Dead Computer: A Few Links To Articles

Well, I still don't have access to my PC at home, the keyboard refuses to work... I gotta say, though. It's surprising how far you can get with just a mouse. Regardless, the lack of a typing instrument does make the act of typing tough. So, I'm now at work and I'm going to quickly hammer out a post about a couple of articles that I came across.

I know that most people are far more into the creative process of developing and creating a film, but I do think it's important to understand the business end of things. I mean, if you're making a product and you're trying to get that product out there, you better know how the selling and distribution process of that product works. And this article, "Netflix Boss Plots Life After The DVD", has some great insight into how Netflix works, as well as where the industry COULD be going and how these guys are dealing with it. Good article, definitely give it a read. I thought it was really interesting that Netflix basically started out as a software system for recommending movies... a software system like that, mixed with VOD, could be the Holy Grail for indie horror.

There's a specialty horror cable channel in Canada called Scream... or, I guess I should say there WAS a cable channel in Canada called Scream. I just read the article, "Scream TV to lose gore after Dusk falls this September", where they discussed how they're going to change the lineup on the channel and rebrand it. I guess ratings were a little shy of stellar, so they added the murder mystery drama "Supernatural" last year and it bolstered their female audience by 100%. So, they're going to add a few more similar shows and rebrand the channel as "Dusk". Now, a lot of people may see this as the demise of hard-core horror and the rise of a softer, more friendly style of horror, but I see it another way. Cable channels won't run the more intense stuff, they peak out on things like horror festival films, the "Saw" franchise, old horror TV shows, things like that. So, I think the hardcore horror fans look elsewhere already. What's really happening here is that the cable company figured out that there's another demographic out there that's into watching horror on TV, more specifically... 18 - 49 year old women. That's a big demographic... and when you're planning your next project, maybe you should keep them in mind, too.

That's it for this week. I'm going to do my best to get my PC up and working over the weekend, which should mean plenty of good content for next week. Have a great weekend!

A look at: Blockbuster, Netflix, Amazon and Regal Cinemas. Why? Why not...

Well, I don't really know what I uncovered here. Certainly nothing earth shattering. However, as promised, I looked into the DVD rental and sales figures and compared them to theatrical release numbers. If you remember, this came up because I was commenting on how the summer is a great time for theatrical released films, but I think it's a bad time for you to release your indie horror on DVD... and, because the distributors know that, that's why we see some shitty weeks for DVD horror releases in the summer. Well, there's nothing scientific about this and I'm not sure what I revealed, but... let's look at some figures.

I'm sure there's reports and reports on reports looking into similar things, but I don't want to pay for that, nor do I have the time or effort to look into it all. So, I went the easier route. I looked into public companies. You see, public companies have to file with the SEC and all their financials are out there for everyone to see. So, I sorted through the financials on Blockbuster, Netflix, Amazon and, to compare, Regal Cinemas.

Here's what I found...

First off, Blockbuster. I figured Blockbuster would be a good, obvious starting place for rentals and their financials allowed me to look at the straight revenues that they generated from them. Know that video games would also be included here, but... like I said. Nothing scientific. So, below, are Blockbuster's revenue from base rentals, which means it doesn't include sales of previously owned DVD's, merchandise and other stuff.

Base rental revenues, First Quarter (13 weeks, ending April 6th) $901.7Million
Base rental revenues, Second Quarter (13 weeks, ending July 6th) $812Million
Base rental revenues, Third Quarter (13 weeks, ending October 5th) $751.4Million
Base rental revenues, Fourth Quarter (13 weeks, ending January 4th) $773.4Million

If you're interested, they had revenues of $627.3Million from sales of their previously rented products, $1.4BILLION from merchandise sales and $32.7Million from other shit. There's a couple of other interesting things you should know about Blockbuster. First up, James Keyes is the CEO of Blockbuster and they hired him away from 7-11... which makes sense, since they're trying to turn the actual Blockbuster stores into more of a retail focused experience. They're also trying to take an 'anywhere and anytime' approach to rentals now. Not only will they be enhancing the in-store experience, you'll be able to get DVD's and get movies digitally, plus you'll get them from stores, in the mail, from kiosks and through your computer. Anyhow, if you look at the rental revenues there, the biggest quarter is the first, which is Jan/Feb/Mar. That makes sense. The lowest quarter is the third, which is Jul/Aug/Sep. That makes sense. I think that supports my theory that rentals are down in the summer months versus the winter months. The fact that the other two quarters are sort of in between also supports it, I think. So, there you go... but, as I bothered to look into other companies, let's look at them, too.

