and we’re going to meet next week in New York at Grey.

I don’t want to overstate this – but for some of you, this might just be an opportunity of a lifetime as a budding filmmaker.  I invited M. Keegan Uhl over for a belated celebration lunch yesterday here at the studio – (he won Chapter 3 “The Beach” that you can see here) and he told me that winning that chapter had already had a significant impact on his career.  He also told me that the ability to attract more than 70,000 people to his vimeo site as a result of his Chapter 3 entry will likely prove priceless in helping him secure funding for future projects.

You all have TWO MORE CHANCES to enter.  If you’re sitting on the fence on whether or not to enter – I’d say it’s time to JUMP IN!