newcritics

About a week ago, I went to a meeting, for the International Institute for Film Financing, located in Norwalk, Connecticut on the emerging independent film industry in Connecticut. As an actor, I have no aspirations at this present time to be produce films; nevertheless, I have a curious nature–maybe it’s from my arbitrage trading days. On my own, I heard from several sources that more and more films were being produced in Connecticut, and 30% of the film costs could qualify for a tax exemption—pretty significant savings for an investor. That evening, I took a wealth of information from well versed professionals on the subject of financing and producing films. I would like to share several of those insights with you.

One member of the panel, an entertainment lawyer, Alan Neigher began his discussion with a anecedote about an independent film that was made in CT. several years ago, and had a limited run because the producers were unable to find distribution. Neigher said the film was a gem with a star cast; however, the film could not survive. So how do you get a film shown in theaters, or out in the public’s attention? It’s all about marketing, it’s worthwhile to have funds allocated early on in a budget for a worst case scenerio. Neigher stressed the importance of giving the film a fighting chance in a ridicously competive market. He gives the following example for a $1.5 million film: budget $150,000 for marketing; use the money for 3 or 4 theaters; for advertising; college papers; cable and internet marketing. Even though as an actor my job is finished once the film is made; however, I’d like to know that the my art has contributed to a project that has a pretty good chance of being noticed. Bottom line, be savvy, and just don’t hope for a miracle.

Several of the speakers talked about the ever changing media landscape, and how technology has become a driving force in entertainment. The major networks CBS, NBC, and ABC no longer have the same standing as they once did during TV’s golden age. Instead in the past several years their ratings have dropped significantly. With the explosion of technology, we are being drawn to other mediums. As an actor, this information proves a reminder to look at the non-tradional forms of film making for employment; the internet market cannot be ignored. No question, the internet has a strong pull on viewers; it’s more economical, it offers unlimited options, such as endless, and on demand viewing. For example, it’s rare that I sit down and watch tv, it’s a dying American tradition. Now we take our lap tops, cell phones, ipods anywhere with us, and watch what we want when we want. Overall, I believe this could be a plus for the film industry, but the tradional mindset needs to shift. Instead of targeting a film for theaters, it might be more advantegeous to go straight to DVD.

There were so many topics discussed, but one other that I’d like to share is the importance of understanding demographics in order to target your specific audience to a specific genre. One of the presenters, Gary Theroux an entertainment historian explained an important ingredient in making a sucessful film is understanding who is the target audience, and the main demographic in the US is the age range from 35 and up. This particular group has the most funds available, therefore, they are the largest consumers. Also how a film is rated increase its likelhood for survival; G and PG ratings do the best. R movies are a harder to promote to the population at large–NC-17 rating is virtually an impossible sell. Generally kid friendly movies sell on average 4 tickets per family vs. date movies, which sell only 2 tickets.

I often am reminded of one of my voice teachers Patsy Rodenburg who used to say to her American acting students, “why do you Americans work for free, I can’t understand it, you should seek to get paid for your art”. I couldn’t agree with her more…

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving…

(for more information please visit: http://forum.filmfinancing.org)