What You Can Learn From Porn

So, when you're, uh, watching your porn... where do you get your, um... 'content' from? I'm going to take a stab in the dark, so to speak, and assume that you watch a lot online. Sure, you may have an old, sticky mag sitting around and there may be that scratched up, worn DVD that your "friend" gave you when he moved in with his girlfriend, but I'm going to make a bold statement here. I guarantee that if you've watched porn at some point over the last year, you've watched some porn online, in some form. Yeah, you know you have. Probably at work, too. So, who cares? Well, the porn industry cares... and, guess what? As much as Hollywood hates to admit it, the porn industry has pioneered almost every innovation in the film industry. They were the first to adopt video and the first to use the internet, but now they're in trouble and they're back to their pioneering ways. Piracy and free content, like user-generated shit, is cutting deep into their profits and they need to right the ship... so, it's time to watch porn. Well, what the industry is doing, anyhow.

Here's a link to an article I read called, "Internet Piracy Is Killing Porn's Profits", by Amy Kaufman on TheWrap.com. It doesn't say a whole lot more than exactly what the title implies, but there was a link to an interesting article on there called "Adult Industry Has Some New Ideas", also by Amy Kaufman, here's the link. (Dig porn much, Amy?) Now, there are a few, key differences between porn and the film industry and the main one is that porn is really only needed for a few minutes, at best. On the flip side, a few minutes of "Friday the 13th" won't really satisfy anyone. Therefore, pirated and free internet content is far more damaging to the porn industry than it is to the film industry. However, there is a key similarity between the two and it's that they're both 'non-essential' luxuries, in a way, and free, pirated alternatives are available. What's the answer? Well, porn seems to be banking on digital, interactive content and social networking. As for revenue, it looks like it'll be a mix of advertising and paid content. They're scrambling and eventually they'll come up with some innovation and they'll recover... then Hollywood will follow their example.

While we're on the fledgling porn industry, remember that other hurting industry called the music industry? Well, they're figuring shit out, too. I was just reading about how U2 is the first musical guest on "Late Show with David Letterman" to be on for an entire week. They're promoting they're new album, "No Line on the Horizon", but a whole week?! I was also reading how bigger music stars are trying to get on things like American Idol and be featured in Rock Star and Guitar Hero. That's all great and all, but the music industry does know where their bread is being buttered these days and it's from live performances. So, what do you think of Live Nation, the biggest concert promoter, and Ticketmaster, the biggest music ticket seller, merging? It's about vertical integration, which means more marketing power and ways to get you to buy those tickets. That also means that that new company could be the biggest entertainment company in the world. So, it looks like the answer for the music industry is in live performances and events, plus pushing the boundaries of where musicians and their music can go. The music, itself, actually becomes a bit of a loss-leader... talk about a major difference from just a few years ago.

Most importantly now, what does this mean for Hollywood... not even Hollywood, what does this mean for you, the indie horror filmmaker? Well, almost all of these forces are against you, plus a few more. Think about it, piracy and free, online entertainment will suck up a lot of your potential audience. Who wants to pay for something when there's free alternatives? Not only that, if you find an audience that IS willing to pay for your film, there's so many choices out there, how do you get them to find you? How do you even compete for shelf space against bigger budgeted films and all the other indie films? You really do have the cards stacked against you. Like they say, once your film is finished, the real work begins...

The key is, you can't push on a string. You need to pull the audience to you. If you just put your film out there with its fancy cover art and a press kit that you put together to sell it, it ain't going anywhere. You need to create awareness any way you can and get people to walk into the video story looking for your title... or going online, searching for your film. To do that, you're going to need a mix of everything that porn and the music industry is doing. You're going to need to create a website, a Facebook page, a Myspace page and start interacting with people and getting your name out there. Announce when and where it's available. Approach websites like ours and give out screeners, do interviews, get people talking about your film. Go to festivals and conventions and, better yet, get involved with them. Getting a screening at a festival is huge exposure. If you can't get a screening, get a booth at a convention. Utilize everything, sell something at every turn and leverage what you've got.... because, really, it's all you've got.

In the end, you need to watch what people are doing in these other industries and figure out a way to copy them, but that's if what they're doing is working... if what they're doing isn't working, avoid it. It sounds simple and, really, it is. Remember, in the indie film world, you can't just be an artist. You'll also need to be the agent... and the sales guy, marketing guy, janitor, shipping and receiving guy...

You get the picture.