This is an article crammed full of juicy information, but here are the bullet points:
Five things you need to know:
* Shares of Universal Music Group, the world’s largest record company, plummeted this week. If you want to know why, this newsletter helps explain.
* Rupert Murdoch is seeking to change the family’s trust to ensure his more liberal children don’t affect his conservative media empire.
* India is the fastest-growing video market in the world.
* The WNBA All-Star Game delivered record ratings, more than doubling the previous high. This year’s midseason event was more popular than the NHL All-Star Game.
* YouTube advertising sales jumped 13% to $8.7 billion. But they still disappointed Wall Street.
Then there's the Magnolia story and their new strategy for film distribution, which seems to be, in a word or two, "focused advertising". So if you're are wondering, it's about knowing who your audience is and where they hang out (their affiliations).
Please share your thoughts, below.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-07-28/-longlegs-thelma-a...
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"Independent films have benefited from a relative dearth of big-budget studio movies. Neither Longlegs nor Thelma opened against a big hit, instead releasing the weekend after a monster smash." Sounds like a smart move by indie distributors, Geoff Hall!
"Independent studios have also placed an even greater emphasis on marketing." That's great! Sometimes I don't hear about an indie film until months or years later, but I understand why. Indie filmmakers and studios usually have less money to spend on marketing. One way to battle that is indie filmmakers and studios coming up with unique marketing campaigns that don't cost a lot of money, like two filmmakers or studios coming together to do a mini Barbenheimer marketing event on social media.
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Maurice Vaughan yeah, Maurice. I usually hear about good indie films after they’ve finished a short run at the cinema. It’s a shame. The whole thing about knowing your audience, outside of the wishful thinking of “this film is for everyone”.
Having a publicist also helps. They know a lot more about audiences than we do and where they hang out.
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You're right, Geoff Hall. Having a publicist helps. Stage 32 published a blog about hiring a publicist a few months ago. www.stage32.com/blog/waiting-until-post-production-to-hire-a-film-public...
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Maurice Vaughan thanks, Maurice. I’ll check it out.
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You're welcome, Geoff Hall.
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I was looking at the movies out right now, and the one studio film (non-indie, not IP) in theaters is Fly Me to the Moon, which did not perform at the box office against it's bloated $100M budget. Which looks terrible because it's the only example of this kind available. 10 years ago there would've been a handful of these types of films and some of them would've done well. 20 years ago, there would've been dozens. Studios getting too skittish and risk averse has opened up a market for Premium indies like Longlegs which are absolutely smashing at the box office, while studios miss out on free money pretty much.
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Pat Alexander thanks Pat. Yes, that fall away is sad, but I think films like Longlegs and lower budget films will find a niche and become profitable. They will find their market.