Okay, now on to Netflix. At first, I thought... I'll look into Blockbuster and Netflix, they both rent movies. However, Netflix works on a completely different system. They work on the subscription based method, which means that you pay a flat monthly fee and get as many movies as you want. (I think that's how it works, I'm not a subscriber) So, let's look at their straight revenues, quarter by quarter.

Revenues, First Quarter (Three Months Ending March 31) $326.2Million
Revenues, Second Quarter (Three Months Ending June 30) $337.6Million
Revenues, Third Quarter (Three Months Ending September 30) $341.3Million
Revenues, Fourth Quarter (Three Months Ending December 31) $359.6Million

What's interesting here is, their revenue goes up quarter to quarter. In fact, looking back, it just keeps going up every quarter, with a few exceptions. Why? Well, it's the subscription model, just like a gym membership. If I get 100 people at X dollars per month in the first quarter, then add 20 more people at X dollars the next quarter, I've now got 120 people paying X per month, therefore more revenues. Problem with this is, what happens when you stop getting new subscribers? You stop growing. How do you keep growing? There's various ways, but... usually, lower your prices. Now, revenue drops. Anyhow, what's interesting is how steady their revenue is. That subscription model sure has something going for it.

After looking into DVD rentals, I thought... I better look into DVD sales, as well. So, who better to look into than Amazon? So, here's their quarterly sales from media in North America only. Media would be DVD's, but would also include CD's and things like that. Here's their quarterly sales from media in North America

Media Sales NA, First Quarter (Three Months Ending March 31) $1.2BILLION
Media Sales NA, Second Quarter (Three Months Ending June 30) $1.15BILLION
Media Sales NA, Third Quarter (Three Months Ending September 30) $1.25BILLION
Media Sales NA, Fourth Quarter (Three Months Ending December 31) $1.75BILLION

First off, holy shit. Amazon dwarfs Blockbuster and Netflix. This is JUST North America and JUST media. Insane. Also, note their biggest quarter - the fourth. That's Oct/Nov/Dec. Guess why that's so big? Christmas. No question. It could also be due to the fact that more people are staying in and watching movies due to the bad weather, but I think it's more about Christmas. Proof may be in the fact that all the other quarters are relatively similar. Also, CD sales have something to do with it... I'm not sure how DVD's do next to CD's.

Just to compare, I decided to look into Regal Theaters, which is the biggest chain of movie theaters in North America. Here's their quarterly revenue from admissions alone. Remember, their cash cow is concessions and I'm leaving that out.

Admissions revenue, First Quarter (Quarter ending March 27) $432Million
Admissions revenue, Second Quarter (Quarter ending June 26) $455.7Million
Admissions revenue, Third Quarter (Quarter ending September 25) $516.8Million
Admissions revenue, Fourth Quarter (Quarter ending January 1) $478.6Million

Third quarter IS their biggest, which is Jul/Aug/Sep, and that makes sense. However, quarter over quarter, they're a lot steadier than I thought. I'm not sure what that says, to be honest. This actually poses more questions than it solves answers, really. Maybe it's an 80/20 deal? Meaning that fewer movies are taking more money in the summer and more movies are splitting money over the other quarters. Therefore, individual movies make more money in the summer and everyone gets smaller pieces of cake in the other months? Who knows... I'll have to dig deeper on that, I guess.

Anyhow, let's try to wrap this up a bit. What did we learn from this? Fuck if I know. What I do know is that I'm surprised at how much money Amazon brings in. That goes to show you that the real money is in DVD releases. Adding up Netflix, Amazon and Blockbuster, you can see that it's a huge market. Way more potential money there than in theatrical releases. However, I would like to say that, although it's a little less pronounced than I thought, it IS safe to say that theatrical releases get a bump in the summer and DVD's get a bump in the winter. Point made, proven and put to bed.

Further, as an indie filmmaker, I think you can take this away... going straight to DVD is just fine. It's definitely a big enough market to get your piece of the pie.

Linkapalooza - August 6th, 2008: New interesting projects announced, Insight into the future, again... and Dead Harvey gets no respect!

So much stuff going on out there! A few new projects announced on THR.com, some insight into the future of distribution, cool new integrated concepts and we're still waiting for OUR clip about "5 or Die". Should get here any time now...

