PENCIL Campaign Film

What we heard

The reach is the story. So is the range.

159 schools. 81,851 students. 500 square miles. Forty-four years of it.

PENCIL links community resources to Nashville public schools so young people achieve academic success and prepare for life. Time, treasure, and talent, moved through a collective impact model.

That geography is the honest answer to the representation question. Diversity here is not only who is on camera. It is diversity of need, school to school, from one edge of the county to the other. A campaign film that shows the range of the map shows the range of the need without having to say so.

After 44 years, PENCIL is the soft landing place for any adult who wants to get involved with MNPS.

PENCIL Foundation

The work already has a vocabulary: PENCIL Partners, the DG PENCIL Box, Connected Literacy Tutors, Principal for a Day. The film uses PENCIL’s language, not a translation of it.

The film

A case for support, built as a transformation story.

A school Metro closed, brought back by the community Metro serves. The building carries the narrative. The testimonials are seasoning, not the spine.

This matters for one specific reason. PENCIL already owns a board and community testimonial series on the endowment page. A campaign film that is mostly talking heads is a second version of an asset PENCIL already has. Structuring around the building instead delivers all three things the piece has to accomplish, who PENCIL is, what the MNPS partnership has produced, and why the wider community should care, without stapling three segments together.

Our approach

Film for the campaign. Build the library while we are there.

A shoot day costs the same whether we record five subjects or ten. The crew, the room, the lighting, and the setup are already paid for. We plan around that.

The interview day is the center of it. We build the question set with you first, then record more voices than the campaign film itself needs: leadership, board members, community supporters, partners, parents. The film takes what serves the ask. Everything else is finished material PENCIL already owns.

That surplus is the stockpile. Standalone social cuts, content for landing pages and campaign emails, and, if a second film ever gets funded, the footage to make it without buying another production day at full price.

Same thinking on b-roll. Volunteer events, after-school programs, tutoring sessions, and school appearances are already on PENCIL’s calendar. We schedule against what is happening anyway, so the campaign gets its coverage and PENCIL ends up with a library rather than only the shots this one cut needed.

It starts with the questions. Those are below.

Comparable work

NBIC, Topgolf Fundraiser

Fundraiser film, Nashville nonprofit

The closest thing in our library to what PENCIL is asking for. A film whose job is to move people toward giving, rather than to summarize something that already happened.

FiftyForward, 70th Anniversary Tribute

Anniversary film, Nashville nonprofit

The direct comparison, and the one already named in conversation. Institutional history carried by real voices, cut for a room of supporters rather than a feed.

Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, Gamechangers

Honoree series, multi deliverable

A full interview series built from concentrated shoot days, delivered as a film plus a library of standalone cuts. The same production model proposed here.

MNPS Elementary Music Festival

Event film, Metro Nashville Public Schools

Filmed inside the district PENCIL serves, with students on camera and Metro’s release process followed. The same conditions this campaign will shoot under.

Interview strategy

Nothing gets captured by accident.

Every question is built backward from something the campaign has to accomplish. Establish that PENCIL can be trusted with the money. Name the constraint. Make the case for the building. Give a donor a reason that is theirs, not PENCIL’s.

We walk into the day knowing which answer serves which moment, and we do not leave until we have it. That is the difference between coming back with footage and coming back with the film. Below is a sample of the set, written for this campaign. The final list is built with you once the subjects are confirmed.

Leadership

You have sat in this district as a teacher, as a parent, and on the board. What do you see from this seat that you could not see from those?
PENCIL covers 159 schools across 500 square miles. What does the range of need actually look like from one end of that map to the other?
What is PENCIL not able to do today because of the space you are in?
Why a building, and why now?

Board and major supporters

What made you say yes to PENCIL the first time?
When you talk about PENCIL to someone who has no children in Metro schools, what do you tell them?
You could put your time and your money almost anywhere in this city. Why here?
What would you want a donor to understand about this campaign before they decide?

Teachers and school partners

Walk me through the last time you shopped the DG PENCIL Box. What did you take, and what would you have done without it?
What does having a PENCIL Partner change about your school year?
What does it cost a teacher, in time or in money, when the resources are not there?

Volunteers and community

What do you actually do when you show up, and what do you get back?
You are not required to be involved in these schools. Why are you?
What would you say to someone in Nashville who thinks this is not their business?

Investment

Three ways to run it.

The middle tier is the scope described on our call. The first is the film alone. The third leaves PENCIL with a campaign library instead of a campaign video.

Tier One

The Campaign Film

$6,500

Campaign film, 2:30 to 3:00, finished and color graded
One interview day, up to five subjects
One b-roll day, aligned to a PENCIL event or program
Architectural renderings integrated as supplied
Three social cuts, :30 to :60, vertical and square
Licensed music and full sound mix
Two rounds of revisions

Tier Two, recommended

Film and Story Library

$9,500

Everything in Tier One, plus

Expanded interview day, up to ten subjects across board, leadership, partners, and community
Second b-roll day at a separate PENCIL event or school
Three standalone testimonial cuts, :60 to :90, built for social and landing pages
Six social cuts total
Full b-roll library delivered with an unlimited use license
Captions and subtitle files on all deliverables

Tier Three

Full Campaign Package

$13,500

Everything in Tier Two, plus

Second short film, :90, cut from the same material
Animated treatment of the architectural renderings
Third b-roll day
Ten social cuts total
Coverage of one campaign event
Asset refresh window, one additional cut within twelve months

Terms

The business end.

Deposit: 50% to reserve production dates. Balance due at final delivery.
Revisions: Two rounds included on the campaign film. Additional rounds billed separately.
Student releases: PENCIL confirms image release documentation is on file with Metro before any identifiable student is filmed. No student is filmed without that confirmation.
Renderings: Supplied by PENCIL at print resolution or better. Static integration is included in every tier. Animated treatment is a Tier Three item.
Confidentiality: If the campaign is pre-launch, all footage, stills, and project details are held confidential. Nothing is published or shown publicly by Laws of Ace Films before PENCIL’s own campaign launch.
Usage: PENCIL receives full unlimited use of all delivered material. Laws of Ace Films retains portfolio rights after the campaign goes public.
Travel: All shoot locations within Davidson County are included.

To start

What we need from PENCIL.

Six items, none of them heavy. Most are already sitting with someone on the team.

Which former MNPS school is being rehabbed, and access to film it as it standsBefore shoot
Campaign goal, and whether it sits alongside or inside the endowment pushBefore edit
Interview subject list, board and leadership and communityTwo weeks out
Architectural renderings, print resolution or betterBefore edit
Student image release confirmation, owner named on PENCIL’s sideBefore shoot
Calendar of volunteer events and program days to align b-roll toOn approval

Pick a tier and we will hold dates.

Contract and invoice go out the same day. Production dates are reserved on the deposit, and we build the interview and b-roll calendar around PENCIL’s existing events.

Bryan Williams
Laws of Ace Films LLC, Nashville
lawsofacefilms@gmail.com
MBE and SBE registered vendor, Metro Nashville Public Schools