SoGoPro presentation I had...and thanks y'all

Hey y'all. First off, I just want to thank all of you for being supportive, understanding and respectful when I did my SGP presentation today. It meant a lot to me and just so you know, the class loved it.

Ali asked me the other day to post my report that I wrote for the class...so here it is. Yes I know, it's kinda long so just bear with it or don't read if you dont want to haha.
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Wilmington, North Carolina was once known as the key location of filming for the hit TV show “Dawson’s Creek,” and current hit show “One Tree Hill", but in 2007, an actress from the current hit series, Hilarie Burton, decided to further her career in the movie production business and create Southern Gothic Productions. This production company is settled in Wilmington not only because of economical money issues, but also because of the fact that so many more screenwriters and film makers cross through there. Hilarie Burton is a 27 year-old actress who started out at MTV’s Total Request Live back in 2000, and was cast to play 17 year-old Peyton Sawyer on “One Tree Hill” in 2004. Throughout her stay on the hit TV show, Burton kept trying to figure out how to make her career mean something to the people and fans, and had the idea of Southern Gothic when talking to crew-member Kelly Tenney, and thus, the production company was created.
Southern Gothic was created by Hilarie and Kelly to show that hit blockbuster movies can be made in smaller, cheaper locations, while still getting that great quality and feel. “’SGP’ is a company dedicated to the creation of touching, relevant projects celebrating the influence of Southern Culture,” which was written by a Southern Gothic team member on their prototype website. Their official website should be showing up in a few weeks once everything gets under control and runs smoothly.
The company’s upcoming movie “Pedestrian” is a Modern Romantic Comedy about a young, witty photographer named Lincoln Booth who finds out he has cancer. During his struggle to find himself, he meets a young and beautiful brunette by the name of Mona Mills. After a few chance encounters, without the knowledge of his condition, Mona is asked to accompany Lincoln back to his hometown of North Carolina. Along the way, Mona finds out the truth about Booth, and has to ponder on whether or not she can trust him, and heads back to New York forcing the North Carolina native to face his dilemma alone. “Touching and relevant, ‘Pedestrian’ reminds us that we all have what it takes to be more than just a nameless face in the crowd,” says writer Nick Gray, who is the screenwriter of the film.
Austin Nichols was cast as Lincoln Booth in early February of this year by the SGP team and fans were ecstatic, myself included. Part of Nichols filmography includes movies, “Glory Road,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” and TV shows, “John from Cincinnati,” and “One Tree Hill,” in which he played a love interest to Hilarie Burton’s character of Peyton Sawyer. Nichol’s gallant performances and real ways of life are what landed him the role. The company has yet to cast the rest of the characters in the film, but will be very soon. Even though “Pedestrian” will be Southern Gothic’s first film ever, I know for a fact that it will be well done. The minds of Hilarie, Kelly and the rest of the team make fans thrive to be apart of the company.
The Southern Gothic blog that Hilarie created back in January of this year only had about 10 followers the first week. She would post a few lines or words every few days and slowly but surely, more and more people would show up. I was following this company since day one, and I honestly don’t believe I’ve seen such a reaction before. Whether it’s just to see Hilarie, or legitimately be part of the company, fans and businesses around the world stop by. Being part of the company has been a wonderful experience and I wish a lot of other companies would do the same. The blog is just one part of several that have helped this company achieve liftoff, and their first film hasn’t even finished casting yet. At the beginning of March, the blog site had received 500 followers, which is a lot for not even two months of website hosting. New company’s rarely do this well, fan base wise, this early in the game. In all honesty, this company has really only been around for about 2 months, even thought Burton started talking about in 2007. As of right now, SGP is solidly fan based which not a lot of companies can do. And usually, production companies that DO have high fan bases are already well known for at least 4 or 5 years, and Southern Gothic is barely starting out.
Another way the company stays in touch with fans is by having a Flickr account, a Twitter account and a Last.FM music player on the Southern Gothic Blogspot page. Flickr is a photo sharing website that lots of professional photographers use to share pieces of work. Many companies and music bands use it as well to keep fans informed. Well, Southern Gothic started a Flickr page and uploads pictures from around Wilmington and any other photos they wish to show. Just recently, Ali, whom is part of the SGP team, created a street team group on Flickr to use other members’ photos to show on the blogspot. I was unintentionally honored the title of “Crash Test Dummy” for her to use and mess around with my photos. After a few tries, she told all of us to upload photos on our own Flickr accounts and she would post them up on the site so everyone can look at them if they choose. The street team group page also has a map attached to it to show where everyone is posting pictures from and where they took them.
