The Earl & Rachel Smith Strand Theatre — Follow-Up Sequence

Target: The Earl & Rachel Smith Strand Theatre — 117 North Park Square, Marietta GA 30060 — 501(c)(3) historic performing-arts nonprofit (restored 1930s movie palace on Marietta Square)

Contact: no named contact published — route through the general inbox

Channel(s): Email boxoffice@strandmarietta.org (primary); friends@strandmarietta.org (donor/membership inbox, best for the year-end touch); Instagram DM @strandmarietta (alternate, at most one touch); phone 770.293.0080; IG/FB/X @strandmarietta

Source first-touch: registry/leads/drafts/strand-theatre-outreach.md (G3, built 2026-09-19)

Source row: targets.md G3 (Web-sourced candidates 2026-09-19)

Generated: 2026-09-20 (night-shift)

Assumes: no reply to the first touch (one free short piece, they pick the story, they own the footage)

Register: donor-funded 501(c)(3) historic performing-arts nonprofit; donor-facing storytelling, program and education content, member and volunteer voices, year-end giving — not a commercial sell

Cadence

|-------|--------|---------|------------------|

| 2 | D+12 | Email (boxoffice) | Free one-page "one performance, sixty seconds" donor-update guide (Appendix A), angled at the Strand Academy |

| 3 | D+20 | Email (boxoffice) | Donor-impact / "where the money goes" mini-story idea, plus an honest proof point |

| 4 | D+28 | Email (boxoffice) | The restored-building-as-character angle |

| 5 | D+36 | Email (friends) | Q4 year-end giving / member thank-you turn, door-open close |

Flags — read before sending

1. No named contact. There is no named staff member in the G3 row or the first-touch draft. Address the org generally — "Hi —" — and never invent a person. If Brandyn looks up a real staff or board name before sending, he can swap the greeting to a first name; otherwise keep it general.

2. No invented email. boxoffice@strandmarietta.org is primary and friends@strandmarietta.org is the donor/membership inbox. Do not invent a staff address or a new social handle. Email is primary; Instagram DM @strandmarietta is a labeled alternate for at most one touch (Touch 5 has a condensed DM variant). Pick one channel per touch — never double- or triple-send.

3. Facts confined to the first-touch draft and the G3 row. Restored 1930s theatre, Marietta Square, film series, jazz, silent film with a live organ, the Strand Academy, donor/rental apparatus, 501(c)(3). All from the row. Do not invent donor counts, funds raised, attendance, ticket prices, screening or event dates, staff/board names, productions, grants, awards, testimonials, or quotes. "A silent film flickering while the live organ swells," "a kid at the Academy walking into the theatre for the first time," and "the room on a Saturday night" are the through-line's own images; they name no specific person, date, or event.

4. Do not re-offer the free piece as the lead of every touch. The first touch already made the offer. Each touch below leads with a different value; the offer only returns as the closing line of Touch 5.

5. Do not imply the Strand is a current client anywhere. It is a cold prospect. The only real work referenced is held soft ("mission-driven media work I've done") with no results claims and no client language.

6. The seasonal hook is Q4 year-end giving (the biggest donor window of the year). Touch 5 routes to friends@strandmarietta.org because that is the donor/membership inbox, and names no specific campaign or date.

7. Stop the moment they reply. This is a conversation, not a drip. Any response restarts as a real thread and the remaining touches get dropped.

Touch 1 — The silent-film-with-live-organ sensory story (D+5)

Subject: the one thing your donor page can't show

Hi —

A donor page can list the organ, the restoration, the Academy. What it can't do is show a silent film flickering while the live organ swells underneath it, in the dark, in a room that's been doing this since the 1930s.

That one shot does more for the Strand than any paragraph. It's the thing people have to hear to believe, and right now they mostly read about it.

If there's a silent-film night on the calendar, that's where I'd start.

~85 words. Leads with the sensory gap — the organ under a flickering silent film — not a re-offer of the free shoot. "You pick it" carries forward from the first touch. No dates, no metrics, no invented event. The register is donor-facing storytelling: the organ is the fundraising language, not a sales hook.

Touch 2 — Free asset + the Strand Academy angle (D+12)

Subject: a one-page guide you could hand to whoever runs the Academy

Hi —

I put together a one-page guide for turning a single screening or performance into a 60-second donor update, shot on a phone. It's written so you could hand it to whoever runs the Strand Academy — no camera crew needed to start.

It's below, no strings. The kid walking into the theatre for the first time is the part most donor letters skip, and it's usually the part that moves them. If the "one story a month" rhythm reads like something that'd feed your year-end letters, that's the part I'd want to build with you.

— Brandyn
Ghost Coast Video · ghostcoast.video

~105 words. Delivers Appendix A. The Strand Academy / youth-education angle is the distinct lead value this touch. The "hand it to whoever runs the Academy" framing is aimed at a development/comms person who has to make the case internally, not at a direct video buyer.

Touch 3 — Donor-impact / "where the money goes" (D+20)

Subject: where the money goes, on camera

Hi —

The question every donor asks is "where does the money go." A donor page answers it with a list: the organ, the restoration, the Academy. What a list can't do is let a donor see the room they kept open.

