The Film
Shot over 17 months, GENERATION STARTUP captures the struggles and triumphs of six recent college graduates building startups in Detroit. This raw, honest but ultimately uplifting film celebrates moving outside our comfort zone, diversity in startups and entrepreneurship as a driver of economic development.
reaching a wide audience
We were entrepreneurial and strategic in our distribution in order to achieve wide reach.
Theatrical: We premiered at Obama’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit and film festivals, then released GENERATION STARTUP theatrically in NY, LA and Detroit in fall 2016, garnering positive national press and buzz. This drove robust demand for event screenings across the country.
Event Screenings: Hundreds of major corporations, venture funds, startups, foundations and nonprofits organized public and private screenings to create community or internal team building around the film. Cheryl Houser and others involved in the film often spoke at these event screenings.
Netflix and other Outlets: Netflix released the film in the U.S. six months after our theatrical release. It is now available on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, Vudu and other outlets.
Educational: Universities across the country have organized event screenings around the film, and an educational distributor is licensing it to middle schools, high schools, universities and libraries for educators to use in their classrooms. We created robust curriculum around eight themes in the film to accompany our educational release.
American Film Showcase: GENERATION STARTUP was shown around the world as part of a cultural diplomacy program through the State Department and USC Film School. Cheryl Houser traveled with it to Tunisia, Chile, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos where she conducted workshops and speaking engagements for the filmmaking and entrepreneurship communities in those countries.
event screenings (A Small sampling)
Event Screenings Testimonials
NETFLIX
Netflix released the film to their 49.5 million subscribers in the U.S. six months after our theatrical release.
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