Varity is the Spice of Life?

On occasion I head on out and try to see what's new at the local video store. You know that building that has a lot of DVD's where you choose which movie your going to watch that evening. It seems like yesterday when there were so many of those mom & pop stores that had actual video cassettes of movies that you once saw or never heard of. In the 80's it was all about action adventure, horror videos & porn. Very few studios released their films onto tape as quick as they do know. Today it seems as though a film that was playing three months ago is easily available on DVD soon after its release. It's the nature of the beast. In todays marketplace there are companies now such as Netflix that deliver DVD's to your door. It has become a consumer orientated driven business. At one time you get a name actor in your film & have some exploitative elements in your film and you were guaranteed a release, but now it's different. The DV revolution kind of put a movie camera in every bodies hands and suddenly everyone were making movies. Some of these movies were not as stellar as the traditional studio movies, and a consumer backlash occured. Why rent a poorly filmed cheap film when you could rent studio blockbusters.

That's when those mom & pop store began to fade and the more traditional video rental stores began springing up. These stores loaded up on the latest Hollywood blockbuster films. Someone has Batman out? No problem we have twenty copies of the movie. Suddenly the prices for those videos skyrocketed, and mom & pop stores couldn't afford the prices of these tapes. Eventually this didn't last because Hollywood wasn't making enough product, and so in stepped these lower budgeted studio films. Some were successful & others weren't, but this leads me to today's market.

Not only are movies being rented now, but games are also being rented. We now live in a society that competes for your entertainment dollars. Gaming, DVD's, and the Internet have become the battleground for studios to fight over. The consumer has a lot of choices, so what do the studios do but make BIGGER budgeted films. Their job now is to create the BLOCKBUSTER, and mine that blockbuster for all its worth.

The good thing is that if you have GOOD film. Meaning that if there are good performances in the film, and that there are some exploitable elements which you can market you may have a chance to market your film successfully. But if you're just another erotic thriller, or action adventure you better have a hook that draws your audience in.

I looked what were on the shelves, and was astounded at the product. Movies of all genres, and of all budget ranges. Each film professed to have a hook through it's tag line on the DVD box. With all this how does one get through the clutter. With an ever demanding economy people only have a finite time for entertainment. So how does one get above the clutter and go after the consumer? It's a tightrope act, and one that needs money. The old saying "you need to spend money to make money" is worth repeating.

So the next time you're budgeting your film put aside some money for marketing your film. However you do it you'll need money to get noticed. If you're lucky and you're film is GOOD then it will speak for itself, but first you need to get noticed. So don't skimp on the self promotion budget. After all there is a whole lot of competition out there, and you'll just get drowned out if you don't say it louder then the rest of the competition.