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November 07, 2005
Truly, indie?: comments on the WIRE
When indieWIRE put up the p.r. for the 2929/Magnolia/Landmark Cuban-Wagner "Truly Indie" initiative "featuring filmmaker funded theatrical releases", comment ensued.
Poster "Kronar" notes, "If you pay for 40 tickets, your rock band can play at the Whiskey A Go-Go in [L.A.]... No submission tape required. Of course, if you're nearly broke and your band sucks, and none of your friends show up, you don't eat that month." Analyzes BClark, "It seems like a new form of four-walling... I love a good angle for entrepreneurial independence, but $40,000 to four-wall 5 screens (and I notice the [careful] wording.. as "placement" so I assume it's not a dedicated screen) sounds a little high...." Analyzes filmfestivalfan, "The filmmaker is putting up the P&A. The article makes it sound as if the advertising for this week is part of the fee, but I don't [see] how this is possible in that advertising in NYC alone normally costs [$40,000]... This program [fills] holes within Landmark's booking calendar at the expense of truly independent fare... Paying to play... takes up [screens] that a real independent might occupy. [And] it substitutes a 2929 employee for an independent booker who has the filmmakers' interests as his priority. It is like expecting a real estate agent to protect the buyer when they really protect the seller..." More fine print is read: "The Truly Indie deal is only for a single week. Landmark is protected because they get their weekly overhead... and lose nothing if your film bombs... The telling point is [that] films accepted by Truly Indie were passed on by Magnolia.... There is no mention of a trailer so... this is an added expense. Publicity is listed as something Truly Indie is supplying yet they do not have a publicity team in NYC or LA so you need to hire one. They also recently fired a large percentage of their locally based Landmark publicists in many cities so again you will need to supplement this area." Opines "ilovedlandmark," who also links to the site Mark Cuban Has No Clothers, "The grassroots marketing structure that Landmark touts on its website is being dismantled. Several city managers, who were responsible for grassroots marketing, have been laid off recently. Seattle's city manager had been at Landmark for over 20 years. At Landmark's Kendall Square Cinema in Boston, the old management (5 and 10 year Landmark employees) was pushed out to make way for new management brought in from megachain AMC." [Quoted comments edited for style.]
Posted by pride at November 7, 2005 01:16 PM
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