Del Toro, Miramax not 'Afraid of the Dark' on THR.com: I always like reading the little Hollywood Reporter blurbs, as it gives you a bit of insight into how these big deals get done and where the players come from. Usually I hate it when they get ideas from old TV shows, but this first project is kind of cool. The idea comes from a cult show that ABC made in the 70's, they have a comic book artist-writer helming it and del Toro is producing with Miramax. Since I'm mentioning that one, here's another one from THR.com - 'Blood' work for 'Family Guy' scribe. I don't get why they would tap a showrunner from "Family Guy" to adapt a horror property, but maybe there's something I don't know. What's interesting is the fact that Hollywood is going ape-shit over comics these days. I gotta say, the idea behind "Last Blood" is awesome. "Human survivors of a zombie massacre find themselves protected by a band of vampires who need their blood to survive." F'ing awesome.

Viacom CEO: 'Great' content is king on Cnet News.com: Viacom's CEO, Philippe Dauman, spoke at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech Conference a little while ago and said some pretty interesting things about 'content'. Now, before I get into what he said, let me clarify something. Please do realize that what you're making, as an indie-horror filmmaker, is content. I think a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that what they're making is just a film. If you think of yourself as your own little studio and you're making content for distribution, you're going to open yourself up to a lot of new avenues. So, even though Viacom is a multi-national, billion dollar company, try to do what they do. So, what do they do and what did Dauman say? Well, they see themselves as a 'content producer' and they seek to find distribution any way they can and to make money any way they can, while looking to find new audiences thanks to emerging distribution. There you go...

Blockbuster adds Movielink's video downloads to Web site on DallasNews.com and LG Electronics Device To Deliver Movies Online on WSJ.com: The battle for delivering movies to your TV through your PC rages on... another article on Blockbuster finally using Movielink, a company they bought almost a year ago, to offer movies for people to download to their PC as soon as they're available for rent. The other article is how LG Electronics will soon offer a device that plays Blu-ray over the internet from Netflix. We already knew that LG and Netflix were partnering up, but both are really pushing the envelope and trying to open this whole market up. LG isn't really the big story here, it's really Netflix. It looks like both Blockbuster and Netflix are vying to be the new gatekeepers, as they're partnering up witheveryone they can find. Stay tuned to the battle... and don't forget that Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony are all in this fight, too.

Sci Fi Plotline to Play on TV and Video Game on promomagazine.com: I've been waiting to post comments on this article for a while... This is a pretty cool idea and this is the way filmmakers need to think as we delve forward into this new era of distribution. Basically, it's a series that's going to air on Sci-Fi, but it's also a video game that will follow the series. So, you basically play along with the series. I'm not saying that you should go out and copy this idea... what I'm saying is, think of ideas that use other mediums, think outside the box. Maybe you develop a series that has a huge online component, or that's based around live events, a CD release or a mobile campaign, I don't know. Basically, anything that uses other mediums and angles to compliment your project will gain you a bigger audience.

Speaking of ways to drum up interest about a project... a bunch of the horror sites all got sent a video clip called "5 or Die", which looks to be a viral campaign for something. Nice campaign... and a pretty cool way to build interest, as all the sites are talking about it. Including us, who, of course, had to find out about it by reading other sites... thanks "5 or Die" guys, that hurts. I guess our clip got lost in the mail? Whatever... here's a link to 'Icons of Fright' site, which shows the video AND all the sites that aren't called Dead Harvey that got sent the link.

Linkapalooza - July 9, 2008... Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer gets release date, plus other news.

There's a few things going on out there that I think you should consider looking into...

Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer gets release date - on shocktillyoudrop.com: Okay, the post that I linked to there is probably shorter than the blurb I'm writing on it, but that's not important. What is important is the fact that the kick-ass "Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer", a throwback to 90's horror, now has a DVD release date. Anchor Bay will be releasing it on August 1st. Get it, trust me.

MicroCinema Scene: Well, obviously, it's a site dedicated to MicroCinema. Looking through it, I don't think it's updated that often and it's really a very general site, but the cool thing is that they have forums that you can look through... maybe Dead Harvey should do forums? To be honest, I wouldn't know where to start on that. Either way, it's worth taking a look through. Also, I like how they say in their 'about us' page that we should keep in mind that they're all volunteers. What's your definition of volunteer? Not getting paid? If that's the case... I'm a volunteer... and so are most indie filmmakers. Please keep that in mind.

