Issue link: https://in-sync.uberflip.com/i/429521
4 I t ' s b e e n g o i n g o n a l o n g t i m e , a n d t h e r e m a y b e n o w a y o f s t o p p i n g i t . T h e p r o b l e m i s g e t t i n g w o r s e . It's the trivialization of the motion picture. The idea that ultimately all pictures, n o matter what they cost to produce and no matter what the skill and artistry that was applied to the production, all movies are worth a dollar. The truth is that no all movies are created equal and they don't cost a dollar to make. A producer I know was talking to a representative of Red box. He has made quite a few family pic- tures and the Redbox representative was telling him that his company had made a good return on the producer's picture. The problem was that the "good return" the Redboz company made couldn't pay the production expenses on the Producer's picture! To make matters worse, very little of that money wound up in the producer's pocket. To the major distribution company this may not be a major problem. Their picture goes through mul- tiple layers of release with the picture terminating of Redbox and Netflix. Many of their major releases are years old and have long since paid for themselves. The independent producer is facing quite a different situation. The true independent producer has put his resources and the resources of his backers on the line. If there is no return on investment it is unlikely that the backers will be involved For a second time. Another factor working against the independent producer is that the machine will only take so many videos. The machines have replaced video stores that not only carried far more titles, they also dis- played them to better advantage. The online distributors may have so many titles that they are not about to push the little independent title. If people have not heard of the producer's picturer, it's unlikely that they are going to request an independent title. So what does this mean for you and your production? It means that you will have to fight to get your picture seen and talked about. Word of mouth does not spread from an empty house. Your picture must be promoted in order for it to succeed Remember the highest cost of making a feature really isn't its production cost. The marketing, adver- tising in all of it's various forms, is more expensive. Because of digital production more people than ever can make a movie. The battle will be getting your picture seen and paid for! ©Copyright 2014 By Robert Caspari