Ep 129: Bringing Moulin Rouge & Abandoned Warehouses to Life?! | Fabien Riggall (Founder, Secret Cinema)

So This Is My Why

What does it take to bring a movie to life & have the general public participant as actual characters in said movie?!

You need only ask Fabien Riggall - founder of Future Shots and Secret Cinema.

Fabien has always loved films and began his career working as a runner before becoming an assistant producer of short films.

In 2003, he set up Future Shorts: A series of mini pop-up film festivals that took off in 2003.

That eventually evolved into the creation of a skate park under London Bridge, where around 400 strangers showed up to become part of the skating community & be part of the murder mystery story!

Secret Cinema is premised on the idea that films can be turned into large-scale real life, cultural experiences in abandoned spaces.

The location and details of each World are never reveled and the film title is often kept secret (the reason for this was that it was entirely by accident!).

Secret Cinema grew into such a phenomenon that it eventually sold to TodayTix in 2022 for £89 million!

And some of its most famous works include: The Great Gatsby, Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back, Blade Runner and Moulin Rouge.

If you're curious in learning what it takes to build a whole movement & transform the way people see and use abandoned spaces while bring film to life on an epic scale, then this is certainly the episode for you!

Highlights:

• 4:31 Morocco
• 6:41 Becoming a farmer and an actor?!
• 7:43 I don't want permission!
• 11:23 Running festivals
• 12:13 Soul-destroying work
• 15:45 Leveraging the internet
• 16:57 Selling out a murder mystery event at a secret skate park under London Bridge
• 19:47 Finding the right people
• 23:45 Pushing the boundaries
• 30:14 Building trust via newsletters?!
• 32:59 A limit to provocation
• 36:54 Maintaining your voice
• 39:28 Biggest battles waged & won
• 43:32 Stepping away from Secret Cinema?!
• 47:01 Achieving everything that Fabien wanted?

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/129

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