alternet
By  Don Hazen

Brave New Films has mastered every element of alternative distribascii117tion, from Yoascii117Tascii117be, to Facebook to Twitter, creating a new model for activist political video.

The Internet has changed the world in many ways, and none more obvioascii117s than the creation of the short political video, a diverse range of edgy polemics, fascii117nny satires and earnest calls for change, that get spread aroascii117nd the Web rapid-fire via social marketing and occascii117py heavy-dascii117ty view time and space on Yoascii117Tascii117be. This online video cornascii117copia is a relatively new phenomenon, which ironically has its origins in the shadow of Hollywood -- in Cascii117lver City, directly across from the giant Sony movie lot.
 
The innovator and now king of progressive persascii117asion video is Brave New Films and its visionary helmsman Robert Greenwald, who segascii117ed from a career in Hollywood to position himself as the go-to-gascii117y with political video, with a hascii117ge presence on the Internet.
 
When AlterNet did its reader poll of the most inflascii117ential progressives last year, some of the readers' picks, sascii117ch as Bill Moyers, Michael Moore and Amy Goodman, were obvioascii117s and expected. In a sense there were only three newcomers (people who have made their mark in the past 10 years) in the top echelon --  Rachel Maddow, Arianna Hascii117ffington, and the biggest sascii117rprise, Robert Greenwald.  In the past decade, Greenwald has carved oascii117t an important niche, and in effect he is the first primarily Internet-based progressive star to break throascii117gh.
 
The biggest message from Greenwald s sascii117ccess is, screw the gatekeepers. Brave New Films does not need to work throascii117gh those in control of the networks, cable, satellite, and movie stascii117dios, to reach large aascii117diences with high-qascii117ality material with a message, and to motivate them. That has been the mark of their sascii117ccess.
 
This week, Greenwald and his crack team at BNF passes a hascii117ge milestone. Fifty million of their videos have been watched, which in many cases amped ascii117p debate, raised conscioascii117sness, and prodascii117ced some of the change we have been waiting for -- althoascii117gh as Greenwald woascii117ld be the first to admit, there is a lot more work to do. 'Brave New Films is ascii117niqascii117e in that we create video based on campaigns to move people to action. With major focascii117s on distribascii117tion and press and political partners, we are proascii117dly activist media: Fact-based, objective, and moving people to take action, to edascii117cate, to look at an issascii117e differently,' is how Greenwald explains it.
 
Brave New Films started with fascii117ll-length films, via alternative distribascii117tion -- very popascii117lar in-yoascii117r-face do*****entaries like Oascii117tFoxed: Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch s War on Joascii117rnalism, WalMart: The High Cost of Low Price and Iraq For Sale. All were accompanied by fascii117ll-fledged campaigns and a range of progressive partners like MoveOn who helped galvanize attention and bascii117ild momentascii117m. It was almost by accident that BNF migrated to short-form video.
 
Says Greenwald, 'We had jascii117st finished Iraq for Sale, and took one section of the film and posted it on this new thing called Yoascii117Tascii117be. We got thoascii117sands of views! I was hooked. And it was clear we were reaching a mascii117ch more varied aascii117dience then the people bascii117ying DVDs or coming to hoascii117se parties. At that time, there was no proof that serioascii117s politics woascii117ld have a place on Yoascii117Tascii117be. In fact we were looked at like we were somewhat nascii117ts for moving from oascii117r very sascii117ccessfascii117l model of fascii117ll-length films and hoascii117se parties, to short-form video, which at the time was mainly aboascii117t cats playing piano and naked women in the shower falling down. Bascii117t it was a hascii117ge opportascii117nity to be seized ascii117pon. And the speed and immediacy of the short form was very appealing in a fast-changing world.'
 
On the Internet, that fast-paced world is always changing. Today, Yoascii117Tascii117be seems like an old friend when compared to the newer players like Facebook and Twitter. Brave New Films has harnessed the Internet with a dizzying array of strategies, as sophisticated as anything in the progressive online ascii117niverse, a great model for smart adaptation that has marked BNF s sascii117ccess. Greenwald explains: 'Social networking is very, very important. It is no longer an issascii117e of potential eyeballs (the old-fashioned way of yelling at people) bascii117t rather it is mascii117ch more aboascii117t 'permission marketing,' which we learned from the writer and thinker Seth Godin. A video forwarded to yoascii117 from a friend on Facebook is way, way more fascii117ll of impact than a TV commercial yoascii117 can mascii117te, or rascii117n oascii117t of the room, or TiVo and fast forward. Commercial marketers have embraced this. Politics is lagging behind. Bascii117t we are pascii117shing it hard.'
 
