We’re proud to announce that our new partnership with Tugg is now LIVE! Tugg is a “theatrical-on-demand” platform that gives documentary fanbases like ours access to 90% of the movie theaters in the United States. Tugg helps you book a movie theater near your home, advertise, sell tickets, and stage a high-caliber screening to build education, advocacy, support, and awareness in your area.
You simply won’t believe how easy it is. And it is unbelievably cool.
And for those outside the US or who would like to do Community Screenings of Forgotten Plague, Tugg enables screenings of the film at churches, hospitals, universities, schools, or any other community center. It’s not just movie theaters. It’s anywhere.
So check out our video below. And roll with us as we present a series of posts this week to help you learn about Tugg and get pumped about staging your screening to show this amazing film to your awesome friends, family, colleagues, and community at large.
Get ready to turbo-charge ME/CFS advocacy across the world with us. Things are about to switch into a very high gear!
Editor’s note: Many patients have asked how they can see the film if they are too ill to attend theatrical screenings. Screenings are incredibly important for bringing the film to the wider community, so if you are a mild patient or a healthy ally, please consider organizing a screening and inviting friends, families, colleagues who may not know much about the illness. For patients who are home or bed bound, the film will be available on DVD and Video on Demand in the coming months.
9 thoughts on “Stage Your Screening of Forgotten Plague!”
hi ryan, you realize you are asking broke ME patients to pay $300 to host a screening of your film which likely no one in the community has any interest in, any chance you’ll rethink the economics of this?
Hi Ruddy,
Thanks for reaching out. Glad you asked!
Our team of over two dozen people has spent over two years getting to this point. And it’s been messages from people all over the world that’ve fueled this production, of perfect strangers on other continents who wrote to us, new people nearly every day, who said thank you, bless you. Who said they were praying for our success. That gratitude was our life force; it was a message that simply the promise of a potential film was enough to build hope and transform lives.
That was what motivated professionals at the top of their game to join us on this quest. People from Turner Broadcasting and Disney, even an alumna of an Academy Award-nominated film; so many took pay cuts or even worked for free because they knew something special was brewing, they worked on Forgotten Plague because it was a story that moved them. They knew this wasn’t just a movie, that it was a movement.
That spirit was what made me demand countless late nights from our employees, forcing them to be better, to never cut corners. I would get a message in our inbox at 1 in the morning and I knew we could push a little harder because we knew exactly who we were fighting for. That was what made us push on through a sleepless night in an emergency room a thousand miles from home when we collapsed from exhaustion and trauma. Not just one of us, but two of us were admitted to the hospital that night. Yet the cameras kept rolling and we labored onward on the road to film more top experts.
We were always motivated by millions of sufferers just like you. We heard directly from thousands of them. This is not my film, this is not our team’s film. This is the community’s film. It was the community’s spirit that birthed it and it is the community’s spirit that will continue to sustain it.
And if I could wave a magic wand and make the screenings free, I would do it in a heartbeat. When our team began Tugg screenings meetings over 5 months ago, I was always the one pushing back, saying why can’t we make it cheaper? But this is a cost of doing a global distribution of a feature-length film, and quality things in this world simply can’t happen on their own. I wish they could. We’ve heard from 150+ individuals and groups who have said they want Forgotten Plague shown in their community; the screenings will double as fundraisers, as education, as awareness, as drives for more petition signatures for more research funding. There is something financial involved upfront, but it pales in comparison compared to what these worldwide events can accomplish. In certain cases, it may take some creativity for people to figure out how to make it work, but the rewards far, far outweigh the costs. But our team will be with people every step of the way, mentoring, advising, sweating, and suffering with all who join us.
On our end, at the Blue Ribbon Foundation, our contract states that 50% of the proceeds are to be poured directly back into research, to continue our mission, which remains unchanged from day one: “to foster an international dialogue toward finding the cause, cure, and prevention of neuro-immune diseases.” Our fellowship program teaching medical students about this disease has completed its first year, and in recent days we’ve already received financial pledges to double it. That’s the kind of impact the film release is already having. The ground is shifting. And its only the very beginning of what we’ll be able to accomplish as the film is launched into the world.
thanks for your comment; I am not suggesting that you give free screenings, but at $300 a pop it’s not much of an activist tool. I hope you make some of your $ back; I’ll be waiting til the dvd release before approaching ppl on securing a space. best, red
Ryan, that is a great, thoughtful response! I’m looking into organising a screening here in Canberra, Australia. Can’t wait to see the film!
Hi Ruddy – just to chime in (as someone who will also be doing some kind of grassroots distribution down the line) while organizers are responsible for a screening license, they are also empowered to collect funds to support that screening. So for example, if you charged $10/ticket and were able to gather 30 people, you will have covered your costs as well as given Ryan and his team the financial support they need to continue their grassroots outreach campaign AND fund their goal of improving medical education.
For patients who do not have the capacity to organize screenings, the film will eventually be available via VOD and DVD for home viewers.
hi jen thanks for commenting,
unfortunately charging even as much as $10 a ticket would not be economically feasible in my community. the library does show docos but those are always free of charge, and for good reason. I don’t think I am allowed to use their facilities for “commercial” purposes (I have asked). I’m sure this is a fabulous documentary and I’m sorry I can’t help spread the word. I wish ryan and friends the best.
And screenings can be an incredibly powerful opportunity to bring people together around an event and encourage future collaboration and community.
I agree.
Keen to do this in Hobart! Do we need to have access to a proper cinema facility or can we do it with the tug platform if someone has a large screen tv or projector?
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