Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Innovative film marketing
Sunday evening I saw a preview screening of a new art film, entitled Yes.
Interesting movie, you can read my review here, but that's not my point right now.
My point is that this was a screening specifically put on for local bloggers. Apparently it took some convincing, mostly by Mark Pincus, but Sony agreed to do two blogger screenings, one in NY, one in SF.
I have no idea how much this costs them. Rental of the space (the Delancey Street Screening Room...did you know that even existed? What a great little space!) and that's about it?
And I'm sure they felt there was risk involved...what if notoriously snarky bloggers come not to praise "Yes," but to bury it? I actually think human nature, even of bloggers, will mitigate the risk. It is absolutely true that if someone gives you something, and you're not required to blog about it, then your mother's words will ring in your ears: "If you don't have anything nice to say, say nothing at all." Now most people I talked to liked the film very much. The couple of guys who didn't...well I haven't seen them blog about it yet.
But the potential reward is 2 weeks of pre-Opening buzz in two critical art film cities. This is the kind of movie that opens in one theatre in a few big cities and if, and only if, it has a successful, sold-out initial run in those cities then maybe, and only maybe, will it get wider release.
Now, Lions Gate Films tried to be innovative by having its directors, most notably David Duchovny, blog about their films coming out. This was to encourage people to go see the film in its opening runs in NY and LA...and try for that wider audience. It didn't quite work out for his film, "House of D."
"Yes" is opening in SF in about 2 or 3 weeks and this approach is trying to get a group of local influential people to start the buzz, based on having seen the film, not on simply having read about it.
I wonder if anyone talked to the rather uncomfortable-looking Sony exec to find out if he thought it was worth it...or perhaps we'll have to wait a few weeks to find out. It's all heady for bloggers to get the kind of attention and focus that Sony, and last week KRON, that's being paid to them. Eventually it will be interesting to see how this attention pays off...and interesting to see whether media companies continue to pay it if no tangible results can be quantified.
YesFilm
Interesting movie, you can read my review here, but that's not my point right now.
My point is that this was a screening specifically put on for local bloggers. Apparently it took some convincing, mostly by Mark Pincus, but Sony agreed to do two blogger screenings, one in NY, one in SF.
I have no idea how much this costs them. Rental of the space (the Delancey Street Screening Room...did you know that even existed? What a great little space!) and that's about it?
And I'm sure they felt there was risk involved...what if notoriously snarky bloggers come not to praise "Yes," but to bury it? I actually think human nature, even of bloggers, will mitigate the risk. It is absolutely true that if someone gives you something, and you're not required to blog about it, then your mother's words will ring in your ears: "If you don't have anything nice to say, say nothing at all." Now most people I talked to liked the film very much. The couple of guys who didn't...well I haven't seen them blog about it yet.
But the potential reward is 2 weeks of pre-Opening buzz in two critical art film cities. This is the kind of movie that opens in one theatre in a few big cities and if, and only if, it has a successful, sold-out initial run in those cities then maybe, and only maybe, will it get wider release.
Now, Lions Gate Films tried to be innovative by having its directors, most notably David Duchovny, blog about their films coming out. This was to encourage people to go see the film in its opening runs in NY and LA...and try for that wider audience. It didn't quite work out for his film, "House of D."
"Yes" is opening in SF in about 2 or 3 weeks and this approach is trying to get a group of local influential people to start the buzz, based on having seen the film, not on simply having read about it.
I wonder if anyone talked to the rather uncomfortable-looking Sony exec to find out if he thought it was worth it...or perhaps we'll have to wait a few weeks to find out. It's all heady for bloggers to get the kind of attention and focus that Sony, and last week KRON, that's being paid to them. Eventually it will be interesting to see how this attention pays off...and interesting to see whether media companies continue to pay it if no tangible results can be quantified.
YesFilm
// posted by ElisaC @ 3:25 PM 
