Poptent.net is kind of a mysterious site. There are different levels to Poptent that the vast majority of members will never gain access to. Most filmmakers who join Poptent are allowed to submit to any of the Public Assignments that are posted here: www.poptent.net/assignments. But if you actually manage to make a sale, you might be invited to take part in a special “Invite Only” assignment. As the name indicates, only invited filmmakers are allowed to participate in those. And let me tell you, these closed assignments are pretty sweet. Usually the invited filmmakers get a little (or even a lot) of guaranteed cash to help produce their submissions. I think one of my greatest video contest victories was the one time I managed to win one of these private assignments. I was competing against the cream of the poptent crop so I almost couldn’t believe it when the brand actually picked my commercial. If you’ve never seen an Invite Only assignment before, click here to see what one looks like: https://www.poptent.net/assignment/24 That was a private assignment Omni Hotels ran last year. I got invited to that one and everybody that shot entries got a free hotel room for a night and a hundred bucks. One of the only negative things about private assignments is that once you accept an invitation, you’re obligated to shoot a submission. If you don’t do an entry, you seriously hurt your chances of ever being invited again. When it came time to shoot my Omni submission, I was terribly, horribly sick. But the folks at Omni went through a lot of trouble to get me a room in Chicago so I figured it would be kind of a dick move not to show up and shoot in it.
Beyond the Invite-Only assignments, there’s another level to Poptent that even I haven’t gotten to see. At the top of the assignment pyramid there are “Direct Assignments.” Only a tiny number of people are asked to participate in those assignments and sometimes, that number is ONE. Yes, sometimes Poptent runs one-person assignments. Basically, filmmakers in these super-private assignments are sort of hired directly by the brand and poptent acts as a middleman. Sometimes two or three members might be asked to submit scripts and then the brand will pay to produce the idea they like the best.
And that’s what happened in this Direct Assignment that was run by the non-profit organization, ChildHelp. Two members were asked to write scripts that would feature Shaquille O’neal and Betty White. Child Help picked the script they liked best and the director got to shoot it. The PSA that was created for this assignment is pretty good and it’s cool to see a Poptent video that has big celebrities in it.
Purchased by ChildHelp. Purchase Price: $7,500:
It looks like ChildHelp also paid for the director to create a behind the scenes video. It’s actually very interesting to see how the project was produced so I’ll post it. To my surprise, it looks like the PSA was shot with a DSLR.
Purchased by ChildHelp. Purchase Price: $3,500:
So, now that I’ve got you excited, I bet you’re wondering what you have to do to get invited to one of these super secret, ultra exclusive assignments. Well guess what? That’s something I’d like to know too! Poptent’s method for selecting filmmakers is kind of a mystery. But someone on the staff once told me that it has something to do with a member’s unofficial “karma” score. And I got the impression that your score is based on how many assignments you’ve entered, the number of medals you’ve won and how you treat the other members in the community. So if you play nice with others and if you do great work, someone on the staff will probably, eventually notice and send you an invite to a private assignment.
