Last tax season, four Tongal creators paired up with Block Advisors for free small business tax prep, as a first step towards this larger initiative and campaign: 

• Manny + Mi Media
• Van Voorhis Productions
• Angela, Start to Finish Media
• Max Rattner

THE H&R BLOCK FAMILY OF BRANDS:

• H&R Block: Allows you to file the way you want: sitting on the couch or with the help of a tax pro. Either way you decide, you'll always get your max refund. Guaranteed.
• Spruce: A mobile banking platform to help you set goals, earn cash back at select retailers, and get paychecks up to two days early. All aimed at helping you be better with money.
• Block Advisors: With small business certified tax pros, expertise is available to help you with your business needs, including tax prep, bookkeeping, and business formation and payroll.

Whether you're just starting your career as a creator or you're an established production company running your shoots through an LLC and payroll services, there are a ton of financial and tax topics you should be thinking about. But even if you knew where to begin, do you really have time for that? Luckily, H&R Block's family of businesses can cover all of it: there's Spruce for mobile banking, Block Advisors for professional small business guidance, and H&R Block's tax pros for flexible tax prep and filing options. H&R Block is built for creators, gig workers, and side hustlers just like you, and they're teaming up with Tongal to be the official tax brand for creators everywhere.

To do that, we want to start BIG with an anthem video for broadcast and social that will announce our partnership to the world, tell the story of H&R Block's family of brands, and show how H&R Block's brands can help creators just like you – I.E. independent filmmakers or animation studios, side hustler pr-editors, and boutique production companies – achieve their goals. This anthem video will be the cornerstone of a 360º campaign supported by content from many Tongal creators, and should establish this three-way partnership – H&R Block, Tongal, and you – clearly and with excitement. 

Therefore, while we're expecting you to be creative, clever, and go big with this anthem video, you must also think about how your own story fits in. It's paramount that you position the H&R Block brands squarely in the lives of creators to establish a natural but exciting relationship: after all, it takes a lot of resources, time, and attention to start a freelance career or run a small business, and H&R Block can help lessen the load on your shoulders. It takes hustle and spirit, vision and passion to do what you do – especially when you may not have always had access to or even knowledge of the tools and resources to set you up for long-term business success – and that's a compelling story. So weave in your story, and don't shy away from showing a little swagger as you do.

For now, don't worry about whether the anthem video will be a :30 or a :60, or what additional content or cutdowns could come out of it to further shape the campaign. Right now, the plan here is to develop your pitches with the H&R Block team so that every angle of the story is being represented and positioned in the best and clearest way possible to reach more creators so that viewers understand and are excited about H&R Block's family of brands and how Spruce, H&R Block, and Block Advisors can be a solution in managing the different aspects of their finances and business. So we're starting with a Pitch Qualification Phase, and four teams will be selected and receive funding to put together a full pitch detailing your approach to the anthem video and how that can build into a broader campaign with work from more Tongal creators.

THE PROCESS

• In the Pitch Qualification Phase, we want to see who's interested, available, and a lightweight outline of your story and creative approach to the anthem video. You'll be asked to briefly introduce yourself, your creative approach, and provide links to relevant past work. You may go choose to go deeper with your Treatment if you find it helpful to share more  or provide case studies, but at this stage, it's really not necessary or expected.
• Four greenlit Pitch Qualification creators will be advanced to the Pitch Phase, and given $1,000 in funding to put together a full pitch, including a full treatment for the campaign and a pitch video. For your treatment, you may include sample scripts or storyboards, photo boards, mood boards, etc, but what's paramount is a detailed creative approach and breakdown. Your pitch video can be how you introduce yourself to the H&R Block team and put a face to your name, a rip reel, or a proof of concept.
• The Sponsor will evaluate these pitches, and select one or more creator to move forward into pre-production.

NOTE: For now, the project budget only reflects the total pitch funding for four greenlit Pitch Qualification creators. Greenlit creators will work with H&R Block and Tongal to establish an accurate budget for the anthem video under a separate project page.

For any questions or other project updates, check out the Project Forum.

 

DELIVERABLES: While the immediate goal of this project is to create a :30 or :60 anthem video for broadcast and social, the bigger goal is to develop the creative beyond an anthem video to inform a broader campaign with work from more Tongal creators. You can expect deliverables to include 16x9, 1x1/4x5, and 9x16 aspect ratios and span lengths from :06–:90. 

 

TIMELINE: HERE.

 

EXPOSURE: We anticipate content will be used on the platforms listed below, but if casting talent, please be sure your talent reviews the required Talent Release, as it is not limited to these platforms. You should also review our Music providers in the Project Requirements, as well as the platform best practices page.

• Broadcast
• H&R Block / family brand owned sites and channels
• Instagram
• TikTok
• Facebook
• YouTube

 

TARGET AUDIENCE:  Other creators, filmmakers, small business owners, and freelance creators in the gig or side hustle economies, especially those who are new to complex/non-individual tax filing and/or starting out on their small business journey (setting up and registering their business, learning bookkeeping, etc.). 

 

TONE: Attention-getting, relatable, exciting, authentic, informative, entertaining, encouraging.

 

EXECUTIONAL MANDATORIES: 

• You must establish the three-way partnership between the H&R Block family of brands, Tongal, and you/creators like you.
• Your anthem video must speak to services and support offered by all three of H&R Block's brands: Spruce, Block Advisors, and H&R Block; and how they support creators and their financial and business goals.

