I can guarantee you’ve heard it many times, even if you don’t know that you have. The Wilhelm Scream has been used in over 200 movies and tv shows, including every single Star Wars and Indiana Jones movie. Once you’re aware of it, you’ll start to recognize it everywhere.
Here are a bunch of fun movie-clip examples from movies and tv shows where it was used again and again over the years.
The Wilhelm Scream is a long-running Hollywood in-joke, like Hidden Mickeys and Easter Eggs in films, tv shows, computer games, and websites. Some movie and tv series wouldn’t dream of not including it – it’s a cheeky and gleeful exercise for the cast, crew, and post-production teams and a joyful treasure hunt for true fans to find. “It’s become like a ‘Where’s Waldo’ thing” that’s still used to say “hello” to other sound editors who are paying attention,” says Hollywood Sound Museum founder (and sound editor) Steve Lee.
A friend mentioned The Wilhelm Scream to me a few days ago, and it led me to thinking about our work (not the screaming part. Necessarily). We have lots of things in fundraising that are “inside baseball,” like acronyms (GDPR, LYBUNT, HIPAA), report templates, and even simple words like ‘prospect’ and ‘development’ and ‘advancement’. No one outside of fundraising would understand them unless we explained them. They’re terms that both include and exclude. Comfort and confuse. But when we hear them away from work, we recognize fellow travelers.
How can we use a Wilhelm Scream-style nugget in our work?
When we think about bits that we can insert into profiles, process documents, manuals, or even the dreaded event briefing, what do (or could) we add to them that would bring delight and commonality in the end-user’s discovering?
What might those things be? Take a second now, if you would, to just think about that for yourself. I’ll wait.
We all want our work to be read, and used, and useful. And the one thing we dread is doing a whole lot of work, only for it to sit on a shelf, unread. (That silent sound you hear from an unread profile is definitely a scream, but not the (in) kind I’ve been talking about).
Maybe you want to create a new section in a briefing, specifically designed to hold the best bits. It might not even be the same thing every time, depending on the entity you’re researching or the information you’re presenting, or the end-user you’re delivering to. Different people might be thrilled with different things.
Maybe you add connection points.
Or life-changing moments that impacted the donor’s philanthropic priorities.
Or shared values or backgrounds that resonate both with a fundraiser and donor.
Consider, for this new year: what is something you could design specifically to delight an end user…that would also bring you a cheeky joy to create and deliver?
