In the book “Think Outside the Box Office” by John Reiss is an entire section I have been ignoring: ”Sanity and the Future”. The first chapter is: “Keeping Sane”. Last night I took that chapter to bed with me and as I read it I must have had a hundred ”AHA” moments. As in: ”Wow, I’m not the only one who feels like she’s working into a black abyss of self-distribution” – it was like reading confessions of a “DIY-Distributor’s Anonymous” meeting. – DIYDA.
The book talks about other things the fact that creative talent hates to deal with the business side of things, but that’s not even it for me. I’m a producer and I run small business and I actually very much enjoy the business side of things, but what drives me absolutely NUTS is the fact that everything moves at a glacial (as in when glaciers didn’t melt yet) pace. In production decisions are made fast and you get bids, crews, equipment, answers, etc. immediately. Now everything feels like pulling teeth – and very slowly so. Consultant Peter Broderick gave me one good piece of advice: don’t rush anything, take your time to decide what to do…. great advice, especially for a producer, but more than not it feels like I don’t have a choice either.
I think a very obvious piece of advice and one I wish I would have gotten from the get go would be: your film is not like any other film and what worked for others will not necessarily work for you – sounds really straight forward, no? Yes, and no. There are SO MANY moving variables. Every decision you make has ramifications for other venues of distribution and some of them demand a very strict sequence of distribution, lest you shoot yourself in the foot and have your world premiere inadvertently with a small screening in a library and the big film festival you’ve been dreaming about will now no longer consider your film.
I would say, first and foremost: learn who likes your film; show your film: who loves your film, who responds to your film - how do different groups react? Are there common denominators with groups of people, e.g. educators, women, religious groups, professionals? LISTEN….
a really insightful review of the book, thanks Nina! I will post this on the Think Outside the Box Office Facebook page so all can read your comments.
Thank you, Sheri! I’m sure I’ll get back to talking aout “Think Outisde the Box Office”…. it’s a life saver. Nina
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