What I know from the mission-driven media work I've done is that this doesn't wait on a production budget. The stories are already happening on Marietta Square. It's a matter of pointing a camera at them.

If you want, I'll turn one program into a 60-second piece so you can see what it does next to the written version.

— Brandyn
Ghost Coast Video · ghostcoast.video

~105 words. The "where the money goes" angle, tuned to a donor-funded nonprofit. The proof point stays soft — "mission-driven media work I've done" — with no named client, no results claim. Does not imply the Strand is a client anywhere.

Touch 4 — The restored-building-as-character angle (D+28)

Subject: the building is a character

Hi —

The Strand is one of the few places where the building is a character in its own story. A donor page can describe the restoration; it can't let someone feel what it's like to sit in a 1930s movie palace that's still running.

That's the piece most orgs miss. They film the event and forget the room. A 90-second cut that treats the building as the lead — the plaster, the marquee, the seats, the organ console waiting — does something a calendar listing never will.

If the restoration has a story worth telling, that's one I'd want on camera.

~100 words. The building-as-character angle, distinct from the sensory (Touch 1), the Academy (Touch 2), and the money (Touch 3). "The plaster, the marquee, the seats, the organ console waiting" is imagery about a real restored venue, not a fabricated event or person.

Touch 5 — Year-end giving, door-open close (D+36)

Subject: one face beats the year-end letter

Hi —

Q4 is the biggest donor window of the year, and the hard part of a year-end ask is making a year of programming land as something a donor can feel. A 60-second thank-you — a kid at the Academy, a full house on a Saturday night, the organist taking a bow — does more for the second gift than the letter alone.

I've sent a few notes over the last month and won't keep them coming if the timing's off. The offer stands as it was: one free piece, your pick, you own the footage. If the Strand ever wants its rooms and its people on camera, I'm around.

— Brandyn
Ghost Coast Video · ghostcoast.video

~110 words. Combines the Q4 year-end giving turn with the door-open close. No ask, no recap, no guilt. The "second gift" line is the donor-retention register, not a hard sell. Routed to friends@ because that's the donor/membership inbox.

Alternate channel (Instagram DM @strandmarietta): same message, condensed to the year-end/thank-you idea and the door-open line, signed "— Brandyn / ghostcoast.video". Use this only if email is getting nowhere; it is the one IG-DM touch allowed.

Appendix A — "One performance, sixty seconds" donor-update mini-guide

The deliverable for Touch 2. Self-contained; paste into an email or drop into a PDF/Google Doc.

One performance, sixty seconds — turning a Strand screening or show into a donor update on a phone

What it is. A short recipe for taking one real night at the Strand — a silent-film screening, a jazz set, an Academy session — and turning it into a 60-second update a donor can feel. Shot on a phone, no crew.

Why it works. A donor gives to a place, not a program list. The donor page can describe the organ, the restoration, and the Academy; it can't show a silent film flickering while the organ swells, or a kid walking into the theatre for the first time. One honest minute of a real night does what the whole page can't.

The shot list (shoot in this order, in whatever order the night actually happens).

The house before doors. Empty seats, the marquee lit, the quiet before anyone arrives.
The organist at the console. Hands on the keys, the pedals, the moment before the first note.
The audience in the dark. Faces turned toward the screen or the stage, not posing.
A teacher with students in the Academy. The kid seeing the inside of the theatre for the first time.
The marquee at night. The sign that says the place is still open.
The room after the lights come up. Chairs, programs, the quiet at the end of the night.

The one question. Ask one person — a donor, a member, a volunteer, whoever's willing — one question and let them answer in their own words: "What is it about this place?" Don't coach the answer. That single answer is the whole story.

The cut. One place, one moment, one voice. Sixty seconds. The phone footage carries the room; the one answer carries the meaning. End on the person, not the logo.

What a donor gets. A feeling instead of a description. A reason to give again. A piece they can share, which does the asking for the org.

What the Strand gets. Donor retention — the second gift is the hard one, and it's earned with a face. Footage for the next year-end letter and the next grant application. A library that builds itself one screening at a time, at no cost to start.

The rule of thumb. A donor remembers the organ swelling under a flickering film, not the list of programs.

Notes for Brandyn

Appendix A is ready to deploy as a one-page PDF or Google Doc for Touch 2. The "one performance, sixty seconds" angle with the historic-venue shot list is what makes it Strand-specific rather than a generic nonprofit checklist, and it is distinct from the Emmaus House "one program day, sixty seconds" guide and the CCI "The Room Makes the Story" checklist.
Strongest touch if only one gets sent: Touch 1 (the silent-film-with-live-organ sensory story). Touch 5 (year-end to friends@) is the close second because it's tied to the Q4 giving calendar, which is exactly when a donor-funded arts nonprofit needs story assets.
The greeting stays general until Brandyn looks up a real staff or board name. Every touch is written as "Hi —" for that reason.
Downstream asks stay held until a real conversation, per the first-touch draft: paid recurring series, event documentation, a full year-end campaign video. None of these appear as asks in this sequence.
No fabricated clients, metrics, program names, dates, or testimonials anywhere. Only the Strand's own published facts are named: the film series, jazz, silent film with a live organ, the Strand Academy, the donor/rental apparatus, the restored 1930s palace, and the Marietta Square address.