A MUST READ: Brian Newman's "Selling Your Film - When Is the Best Time?"
If you haven't already, you must read Brian Newman's latest blog post, "Selling Your Film - When Is The Best Time?", which you can—and better—do right here.
I am not a progressive thinker when it comes to... well, when it comes to anything, really... but as far as trying to figure out how to best maximize profit when it comes to independent cinema, I'm as useful as a doorknob. Which is why it's so great to have smarter people out there to express exactly how I feel. Now, when someone wants to talk about this issue, I can keep my own sloppy mouth shut and simply point them in the direction of Brian's piece. That said, I do have a few things to get off my brain (I love when people say "Don't listen to me!" and then proceed to start blabbering):
This recent frenzy surrounding multi-format day-and-date releases in conjunction with a film's world premiere has always left me feeling suspect, and now, thanks to Brian (and Tom Hall, whose comment in that post is icing on the cake), I feel like I know why. It's that everyone—namely the powers-that-be (i.e., companies), though now it's apparent that filmmakers are in the same camp—seem to think that they are maximizing publicity by doing everything at once, at the very beginning. When the reality is that they aren't "maximizing" anything. What they're actually doing, at least with the way things are currently set up, is limiting their potential to reach new viewers.
I was going to embark on a silly experiment this year and videotape people I encountered during my journey to-and-fro Park City to ask them what film they were most looking forward to at Sundance. But I didn't have to do that to make my point (to myself at least). It was obvious that outside of our tiny circle, nobody cared. As Brian explained, that is why the YouTube experiment failed. If anything, the lackluster numbers for that project—however noble in theory—were a blatant reminder of this rather deflating reality. Like when I tuned into the Gotham Awards online last year and noted that, at its busiest moment, 600 people were watching (the same went for the Sundance Awards, though those numbers were slightly higher).
The recent desire to "maximize" the situation in this particular way isn't helping. If anything, it's a blatant case of us succumbing—I hate to use the word pathetically, but so be it—to our hyper-fast modern world in which "quicker and more immediate is better-better-better!". Maybe I'm a luddite Buddhist hippie, but I still believe with every ounce of my being that slow, steady, and wise wins the race. (Part of me wants to make a March Madness reference here, but I'll spare you that.) Even a breakout phenomenon like Paranormal Activity's path into mainstream consciousness took years to gestate. Mainstream awareness—and especially semi-mainstream awareness—does not happen overnight. Only obscene amounts of money can buy that, but who wants that anyway (I should, I guess, but I don't).
Another thing that seems to be missing from all of these discussions is the hard truth that INDEPENDENT FILMS NEVER MADE ANY MONEY. This, to me, is the biggest delusion of the moment, and it's why my instinct is to simply ignore so many of these panels and pow-wows. So much of the talking seems to be about how to not make a hearty profit, per se, but to at least persist and continue. Yet hasn't this always been a freakish lottery? Hasn't it always been a once-in-a-lifetime three-quarter court buzzer beater (sorry, it had to be done)? I'm not desperately clinging to the past, but if someone—ahem, Mr. Newman? are you reading this?—wants to pull together a symposium in which the aim is to respect the film festival's role in this crazy equation and that understands the importance of a traditional, steady word-of-mouth campaign in ensuring a film's longevity and success, well, then, I might actually sign up for that one.
As I stated above, I certainly don't have any solutions to this quandary. Except to say, is it even a quandary??? Is the world really that different? Maybe, for just a few moments, we should stop and look around and imagine—go with me here—as if it's the same ol' world we were living in yesterday, before all of this "sky is falling!" business began. Maybe we should shut up and worry about making good movies.
5 Comments
Eli Manning | April 11, 2010 5:47 AM
Word. You're on a roll, Tully.
ingrid Veninger | March 30, 2010 2:19 AM
Hurray! Love your words.
Mynette Louie | March 30, 2010 1:39 AM
Great post, Mike, and you're right that lately there is too much talk about the "biz" side of things and not enough focus on the films themselves. However, it's hard to say to a potential investor, "Yeah, well, indie films don't ever make any money, so don't expect to recoup." Of course producers should forewarn them that indie films are a risky investment, but investors want to know that there is at least some hope of making their money back, and that filmmakers will try their best to make that happen. I do believe that CHILDREN OF INVENTION will make back its budget...it make take another year or two, but it will happen. Filmmakers cannot have a defeatist attitude about recoupment going in. If all we want to make is unrecoupable "good art," then we should only seek grants.
Mynette Louie | March 30, 2010 1:36 AM
Great post, Mike, and you're right that lately there is too much talk about the "biz" side of things and not enough focus on the films themselves. However, it's hard to say to a potential investor, "Yeah, well, indie films don't ever make any money, so don't expect to recoup." Of course producers should forewarn them that indie films are a risky investment, but investors want to know that there is at least some hope of making their money back, and that filmmakers will try their best to make that happen. I do believe that CHILDREN OF INVENTION will make back its budget...it make take another year or two, but it will happen. Filmmakers cannot have a defeatist attitude about recoupment going in. If all we want to make is unrecoupable "good art," then we should only seek grants.
Brian Newman | March 29, 2010 9:31 AM
I'm reading...and thanks for the nice words and the link. I'd be happy to be part of such a convening, but since I no longer run an institution, it would be hard to host it. I would be willing to sit with others and think about how to put something together though. Also, on indie films never making money - with a few exceptions, this has always been the case. I always say that digital's biggest effect has been exposing these myths...so look for a blog post on that next. Thanks again