Keynote Conversation with HOORAE - Full Panel
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00:00This film put a smile on my face. That soundtrack is phenomenal. The acting, I mean, I was like,
00:04I need more of this. But this was also the inaugural film from Hooray Productions. You know,
00:11there's, you know, there's the great needle drop. There was an incredible digital marketing
00:15campaign behind it, and it grossed over 50 million worldwide. You know, this, you know,
00:20targeted word of mouth campaign. Talk a little bit about how you all worked together to pull
00:25off this incredible project and where it began. You know, this is what our ecosystem is about,
00:34and we really got to shine and collaborate in the way that we were intended to with this film,
00:41from obviously down to the music and developing the script for seven years. And that wasn't just
00:49developing the script. This was such a long process just to make it theatrical and learning
00:56what a theatrical movie and a theatrical comedy could be. And a lot of that came down to obviously
01:03the script development, but the casting, we were lucky enough to have Kiki on board five years ago,
01:10and then castes in the last year. And then to be able to work with Sarita Singleton, who penned the
01:17script, who's a color creative client, and hired Lawrence Lamont as the director, who's also a
01:22color creative client and a first-time feature filmmaker, and just knocked it out the park. And then
01:27you mentioned the being able to have a strong hand in the digital campaign and collaborate with
01:32Sony and TriStar to bring it to life. So we had our hands in every part of making this movie
01:38possible, and it's just, it's so exciting that it was so well received.
01:43I mean, talk a little bit about that digital marketing campaign and the targeted audience
01:49that you went for, because, you know, this film was one of those little engines that could,
01:54and I've said this, you know, so many times, but what is the, what was the secret to that success?
02:00I think the secret to the success, honestly, is the team that we have that was working on it. I mean,
02:05I have to shout out Lydia here, our social media coordinator, who was just so incredible and
02:10really understanding what we were trying to achieve with this, these two best friends.
02:17Of course, we want to speak to our core audience, and really activate and excite the black woman that,
02:24that this film, of course, speaks to, but it's more universal than that. So we tied into this,
02:29again, universal theme of friendship, and we're able to leverage, I mean, it was
02:35a breakneck speed marketing campaign, I would have to say, and just being able to use the incredible
02:42talent and content that we were able to get with, with our stars, and, and with Issa as well,
02:47but then also create unique content that spoke, again, to those themes. So I remember returning from
02:54the, the holidays, kind of coming into the new year, and Montrell called me up, and he's like,
03:00we, we, we need, we need to do some more, we need like more content. Can we, and there was a, a press,
03:07press tour happening in New York, that some of our team was covering, and like, can we send someone
03:12else to go, to go there? So Tyra, um, on our team, um, joined Lydia in New York, so they could continue
03:20that best friend narrative. It was so fun, we just had incredible time with it. I mean, the team produced
03:26over 100 pieces of content. We are a finalist for the Shorty, Shorty Awards as well for the work
03:32that was done there. Um, but it was really scrappy, just leaning into our creativity and what we do
03:39really well, which is understanding, connect with our audience. And most importantly, um, Lydia and
03:44Tyra are celebrating their six-month anniversary. I made that up, but, uh, it'll be,
03:51um, going back to working at breakneck speed, how quickly did you have to execute everything?
03:59I think the trailer released in late October, and then our, our premiere was January 17th, so, um,
04:10in just a few months, I think our, our content day, where we actually were able to get, um, content with
04:17the cast was still kind of embargoed until maybe two weeks before the release. So, uh, that
04:24immediately returning in the new year through, through opening weekend was 24-7, just really
04:32trying to do as much as we could to get people, um, into theaters.
04:36Montra, I'm going to come to you because, uh, Monique mentioned you, but talking, you know,
04:40once you see that word of mouth, like when, when you said you wanted more, like talk about
04:45following word of mouth and being like, we need to capitalize on that.
04:50Yeah. I mean, it's, we're uniquely positioned because we come from the internet. Like I met
04:54Issa because she did Awkward Black Girl and the word of mouth came to my wife who was watching it.
05:00And that's how I found Issa, right? And so we're all in tune with following the internet,
05:05following sentiment and you know, we're bombarded with content every single day. So because we're
05:11innate consumers of the content, you kind of know what something should feel like when it's having
05:15a moment and we were doing incredible content. Like, you know, it was all working. We're doing
05:21really well, but because we had such a tight release window, like Monique said, it was from October when
05:26the trailer released until the movie coming out in January, we just felt like we could, we could be
05:32doing more and having more wins. And Monique was able to galvanize her team to, I don't know how
05:37they put out so much content, but they were able to put it out and learn and get better and get
05:41smarter. And then it's also a credit to the talent and Kiki and Issa and all the other cast members
05:46were so available and so willing to do the work because that's, you know, half the, half the battle,
05:52right, is getting people to show up. And so we just need it. We need it more because that's what it
05:58demanded of us. And I think that's where we're uniquely positioned, right? Because you can
06:02easily water down your stuff and just get people clicking not interested and you're out of the
06:06algorithm, right? But they were able to figure out how to keep that interest and engagement
06:11to allow the movie to spread, to reach the audience that it did.
06:16And Stephanie, what was it like for you, you know, as I was telling you backstage,
06:21getting Dochi, you know, you've been on her since the beginning, but Dochi, Nissan Altima,
06:27what, you know, that track really kicked off at the end of last year. And, you know,
06:32she was nominated for Grammys, but what is, how quickly could you get that track or,
06:37and put this soundtrack together for the film?
06:39The, the finishing of the film was also a very tight timeline, particularly for a feature. I think
06:46it was just a few short months that we had to, like, license all the music, land the creative.
