If you’ve spent some time on the site, this group should ring a bell. North of Now has been active on Tongal since January 2013 and they currently hold the #3 spot on the Production Leaderboard with a lifetime earnings of over $600K!
This year their Huggies spot, “Explorers,” earned a Tongies nomination for Best Short-Form Video. So yea, they’re kind of a big deal – more than worthy of a spotlight-piece in the Tongal blog. (Let me see if I can do them justice!)
Through Tongal, North of Now’s Tyler Funk has found major success working with such esteemed brands as Disney, LEGO, Johnson & Johnson, Ford… The list goes on -- and now he’s making a major splash in the original content world with his hit Vine series “White Ninja,” which he’ll be hosting a panel on this week at the SXSW festival in Austin!
I had a great conversation with Tyler about his Tongal journey: from first $700 budget video, to eclipsing the half million-dollar mark…and beyond!
Tongal (T): You’ve been so busy on Tongal, do you even remember your first win?
Tyler Funk (TF): The first pitch I won was for Excedrin, I remember being so excited and really putting it all into that one. We shot with 6 actors at 8 locations in TWO DAYS - it was a crazy shoot. We ended up placing fairly low, but that just made me more determined to try again. Right away I was hooked.
T: I like that aspect of immediately wanting to get back in the ring, but how do you deal with the highs and lows of winning/losing pitches?
TF: You never know when the pitch or video win will come, sometimes it’s right after one and it all seems so easy and other times there are really large gaps and it feels like you can’t do anything right. But over time it all seems to balance out. I think the important thing is to keep having fun and to keep exploring ideas that interest you. Being on a “losing streak” is always discouraging and tough, but I think it usually means it’s just time to change up your process and try a new approach.
T: Clearly you’ve had a good pulse on when to change up your game. The shear numbers (half a million) is certainly nothing to scoff at!
TF: The milestones just seem to happen. I’m never too focused on them and always amazed when looking back at how much I’ve been able to do with Tongal over the past three years. I try to focus on one project at a time and continually push myself and my team to keep creating better content. Focus on creating great content and everything else seems to fall into place.
T: What was your career like before Tongal?
TF: I had just finished film school and received development money to finish a feature screenplay - I’d shot several short films that had festival success, but that didn’t amount to a full time career. At the time I was split between writing my screenplay and serving at a local restaurant. Soon after getting started on Tongal things really began to pick up, I was able to quit and focus on being a director full time.
T: What advice do you have for new filmmakers trying to break into the winner’s circle on Tongal?
TF: Keep at it and focus on what you can bring to the table. Every filmmaker has a unique perspective… Find your own style and use what’s around you to your advantage. Try not to get too caught up trying to shoot on the latest gear or the most expensive cameras, often that will over complicate things. Rather, find your style and how you can best tell the stories the way you want to.
T: Any tips on making a successful Pitch?
TF: Read the Brief and really get a feel for the brand, and then ask yourself, “What can [I] bring to the pitch that is unique?” Focus on why you’re the perfect filmmaker to create that piece of content.
T: How has your success on Tongal affected your life/career outside of Tongal?
TF: Tongal has provided me with an amazing window of opportunity. I’ve been able to build my own company and work with my best friends. [Everything from] commercials to web series and narrative work, Tongal has helped me discover a talented community community to work with.
T: Which is a nice segue to “White Ninja.” Really awesome, funny work. What drew you to Vine as a viable place to produce original content?
TF: Since its inception I’ve always been very curious about creating content for Vine. Whenever a new platform gains popularity it provides for a unique window of opportunity. I like to think of Vine as platform where Youtube was 10 years ago, it’s still finding its stars and discovering what it is as a platform and I think that is what makes the platform such an attractive place to experiment and to try something new. Also, at 6 seconds a video, it allows you to try many different approaches and a safety net if you fail.
T: Where did the inspiration for White Ninja come from?
TF: White Ninja was a comic I used to read in high school. It’s a property that I had always wanted to turn into an animation yet when I was younger I didn’t have the team and skills to do so.
T: I’ve noticed there’s a group of directors partaking in the different episodes. Can you tell me how you got everyone involved in the production and how you eventually got Paul Scheer on board?
TF: Tongal is a great site for working with new people and really getting to know the local filmmaking community no matter where you are. After two years on Tongal I found my team of voice actors, animators, sound designers and producers [I needed] to bring White Ninja to life. [I] acquired the rights, we created a trailer and went on to find funding for the project.
In creating the first narrative series on Vine I wanted to bring in elements of traditional media and also stay true to the platform. This meant organizing the project like a TV show with a writers’ room, team of directors and a name actor who could help the project stand out.
Throughout university I had been a big fan of The League and thought that Paul [Scheer] had the perfect voice to bring White Ninja to life. The warmth and playfulness to his voice brings an amazing likeability to the character. We were able to attach Paul to the project after going through his agency and having a lunch with him to pitch the project.
Dealing with agents and pitching are two skills that I’ve honed thanks to all my Tongal projects and are always useful skills to work on.
Since our launch we’ve had over 18 millions loops, 50k followers and are one of the top 4000 accounts on Vine. For a site of over 200 millions users we’re ecstatic about how far the show has come and what the future holds.
Check out North of Now’s Tongal profile page to view some of their Tongal Projects and “White Ninja” in all of its animated glory (warning - mature content/adult language).
