Ok, Ok...I know I've left you hanging with that last entry. I do have excuses though. This business likes to shut off like a faucet and then after a while it will turn on again. