Why Movie Distributors No Longer Do Marketing - Jeff Deverett

It would also explain why some movie marketing is failing and does a good job

That's because the "streaming rush" is about bulking up the volume of their catalogue, and they couldn't care less about the indie films they're licensing. It's back to the dynamic where your film isn't going to be valued unless you have a name actor in it.

you should clarify the difference between "distributors" and "sales reps". People don't know and there IS a difference

How about kip trying to be a film director, get married and become a father to a child?
(With an ironclad prenup of course)

He is 100% correct.

I don't want to detract from his points but I do have to point something out. What's in it for the distributor? Being emotionally involved I mean. Just imagine the hell of being emotionally involved in, say, lightyear. Or the matrix reboot. Those were big influential movies and the reboot should have been huge. But it sucked, the writing was awful, the concept was uninspired and the fighting was derivative AND badly done. Just imagine being emotionally attached to that. If I'm a distributor and I'm looking at all the productions that should have been smash hits and wound up being massive failures, yeah I'm going to hold back on the emotional investment and get what I can out of that mess.

I completely understand the whole emotional attachment to your creation thing. And I think it's completely understandable. Nobody pours that much of their time and energy into creating something that says nothing and which they don't care about.

Lack of skill, or miscalculation, or any number of mismatches in the production process can cause failure, but it's rarely a lack of passion.

I seen movies looking like 10k budget that the Female with me Loved it ! 😂 its all about the story 😂 lol he is In his Rich World

💎💎💎

These Rock!

I really like this guy

In the last several months, I've noticed how uninteresting movie marketing campaigns have become. They don't put any effort into promoting their movies. Because of that, nobody talks about these movies or has organic conversations about them. This is why a lot of movies aren't doing well at the box office lately. Studios should really study the marketing campaigns of movies that have been box office hits and take inspiration from those campaigns to promote their movies.

So the irony of the film industry and his feedback on the model is those people selling the product never engage with it but expect to make money regardless. People watch TV and film because they emotionally engage with it. Anyone else seeing the disconnect? No understanding of the product or audience, no effort to engage, let's throw a pile of productions at people and see what makes us money. Does that even work in any other industry these days? Wow nelly.. processing this and beyond concerned.

It's a weird time for large budgeted films out there that are getting bank rolled and aren't finding an audience because of the glut of films out there. Hollywood is focused on superheroes, adaptions, remakes and sequels. Cinema might be dead, but indie film is thriving - people making cheap low budget stuff all over the place.

But even what he is talking about is no longer true. The makers of the film are some directors for hire who don’t care much for the material they are making. The days of the passion project are over when you hire a Jar Jar Abrams or Zack Schyder or even a Ron Howard in a film like Solo. They are picked because they have a name but it’s not there creation so they have very little
Invested either.

"If you didn't make a great movie, you're not in the game. Gotta make a good movie", there are people out there who have decent careers in bad movies, directors, actors, technicians, editors, writers. It is possible to make a living making bad movies, just look at Neil Breen, The Asylum movies (Sharknado), Troma movies, Roger Corman movies. Plus these days, so bad it's good movies are hugely popular. So you can be in the game making terrible movies, just might be in a different sport than the Hollywood players.

I'm sure all this applies to all the remakes just to make $.

Art and imagiation are all left up to computers, only greed remains.

Universal pioneered all this in 1982 when they threw The Dark Crystal away.

No skin in the game.

So distributors no longer have a value add. So what's the point in using them? Everybody along the chain is supposed to add value to the process, not just put their hand out.

I missed hearing from Jeff

a half a minute clip on loop. pathetic.

Perhaps this is unjust of me but I can't help but be skeptical to the advice of the director of Full out 2: You got this

I just made a great moviegfor 9k..id love to hear you opinion

Distributors aren't giving indie filmmakers Minimum Guarantees anymore and for the most part if you don't get any of that upfront money then you won't see another dime from them anyway since they hide any profits under "recouping marketing expenses" -- so what good is a distributor to an indie filmmaker at all? It's the reason why majority filmmakers can't sustain a living from doing it as a career and the reason others just tap out and give up to get a day job eventually.

In my experience also, if you are working with a low budget film. The festival route is a good way to go to get that exposure too

I totally agree. My fiancé had a movie with a UK release, and a streamer USA release. UK was amazing there was marketing etc, but the US release has no marketing at all. Usually if it’s released theatrically there will be a marketing campaign, but streaming services have so much product they won’t release it unless it’s a big movie/tv show with bigger names actors.

Be aware! Just because they won't market your film doesn't mean they won't CHARGE you to not market your film.

The suits need creatives. They can extract dollars (in the short term) through existing media channels, but they can't do anything new. They can't do what we do.

After watching this, it confirms my worst fears as to the future of the cinema industry. So sad.

I love this guy

this is really technical 😟

If a great movie plays in a forest and no one is there, does it make a sound? Cheers Film Courage!

This was pure

You don't want marketers overly emotionally attached, because then they call 'fans' Russian bots

Great interview. This is what so many young and naïve film makers don't know. I have been saying this for years.

I love how the interviewer stated that most actors and artists don't want to do things themselves that will propel their career (paraphrasing) And I totally agree! As a PR specialist I absolutely despise working with people who don't even want to do interviews to promote their project, they don't want to do radio interviews, they don't want to be featured in the blogs all they want to do is just create and then wonder why they don't get the same results of those that actually hit the circuit and promote their projects. Love this interview

I have seen distributors and international sales agents selling films at major film markets and certainly it's clear from their sales pitches that they know nothing about the film.
But worse, they aren't even making a half-tempting pitch. I could understand it if they were over-hyping, making a film sound more broadly appealing than it actually is, but they really aren't
The stereotype is the brash huckster snake-oil salesman claiming that their wares are the most thrilling, the most action-packed, the most star-studded, the most glamorous, when what they are selling is a mundane snooze-fest. What I saw was more like the reverse.

If you haven’t already, I think it’d be cool to see you interview Robert Schwartzman regarding his Altavod distribution platform.

The Harsh Truths from Jeff once again he always drops a few gems it's always much appreciated Happy New Year Hope you have a great 2022

Film courage is my film school

For clarification: In California, it's illegal for agents and managers to charge a retainer fee. So, that's not going to be a problem.

I laughed as soon as Jeff mentioned time. People just have no idea that time really is money and that is why the big names in the business get paid so much money. Arnold Schwarzenegger was not able to make the studio sign a contract that would pay him more in money and fringe benefits than the actual film cost to make because he is that talented. He was able to do that because at that time, Schwarzenegger's name still had a certain guarantee of returns, and the makers of Terminator 3 were not the only ones asking him for months out of his life.

I am a poor, disabled, wannabe author. But when people are treating my time as if it is valuable, I reciprocate because in my head, I am thinking about who else needs their time and how much of a gift that person's time is.

I didn't realise that so many people watched low-budget movies. If something looks kinda janky I won't even bother. I barely have time to watch $100M movies

Great informative video

Unfortunately, you speak the truth.

We are culturally bankrupt. Empty movies made by empty suits.