Last year I spoke with Cinedigm Entertainment Group chairman and CEO Chris McGurk about his vision for digital distribution. Multi-media programming and an infusion of new indie blood would not only spur theatrical box office with a TV-like programming model but also feed the other home and mobile platforms and inspire greater content. Well, McGurk expounded on his vision Saturday morning as the keynote speaker at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Although I wasn’t able to make McGurk’s keynote this morning, Anne Thompson has graciously posted it in its entirety at TOH/Indiewire.
Highlights of McGurk’s “Seven Signs of the Renaissance of Independent Film” include:
The Production Revolution:
“[The] coming Indie Film Renaissance is like the one of the ‘60s and ‘70s, which was driven by lower production costs.”
The Distribution Revolution:
“Just look at the film Margin Call, which was released last Oct. 21 on just 199 screens. That same day, it was also released on VOD, allowing in-home viewing for about $8. Two months later, it was put out on DVD. The movie cost $3.5 million to make and took in $4 million on VOD, $5 million in domestic theaters and another $5 million internationally. So it was solidly profitable before it even went into other ancillary markets… something that rarely happens with major studio releases. Margin Call provides a glimpse of the kinds of distribution opportunities that are now available for independent films.”
Narrow Casting:
“The creative possibilities are endless: Action sports series, comedy nights, educational extension programs during the day, ballet, Broadway and other cultural programming, and so on. The idea is to fill seats by precisely aligning content with avid audiences in a communal setting. In essence, the strategy is to program a targeted digital theater footprint by day and daypart almost like a TV network. And it doesn’t have to be top-down programming. There are innovative new services like Tugg, Gathr and Cinedigm’s own crowd-sourcing platform that allow people to vote online for content they’d like to see in theaters. Once enough people sign on, the movie is booked and seats get filled.”
Targeted Marketing:
For distributors, instead of spending millions on blanket TV ads and billboards, we can target our messages much more efficiently, so that every marketing dollar has a high probability of putting a butt in a seat or a download in the cloud.”
More Dollars:
“More commerce equals more art…”
So, I will confidently predict that we are about to see cinema history repeat itself yet again. In the past, whether it was the arrival of sound or TV or home video, each time new technology came on the scene, it was initially viewed as the enemy. Instead, each time it led to new paradigms of success. I am confident that the same will be true of digital technology … and the sky will continue to remain right up there where it belongs. As all eight signs are predicting … an Indie Renaissance is indeed on the horizon.”