Ok, let’s talk about supply and demand.
Most small production companies and filmmakers are constantly burdened by the overwhelming question of “Will I sell my movie?”
That is a pretty important question considering it will determine if your investors will ever trust you again. Now, this brings me to the answer to this question.
The answer is yes AND no.
I know, that’s a little unsettling, but hear me out. We live in a world that is over saturated by content whether it be movies, commercials, or online branded content. There is a whole lot of supply for, what seems to be, little demand by the distributor.
BUT what if I told you there is a demand. There is a major demand for high quality, GREAT content. Back in the day, you could sell an alright movie. Those times are long gone. The bar has been raised. Audience’s tastes are more sophisticated. They will not settle for anything less than GREAT movies, especially if aiming towards the theatrical market.
How do you stand out?
Distributors and sales agents sift through A LOT of mediocre content before they get to a film that is good or even great. What makes a film mediocre?
- Poor production quality
- No name actors
- Hard to sell genre (i.e. comedy or drama)
These three bullet points seem like common sense, but unfortunately, they are not. Most independent films out there trying to be sold have all three of those bullet points. So you can see that the demand for films with great production quality, name actors, and sellable genres is actually quite high!
Piece of advice.
Before you go ahead and make a feature film with someone else’s hard earned money, think about these three things:
- Has a distributor expressed interest in my script before making the film?
- Is the name talent I have attached ACTUALLY a sellable name?
- Am I making this film to satisfy my ego or because it must exist in the world even if I am not attached to it?
There will be another blog post coming soon on how ego destroys film.