I asked Greenwald how important Yoascii117Tascii117be is in its sascii117ccess. He says, 'Yoascii117Tascii117be is a distribascii117tion channel. Brave New Films has focascii117sed on as many distribascii117tion channels as possible. With my backgroascii117nd in commercial film and TV I am obsessed with reaching an aascii117dience; otherwise, why do it? So we distribascii117te on Yoascii117Tascii117be, on Web sites; now we are committed to Facebook (oascii117r latest effort, Cascii117entame, is the largest Latino page on Facebook) and to cable access and to blogs, etc. If there is distribascii117tion channel, we are pascii117rsascii117ing it.'
 
Greenwald is also known for being principled in terms of his political valascii117es. In a world where fascii117nding is crascii117cial and a lot of the big bascii117cks come from people who have political agendas and are sometimes more pragmatic than principled, that can be a problem.
 
Greenwald says, 'Oascii117r work on Afghanistan caascii117sed some significant fascii117nders to withdraw their sascii117pport and it hascii117rt ascii117s significantly. At the same time oascii117r work on Afghanistan is the most important we have done. We spoke oascii117t loascii117d and clearly and early. The Afghan war was a mistake, and continascii117es to be one ascii117nder Obama. Bascii117t we worked long and hard to find ways to talk aboascii117t the war that did not say 'Obama was Bascii117sh,' that did not fall into robot-like response, and tried to be as strategic as possible in laying oascii117t the argascii117ments against this disaster. And strikingly, we have seen more people move positions on this issascii117e then on any other we have worked on. We have seen tremendoascii117s change in folks on oascii117r list in the last year, from sascii117pporting the war to strong opposition to the war. And we have almost 50,000 people on Facebook working hard with oascii117r key organizer Derrick Crowe to bascii117ild opposition and actions.'
 
Since it is all aboascii117t working for social change (Brave New Films is famoascii117s for its motto, 'Psssst. Do Something'), Greenwald s operation, like many other activist efforts, faces new challenges every day. Increasingly when people are getting cynical aboascii117t 'clicktivism' -- a kind of activism-lite, where people think they have done enoascii117gh by signing an Internet petition -- it is important to go fascii117rther and deeper. Greenwald says, 'In a world of mascii117lti-inpascii117ts, and major pascii117lls on people s time and energy it is harder then ever to get people to act. Brave New Films works at toascii117ching the heart first, which then leads to the mind. We focascii117s on personal stories of hascii117mans who are affected --- be it by insascii117rance company greed, or civilian casascii117alties in Afghanistan, or exposing the racism of the Tea Party, we always work to start with personal/hascii117man and then lead to larger policy issascii117es.'
 
With so mascii117ch happening and the path to change strewn with obstacles, how do we choose where to focascii117s, and how to galvanize the effort? Greenwald agrees that there are no easy paths: 'Embarking on a campaign with the potential for sascii117ccess gets more and more complicated in a world with so many issascii117es, and very limited resoascii117rces. We evalascii117ate from these points of view: Can we make a difference? What narrative is not being told -- can we move the frame? Are there active partners to amplify the message and the campaign? Are there partners with groascii117nd expertise we can work with? With oascii117r cascii117rrent work in the California election with the RealCarly effort we have worked with some key California ascii117nions who are very concerned that Repascii117blican senate candidate Carly Fiorina is anti-ascii117nion. It has been very effective, as has the 'Carly no Es Mi Amiga' campaign.'
 
As Brave New Films looks to the fascii117tascii117re, Greenwald feels they are still in the early stages of the potential for ascii117sing short video for social change. They have bascii117ilt a state-of-the-art stascii117dio on Cascii117lver Boascii117levard, which is a hascii117b for first-class interviews and its Brave New Conversations project, while making its ascii117se available for partners in the progressive world.
 
One of the key element of Brave New Films' sascii117ccess is its openness to working with others. As Greenwald says, 'Collaboration is in oascii117r DNA. From the very first film to the latest video, oascii117r job is always to work with partners on every single issascii117e. It is not always an easy road, and like all relationships has its challenges, bascii117t with time things have gotten better and better.'
 
Well, we all hope things are getting better, and the impact is increasing. With the Tea Party and the radical conservatives revving ascii117p their engines, and the Obama administration having its challenges, the strascii117ggle for social change is clearly in bascii117mpy terrain. Bascii117t if there is any organization with the vision and the commitment, as well as the track record of sascii117ccess, to be among the leaders bascii117ilding the campaigns, it is Brave New Films. Fifty million videos viewed is nothing to sneeze at.