The Building Of A Global Campaign
Here we take a deep dive into a distribution story where conditions were ideal across all of our ROCO divisions. Picture a Scientist, a film by Sharon Shattuck and Ian Cheney, has enjoyed targeted strategic windowing that has delivered large in terms of impact, audience and revenue. It’s super cool and we are proud to tell you about it. So here goes…
A film by Sharon Shattuck and Ian Cheney
Picture a Scientist chronicles the groundswell of researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists. By diving deep into the experiences of women in the sciences, ranging from brutal harassment to years of subtle slights, the film ultimately provides new perspectives on how to make science itself more diverse, equitable, and open to all. It asks the question “what have we lost” when we exclude the best minds in science due to gender, identity or race.
View Film PageIn the Beginning
Directors Sharon and Ian contacted us and allowed us to see a rough cut. It was an immediate “yes!” from us and we signed on as the US Sales agent. Right away we began having discussions of windowing rights to align with the goals of the film team.
After first getting a quick decline from a major streamer who restricts educational distribution and takes global rights for their originals, the film team decided to go full steam ahead on an impact campaign that connected to educational distribution, foreign distribution, and finding a broadcaster in the US.
US Sales
We licensed the film to both NOVA and to Netflix! Each deal included the holdbacks and restrictions that exist due to the foreign sales we had already made, and the ambitious impact campaign connected to the educational release already in progress.
Festival Debut
The film was accepted to premiere at the 2020 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL.
Click here for the full list of festivals and awards.
Theatrical
After the Tribeca Film Festival in-person was cancelled, the film team quickly pivoted to a virtual cinema release, through its key partnership with Sloan Science on Screen. With all proceeds going to two organizations advancing women of color in STEM (Black AF in STEM and Black Girls Code), the film reached 47 theaters across the US in June 2020, effectively launching the successful press campaign in film and science press. The theatrical release also included dozens of local virtual events, with the highlight being a live panel discussion in partnership with The Coolidge Center Theater, including featured scientists Dr. Nancy Hopkins, Dr. Raychelle Burks, and Dr. Jane Willenbring, directors/ producers Sharon Shattuck and Ian Cheney, moderated by Radiolab’s Molly Webster.
Impact campaign
Building Outreach and Awareness
To date, our impact team has confirmed over 1,200 screenings in 50 countries, totaling over 150K+ audience members. But don’t just take our word for it, you can see the actual organizations and some of our key partners here. Among the highlights was a screening at the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
The film was available to House and Senate members and staff to foster discussion about legislation to combat sexual harassment in science (H.R. 36/S. 1067). Scientists from the film, Dr. Raychelle Burks, Dr. Paula Johnson, and Dr. Jane Willenbring participated in a virtual panel discussion after the screening, moderated by PICTURE A SCIENTIST Producer Manette Pottle. Making a special appearance in the discussion was Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL), who has a Ph.D. in physics.
Foreign sales
Presenting the Title to
International Markets
In the international market, PICTURE A SCIENTIST has reached audiences through a global Netflix release. Germany, Austria, and Switzerland were carved out of the Netflix deal to allow for a theatrical release by a trusted partner who is organizing private screenings and releasing in German cinemas soon. In Norway, the film screening at the Bergen International Film Festival (BIFF) sparked a new partnership concept and ignited a debate in Norway about gender issues in the professional sciences. Khrono, the largest independent newspaper on higher education and research in Norway, covered the film and the debate in a recent article here. The partnership means that BIFF will be helping to organize panels and promote screenings of the Norwegian version of the film.
EDUCATIONAL SALES AND EVOD
Promoting the Film to Communites
and Colleges
Deliberately connected to the momentum of the impact campaign, the film continues to see robust educational life. Schools are licensing educational streaming licenses, one-time virtual screenings and PPR rights with DVDs (yes, many organizations still want them!). Over 500 universities have incorporated the film into their permanent collections to be used as an ongoing resource. The film is now available for educational streaming on Film Platform and through the Film Platform collection on ProQuest’s Academic Video Online (AVON) allowing the students and faculty of over 800 university libraries access to the film for research and distance learning. Our educational streaming is only available to university and educational institutions, and never to public libraries, so there is no conflict with commercial streamers.
LIVE EVENT
A STEM-ulating Virtual Event
In March of 2021 ROCO produced a live virtual event with our EVOD partners Film Platform and ProQuest with co-sponsor Scientific American. The event used the film to foster a conversation around making STEM more inclusive for all. The event had over 6,000 registrants from 1000+ campuses across 81 countries (Spanish translation services provided). We were so proud to bring this impressive panel together which included Nobel Prize winner Dr. Jennifer Doudna (a prominent subject in our film, Human Nature), scientists from Picture a Scientist Dr. Raychelle Burks and Dr. Jane Willenbring, and social scientist Dr. Eva Pietri who studies bias in STEM. The conversation was moderated by champion of science communication, Scientific American’s Editor in Chief Laura Helmuth. Our last big educational event like this was sponsored by the Sundance Institute and moderated by the luminous Tabitha Jackson around the film Bending the Arc. You can get a taste by watching this short reel.