06:55But because of our ecosystem, we were coming in with a relationship with Lawrence. We had read the
07:02script, you know, years before. We were familiar, so we were ready. And we kind of knew how we wanted the
07:10music to enhance the story. We knew that we wanted it to be a mix of old and new. And in doing that,
07:18we would have in like an evergreen soundtrack and really elevate this to be like an iconic forever
07:27movie. And I think we accomplished that. And, you know, suggesting things like Dochi is we, similarly,
07:35we, we love music, we're fans, we consume, we know, we, we pride ourselves in like really making
07:43suggestions that we think are great. And Isa is the pinnacle of great taste in music. So we have a
07:49very high standard that we hold ourselves to. And we had placed Dochi, her first placement in Pea
07:57Valley years ago, and we've been following her and we knew she was going to hit. But that kind of timing,
08:02you, you, you only hope for, and we were really lucky that there was such, um, synchronicity there.
08:10To that point, Isa, was there someone that you wanted on the soundtrack that you're like, we need
08:15this person? I mean, a couple of things, um, but I mean, Dochi for sure, uh, in LA sound,
08:21and since this is such an LA movie, and we were so, you know, lucky that Sony allowed us to, to shoot
08:27in actual LA, which was, you know, a conversation. And so we wanted to make sure that we had that
08:33sound. We wanted to have the female energy. There are a couple tracks that, um, like guys,
08:38I still wish we had, but I love, no, I'm always gonna, I'm always gonna lament. But, um, the,
08:46there's, there's, I'm, I'm really proud of even just having Flo Millie on the ending credits. And
08:51we even had an original Kiki Palmer song at the, uh, end credits. And she's such a, a force. And I
08:57think is, I know is such a huge part of this film's success, just in terms of her triple threatness.
09:03And when we talk about even the digital content, she goes viral every day when she wants to. And,
09:09um, and she's such an asset to have. Um, but yeah, long story short, love the tracks we had,
09:15could have had more Sony's gonna run up the budget for the next. Yeah. I mean, huge shout out to Sony
09:20marketing, um, who I know we have some of our friends here in the building, um, for one, you know,
09:29recognizing that out of all the mentions that were coming up in the movie, Issa's name was
09:35dominating. And like, if you looked at that spot, the first card says from Issa Rae,
09:40and it's intentionally because the audience was saying, oh, and Issa did this. Oh, okay. So we,
09:46they leaned into that. They also officially hired on FET, which is open for business, everyone,
09:53um, to do the marketing campaign in tandem with, and it was fast. So they took a chance on a new
10:00partnership and, um, and I think we over delivered, um, you know, having, putting my old school marketing
10:06hat back on, like it, this is the type of relationship that feels like, um, you know,
10:12really comfortable and, and, and even them moving our date even closer, they were like, no, y'all got this.
10:17And we were like, oh, okay, we're going to do it. But, you know, representing Lawrence and this being
10:22his first film and to Stephanie's point, having the ecosystem and having a great partner in Sony,
10:29we, you know, allayed some of our fears that, um, this was moving him too fast in his first feature.
10:34And we knocked it out the park. We're excited. Absolutely. And it would have only been possible
10:40through, as you said, them trusting us and giving us access to information that we were, you know,
10:45able to do what we did. So. Thank y'all. Love that. Um, speaking about partnerships,
10:53but what makes the perfect partner for Hooray? Like, what do you look for when you're looking to
10:58collaborate? Um, I mean, Mantra, do you want to speak to that? What's the question? I'm sorry.
11:04When you're looking to collaborate, what makes the perfect partner for Hooray?
11:09Point of view and passion. I think that when you have a point of view,
11:13like Talitha talked about Sony with distribution, they knew that this was going to be digital
11:18marketing led. And when you get the media plan and you don't have to ask for certain things
11:23that represent culture to be on the digital plan, it's already there. When you're working with a
11:27writer or director, you want someone who has a point of view and who feels strongly about it and
11:32who wants to collaborate, but has their vision and they want to collaborate to make their vision
11:36better. And so I think having those two, if you don't have them, it's hard. It's too much content now.
11:41And the reality is if there are a billion people creating content on a subject,
11:46these algorithms are going to find the ones that break through. And so if you want to beat those
11:51people, like the billions of people that you're competing with now, you have to do something
11:55special that you're passionate about. Yeah. And I would love to just add, um,
12:00in the ecosystem, I'd love to shout out our partner, Canva, who, uh, Christine Segrist was on the
12:05stage earlier. Um, they've been a partner of who ran color creative, uh, for the last three years
12:11for our find your people program. And when we knew we were going to move into production,
12:16we let them know early on that we had this movie and we thought that there was a creative way for
12:20them to be a part of it, introduced them to Sony. And then he came on as a, as a brand partner to the
12:25film. So that's that kind of, um, nimbleness and trust in that exactly what you said at the beginning,
12:32we're always going to deliver quality is, um, really important.
12:37I love that. Issa, what's next for Hooray and the team?
12:41You know, we're just getting started in so many ways. And like you mentioned, this is our first,
12:47uh, studio film. This was our first film as a, as a company period. And there's a lot in the,
12:54in the pipeline that we're really excited about each, uh, individual that you see on stage runs
13:00their business. And we are, you know, we, we, we work together, but we have so many outside
13:06collaborations, uh, upcoming and I'm excited for people to see it. So I told you a lot without
13:11telling you anything. So just tune in and follow us on socials and you'll see what's next.
13:19Well, can I put in a request then for a one of them days sequel so we can get the rest of those
13:24needle drops that you didn't tell us about that you heard that show. They want a sequel. So yes,
13:30we'll, um, we'll make that happen because you asked on stage.