fictionsmith

You’re getting more than what you pay for, and that can’t last forever. 

Think of how much you are willing to pay for a movie.  When I see a trailer for a film, I almost immediately categorize the film:
A) See in theaters
B) Wait for the dollar theater
C) Rental
D) Not interested.

Note that B & C cost me $1 with the advent of Redbox.  One dollar.  Think of the budget of the film that you’re watching.  It probably ranges between $10m-$200m, depending on the genre.  It has gone through millions of dollars worth of marketing and advertising to make you aware of the film.

.:S.A.D.

Let’s look at a bit of economics. 

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With the advent of cheaper filmmaking technology, more people are able to start making films, which means there are now far more films on the market.

Supply is up.  There’s only a certain amount of dollars out there that people are willing to pay for the percentage of their day that they’re wanting to devote to entertainment.  They now have many, many more options.

So what does this do?  This creates competition for that share of the marketplace.  Companies drop prices to get customers to purchase their wares.  Big corporations can eat those costs because the tentpole films make plenty of money and the smaller ones can afford to not be successful.

.:Indies

New question: What happens when you only have one film?

The independent artist can’t afford to take one loss, and the studios know this.  Distributors look at the independent artist and know that they’re probably almost bankrupt from bankrolling their own endeavor, and aren’t in any place to hold out for ‘something better’ than getting maybe a quarter of their production costs upfront and rarely anything beyond that.

While a worthy topic to explore, it needs to just be a footnote here.  Let’s go back to how the populous has come to view movies.

.:Price Differences

Now the question: Who wants to see an indie film that doesn’t have familiar A-list actors, snappy cover art, professionally crafted trailers to hook you in for 15 to 20 times the cost of something you missed in theaters that looked exciting?

This is what the indie filmmaker has to fight.  He can’t afford to sell his film for $5 to compete with the Wal-Mart bin, nor $1 to compete with Redbox.  He has to price it somewhere between $15-$25, which is much steeper than most people are willing to pay anymore… and yet, I know filmmakers who have finished their work and are constantly barraged with the question, “Can I have a copy?”  And this often comes from family and friends.

We assume that since the movie is for sale in a major outlet, that it’s just a studio that can take a hit if you find a way to see the movie without having to pay for it.  If I get a film distributor to take the risk and distribute Greyscale, it could wind up in Wal-Mart or on Netflix.  I’d still only get a percentage of DVD sales (after the movie sells enough copies to cover whatever advance they give me and then beyond whatever advertising costs the distribution company spends, which isn’t a transparent process), and nothing else beyond that (note: Netflix and Blockbuster buy DVDs, and renting a film doesn’t help the filmmaker unless enough people do it and cause them to buy more DVDs for people to rent to keep up with demand).

People haven’t had to pay much for media lately unless they want to see it in the theater.  It’s become increasingly easy to illegally download movies, watch on Hulu, Netflix (instant watch or otherwise), or TiVo a movie and just skip the commercials.

.:In Conclusion

All that to say, this is an industry that makes expensive products for cheap and can only afford to operate at a financial loss for so long.  Tentpole franchise films and flicks like Avatar can help keep it afloat, but those that don’t have millions and millions of dollars to utilize top name talent and top pro crews & equipment can’t keep up with the public mindset that we don’t need to pay (especially during a recession).

Bands have to tour and sell merchandise because a lot of indie bands don’t make much money off their music (and many give it away for free just to reach more people and build a fanbase).  But, when you start giving a film away, people will no longer want to pay for it (trust me, I know a guy that went down that road and it didn’t work out for them).

So, I humbly ask that if you know an artist, support them.  They need you and your word of mouth.

vcD,
-R