 

By participating in this project, creators acknowledge that the Sponsor is under no obligation to greenlight a submission. Though most projects on our platform do move forward, we will notify you in the event the Sponsor decides not to fund any submissions via the project forum. Regardless of the result, all submissions will be reviewed and evaluated by the Sponsor and the project team.

PITCH QUALIFICATION PHASE:

In order to be considered for the full Pitch Phase, you must include the below materials in your Pitch Qualification Submission. This Phase gives filmmakers the opportunity to submit a 500-character synopsis with some initial creative thoughts for the social suite, and tell us a bit more about your team. Six creators will then be given $750 to develop robust treatments as part of the Pitch Phase.

 

• TEXT (REQUIRED): Up to 500 characters synopsizing how you plan to approach and produce the content listed out in the Deliverables.
  
  
• TREATMENT (REQUIRED): This document should include a profile of you, your company, and a brief synopsis of your creative approach. You may go choose to go deeper with your Treatment if you find it helpful to share more or provide case studies, but a deep creative approach is neither necessary nor expected here.
  
  
• LINKS (REQUIRED): To relevant previous video work. Please specify your role (producer, director, cinematography, etc.) and DO NOT INCLUDE LINKS TO YOUR SHOWREEL. Please link to individual videos.

PITCH PHASE:

If selected to move forward to the Pitch Phase, you will be sent additional information about the campaign to create a robust Treatment as part of your pitch. You must include the below materials in your pitch submission to be considered for this project. For examples of effective pitches, check out this gallery.

 

• TEXT (REQUIRED): Up to 500 characters synopsizing how you plan to approach and produce the content listed out in the Deliverables.
  
  
• LINKS (REQUIRED): To your previous video work. Please specify your role (producer, director, cinematography, etc.) and DO NOT INCLUDE LINKS TO YOUR SHOWREEL. Please link to individual videos.
  
  
• TREATMENT (REQUIRED): A more detailed and specific description of how you propose to execute all of the content listed out in the Deliverables, both in terms of what we can expect to see, and how you’ll make it. If it's helpful to you, we've provided a treatment template, which you can find here.
  
  
• PITCH VIDEO (REQUIRED): This is your opportunity to be face-to-face with the Sponsor and show them what you're capable of. Consider submitting a pitch video in which you tell the Sponsor what they can expect should they choose your pitch. Also, test videos, animatics, etc. are welcome. For some examples of effective Pitch videos, check out this gallery. All Pitches will remain private until after the Sponsor gives creator(s) the green light to move forward.

1. In addition to the standard Tongal W-9, Winner Affidavit, and IP Assignment, greenlit Video creators MUST also provide Talent, Location, Music (or other) Releases for all assets appearing in their Videos, as well as a photograph/headshot OR copy of a photo ID for all On-camera Talent releases. You must also provide all project files, editing sequences and a 1080p .mov master file, using a ProRes, Animation, or Uncompressed Codec to claim your earnings.
   
   
2. Unless provided otherwise, all work must be your own original creation and free of any copyrighted material. You shall provide detailed information of your work regarding the source, the creator and background information as requested by Tongal.
   
   
3. In the event you utilize any third-party materials, such as music provided by a third-party music provider not provided by Tongal, you must obtain full written license and consent from the owner of such third-party materials and provide such license and consent forms to Tongal.
   
   
4. The Sponsor will be entitled to reasonable revisions on the finished Videos without providing additional compensation. Remember it's easier to re-edit than re-shoot so try to get as much coverage as possible.
   
   
5. Preferred format for upload to the Tongal website is HD 720p and formatted for the aspect ratios listed in the Deliverables (e.g. 16x9). Acceptable file formats are .mov, .avi, .mp4, .wmv. Acceptable codecs are H.264 (MP4), MPEG-4, H.263, MPGV, WMV, DivX. Should your submission be greenlit, you will also be required to provide a 1080p .mov master file, using a ProRes, Animation, or Uncompressed Codec.
   
   
6. BY SUBMITTING A VIDEO ENTRY, YOUR SUBMISSION IMMEDIATELY BECOMES THE SOLE PROPERTY OF TONGAL OR ITS ASSIGNEES – SEE OFFICIAL RULES FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT OWNERSHIP OF ENTRIES. YOU MAY NOT PUBLICLY SHARE OR PUBLISH YOUR SUBMISSION IN ANY MANNER AND YOU MAY NOT POST OR UPLOAD YOUR SUBMISSION TO ANY WEBSITE OR VIDEO HOSTING SITE (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE OR VIMEO), WITHOUT THE PRIOR EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF TONGAL. FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS REQUIREMENT MAY RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION OF YOUR ENTRY IN THE PROJECT.
   
   
7. You may not contact any employees or members of the Sponsor's organization, their affiliates, or any of their partners. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in disqualification of your entry in the project.
   
   
8. In addition to the judging criteria stated in the OFFICIAL RULES, Pitches will also be evaluated on that member's ability to execute the final Video based on their prior work and experience as a filmmaker.
   
   
9. Videos must be in the English language or subtitled.
   
   
10. Submissions must not portray Sponsor in a negative way, the determination of which will solely reside with Sponsor, nor can Submissions contain any profanity, offensive language, nudity or otherwise objectionable material, the determination of which is solely at the discretion of Sponsor.
    
    
11. You must be at least thirteen (13) years or older to enter.
    
    
12. The Sponsor reserves the right to repost the contest.
    
    
13. See OFFICIAL RULES for additional contest information, terms and conditions. If there is any conflict or inconsistency between these requirements and the Official Rules, the terms and conditions of these requirements shall prevail.