Ink

Wow. Even I’m a little surprised at the incredible “overnight” success of Jamin Winans brilliant film Ink. In two days Ink has jumped 81,093% on imdb to #16. And with the brilliance only the 21st century could bring, this is due in large part to the movie being illegally downloaded hundreds of thousands of times (the other part is the fact that the movie is absolutely genius).

Why am I doing a blog post on this? Because Ink is absolute proof that if you make an incredible movie, it will find an audience. Ink was rejected by numerous film festivals, told by distributors that “they don’t know how to market it,” and continually turned down by those at the top. Ink never got a distributor, had no marketing budget, and has only spread via word of mouth and viral marketing. The growth of its popularity in a few days is greater than movies with millions of dollars behind them! Think about that. Movies that spend millions(!) of dollars on marketing can’t compete with Ink. Why? Because it’s a brilliant movie. (Check out Jamin’s most recent blog post on this newfound success.)

Ink has been years in the making (as are most “overnight successes”), and there have been thousands upon thousands of man hours put into the movie. The lesson: hard work pays off. If you create something brilliant, people will find it. Keep on pushing. Don’t take no for an answer. No one ever made a statue of a critic. Ignore them, and make the best art possible.

Ink will be on the shelf at every Blockbuster in the US, on Netflix, and iTunes tomorrow. Rent it. Buy it. Watch it.