Hellboy's Mike Mignola Talks 'Language of Monsters' - on Wired.com: It's anything but indie, but Wired talked with original 'Hellboy' book artist / writer Mike Mignola about the monsters they created for "Hellboy II: The Golden Army". Now, what these guys are doing is way above what indie guys do, but there's always something you can take away from guys like Mignola when the curtain is pushed aside for a little bit to see how they work.

Revealed: Secretlives of moviegoers - on Medialifemagazine.com: This is pretty cool, actually. A company called Mindset did a research study on frequent movie-goers to profile them. Why I think this is particularily pertinent to you, as an indie horror filmmaker, is because this is who you're audience is... and probably who you are, too. Let's be honest, it would be rare to find an 'armchair' indie horror fan. Chances are an indie horror fan watches a lot of movies... and I mean a LOT of movies, I know I do. Also, I'm betting that indie horror filmmakers watch a lot of movies, as well. Once again, I know I do. So, from all sides, the profile they came up with is both you and your viewer. Check it out, you might be surprised to find out what they think about you.

Netflix's Online Movie Dreams - on Forbes.com: I'm telling you, this is the device! I've said it in other posts and I'll keep saying it. Well, they keep mentioning Netflix, as they're supplying the content now, but it's really about Roku. This article on Forbes goes more in depth as to what Roku's plans are... and here's the little tidbit that perked my ears up - "Later this year, a simple software update will allow the box to stream content from other "big name" providers." Really? Okay, now we're talking... because if you're planning on getting big name providers this year, it's probably only a few years before 'little name' providers will be able to jump on the bandwagon. Think about it, after you've finished your film, there's no cost to make or ship the DVD's and there's no such thing as shelf space. All people will need is a Roku remote, a 12-pack and their TV and they can search through endless titles of indie-horror.

Linkapalooza - June 24, 2008 - Disney's giving its movies away, Clive Barker can't get his movie out there... and other news.

There continues to be some newsworthy things going on out there in the world of entertainment. So much so, that I'm saving a few articles for next week...

Watch Disney Movies Free Online Series Of Ad Supported Films on the Web - from WebTVWire: Remember how I mentioned a little while ago that I always keep a bit of an eye on what Sony's up to because they're a 'game changer'? Well, Disney is another company that I watch closely and would also consider to be a 'game changer'. Way back in the day, when studios were worried about this new invention called 'television', Disney embraced it and created it's TV program, which made it the first studio to show its recent films on television. The studios later fought VHS and Disney, once again, embraced it... finding new audiences for its older films. When studios were thinking box office, Disney was thinking branding and licensing. Long and short, they've always been ahead of the game. So, when everyone's bitching about online distribution, guess who the first studio to releases its movies for free online is? That's right, Disney...

Dark Knight Director Shuns Digital Effects for the Real Thing - from Wired.com: Big long article/interview with Chris Nolan, director of the upcoming "The Dark Knight", and how he opted for real stunts as opposed to CGI effects. If you're as stoked about "The Dark Knight" as I am, it's a good read. Also, I gotta say, ever since I saw those shitty CGI vampires in "I Am Legend", I've adopted a very anti-computer generated effects stance... so, you go Chris. Dead Harvey's got your back, buddy.

Horror Fans Angered After Learning Lionsgate's 'Midnight Meat Train' Is Now A DVD-Express - from Defamer: This whole story just won't go away... So, a quick recap on what's going on with "Midnight Meat Train": A major theatrical release turns into DVD release. Title is changed to "Midnight Train" from "Midnight Meat Train", is going to be given its theatrical release again. "Meat" returns to title, theatrical release becomes limited theatrical run... 'Barkerites' angered, demand wide release. So, what's next? Personally, I don't care. Here's what f'ing pisses me off - the film is done and I want to see it, period. So, if you're an indie horror filmmaker and you think the whole distribution side of the business sucks ass, what do you think Clive Barker and Ryuhei Kitamura think? Unbelievable...

Netflix boxes sell out - from Mercury News: I talk a lot about bridging the gap between the internet and your TV and how no one seems to be able to put a decent product forward... well, maybe Netflix has done it. First off, the price is right - $100 is cheap enough to where people will give it a go and it's simple and marketable. They're tapping an existing market, their own customers, and it, technically, is a win/win situation. Netflix doesn't have to pay for postage, packaging and things like that and the movies are available instantaneously for consumers. Now, here's the test... how many NEW subscribers will they get AND will they be able to tap into other content. That's what you need to watch for... if either of those things start to happen, we may have a winner on our hands here... and if we have a winner, we have a new way to distribute indie films.