The Last.Fm player on the SGP blog dials in to favorite tracks of members on the team. From Taylor Swift to Elvis Costello, and Paramore to Disturbed, Southern Gothic shows that all of their tastes in music are welcome. Their Last.Fm page allows other users and fans to be added as friends and listen to all the same music if they wish. Now onto the Twitter account. A lot of people didn’t know what Twitter was until lots of celebrities and musicians started to use it. Twitter allows you to post something at a specific moment and lets all followers see. If you are a follower, you can set up the account so that whenever someone “Tweets” or posts an update, it will be sent to your cell phone. Southern Gothic uses Twitter on a daily basis and I’ve come to realize it’s very effective when wanting to have something shown to all those following. “Amber…Pedestrian trailer rocked!!! Can’t wait to show Hilarie, Nick, Austin and the rest of SGP!” was the text message I received on Friday morning after posting an example fan-made theatrical trailer of their upcoming film “Pedestrian.”
The last two key components that SGP is using to dial fans in are the chat box on their blogspot, and a Youtube Site. The Cbox, otherwise known as the ‘chatbox’, lets followers of the blog and other fans chat amongst themselves about the company itself. It really lets us all interact with each other and talk to people around the world with no gimmicks or tricks. One minute you could be talking to someone from your hometown and the next thing you know, someone from Ireland or Spain could pop in. For instance, everyday when I go in the Cbox, there are at least 5 people from 5 diff places, in the chat room. I’m from California, while a few friends of mine, Kim and Melissa, are from Arkansas and Utah, while moderators Megan, Becca, and Veronica are from Minnesota, Georgia and Spain. While Ali, from SGP is always in the chat room, once in a while, we will get an awesome surprise and get Hilarie, Nick, or Kelly in the chat room just to drop by and say a quick hello. Southern Gothic did really well in choosing to have a chat room open all day and night because fans from all over love to help out whenever they can. Now the Youtube site was created by myself and another member, Portia. About a month ago, Hilarie and Nick of SGP decided to create a vlog (video log) of themselves to introduce the company and blogspot. So I thought about how to let more people see the video, and decided to email Kelly Tenney and pitch him the idea of having a Youtube account. He loved the idea and discussed it with the team, but to no avail, someone had already created an account without their knowledge. So, Kelly then told me to discuss it with Portia and hoped we could co-moderate the site and work as a team. She was more than welcome to do so, and thus, we both created the site and uploaded every vlog or interview SGP does…or will do in the future. The SoGoPro Youtube site allows fans to see the vlogs and interviews at any time and leave comments. At the beginning of the month, Portia and I were asked to create a video for a “Pedestrian Movie Trailer/Music Video Contest,” which consisted of fans creating videos of the movie and sending them into us by April 1st. We would then sort through them and judge a winner and they would receive a prize.
Even though I offered my services to do this job, with no pay, I wouldn’t trade it for the world because this company has given me a wonderful opportunity to be part of something great. Southern Gothic Productions is something that is going to change the world, if it hasn’t already. This company is risking a lot to include such a huge fan base and rely on fans the way it does, but in my opinion, I know that it’s worth it. To just think, if I hadn’t gone to Hilarie Burton’s website and noticed she posted something about SGP, I wouldn’t have been able to been apart of this greatness, along with all others who would easily agree with me. The team has great people skills, includes fans like no other, and allow themselves to BE themselves around fans. Even if it’s just to look at a blog, or watch a video, the fans and members of SGP are all family. Whether you are from California, or Africa, you are part of the team. And whether or not you are Ready for this company to achieve greatness…just get Set…and SoGo!
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Alright, so that was my report. My presentation was pretty relaxed since I all of you had my back of course and they all loved the trailer. Glad I could share it :) Which is so moving and awesome of y'all. You guys are all amazing and are one of the big reasons why I wanted to so a report on SGP in the first place.

Purple, T, Search, Raq, Velvet, Shades, Colorado, Niamh, GeOh, Portia, Marion, Jac, PD, Melissa, Astrid, Mags, Lil' sis, and others who have helped that I didn't get to mention, have helped me so much and are like my 2nd family. I'm as serious as a heart attack. Don't know where I'd be without you all Please let me know if I do :)

And as for Southern Gothic themselves...Hil, Nick, Kelly, Ali, Eddie...thank you for giving me all this wonderful stuff I could share with others day, including who you are, your personalies, and your wonderful qualities you grace us with day in and out. :)

~Amber