Distribution : Meta-Cinema and Why This Distributor Is Embracing the New Creator Economy by Geoff Hall

There's some interesting thoughts in there, some which I think are problematic, and I sense this person's wish to be something she isn't. What she is in fact, is one of the gatekeepers which she rails against (though it's a soft railing). What she seems to want to be is someone who helps creators. I did find this statement odd "...the brutal truth is: there are too many films being made, lots for misguided reasons, and the old funnel can’t handle them." I absolutely agree that many are made for what you could say misguided reasons - but that certainly isn't exclusive to independent film. One of the symptoms of the decline of the studios is their reasoning behind the rehash-reboot cycle as well as the overtly pandering stories and casting aimed at capitalizing on current social trends instead of smart stories. Those films are certainly made for misguided reasons. As for independent film - I wonder what she means by "misguided" - because I have the same observation, but for me it means films made by talent-free creators who were never told they shouldn't be in the industry. However, to her thought on "too manyu films" - in the on-demand economy, not only are there NOT too many films being made, but the appetite of the market will eat up more than is possible to make. That is the actual economic problem of our industry which has evolved into a mega-budget production industry. They can't keep up. The fact that out of 1500 films "available" to her she can only take 10% of the ones they screen - that's a function of the size of her own distribution net, not of the number of films. You can't buy everything if you don't have the money...

Shadow Dragu-Mihai, Esq., Ipg Hi Shadow, the author of this article is Richard Korber of Kino Korber Media, so I think you mean ‘he’ throughout?

With his roots as a gatekeeper in distribution, I think it’s clear why he thinks there are “too many films” being made and that’s because traditional forms of distribution can’t cope with them all. I think he answers his own statement, when he talks about “meta-cinema” (beyond cinema). For Mr Korber, he may need to look at other means for distribution for his films?

So, can I ask you to answer the questions in the post, please Shadow:

What do those channels look like for you? How do you see the possibilities for the transmission of your content, beyond traditional distribution?

Geoff Hall That's a good question, unfortunately the way to my answer has a several components. As the FilmPod paradigm begins to roll out, we deal with this question again and again, almost daily. One thing people need to understand is that the environment is complex. We have internal studies (in the IPG) which we are about the release, which confirm on one hand that the historical vanishing of MGs and advances for indie films - and their "lack of profitability" - are a direct result of MPA cartel activities - not a result of too many titles or of market economics. Since the DOJ set aside the Paramount Decrees in 2020, the cartel has openly employed the same tactics that landed them into antitrust and RICO trouble many years ago. The tech exists for everyone to stream your film from your own website. The major studios cannot stop it. But there is another challenge, and it has nothing to do with film: (a) search engine algorithms and commercial advertising have converged and (b) are now controlled by a de facto monopoly, Google, which (c) has introduced AI controlled searches. When I started Moviesight.net in 2002, we had organic traffic from day one, with absolutely NO advertising. Today, organic traffic is nearly nonexistent for any website. You cannot get significant traffic to your website without paying a lot of money, and essentially feeding the Google machine. This is made worse by the AI search, which now creates the "zero click search" - in other words the Google search summarizes your web page on the search results so that the user never even has to go to your site. This puts Google in the role of an "arbiter of truth" and owner of all information - your website and the info on it is de facto controlled by them. (DOJ is investigating this with the potential aim of breaking up Google, but don't hold your breath yet). So - an individual producer can make a film and physically deliver it, but marketing it has gotten orders of magnitude more difficult and more expensive. This calculus affects ALL platforms and streamers including the majors. The clear answer is that independent filmmakers need to be on a centralized site, but one which allows them to have the lions share of actual revenues (which is what FilmPod will do). How to deal with the algorithm? That's where our Digital Box Office structure comes in - it secures audience in advance of releases, and generates word of mouth outside the algorithm. I can't explain how here, but I will do in another post very soon.

Shadow Dragu-Mihai, Esq., Ipg thank you, Shadow. I am eager to see what effect the FilmPod has, to benefit indie productions.

I look forward to your post on the Digital Box Office.

Geoff Hall The first of several articles, examining the current environment independent film faces, is posted and I comment on it under this lounge. There will be a couple others and I have to say the challenges get worse. But we have to have a thorough understanding of what we are facing as individual producers and as an industry sector, before being able to craft a viable set of strategies to get us into profitability.

Shadow Dragu-Mihai, Esq., Ipg thanks, Shadow. I will check it out.