I’ve been trying to think through some of the marketing considerations before I actually commit to turning an idea into a full script. I found this article over at Go Into The Story about a movie where it appears the writers (and subsequently the producers) failed to think through their marketing plan and are having difficultly recouping their investment because of it.
A lot of writers (including myself) often spend a lot of time writing scripts that ultimately aren’t marketable. Even smaller independent films must have some marketing angle.
I’m working on a new post about how I pick an idea to write into a full screenplay and the marketing considerations will be a bit part of that post. Look for my post next week. In the meantime check out this post about a script that was probably pretty good but didn’t have a clear marketing angle: http://www.gointothestory.com/2009/09/maiden-heist.html
I totally agree – you must have a solid marketing concept to make producers want to raise the millions to produce the film you are writing.
It is rumoured that for every dollar of box office or television revenue, there are five dollars made from DVD sales. More importantly, if your concept has toy and merchandising capability it could make another further twenty dollars for every doallar made in box office.
The idea that a movie is nothing more than a ninety minute commercial for the toys is sacrilegious, but then look at how attached at the hip advertising sponsors are to telvision shows. Product placement… well, it all becomes clear.
Check out http://www.Playdigm.com which covers Entertainment Licensing and Branding.
Good luck with your projects.
Sandford Tuey
Playdigm – A Shift in Entertainment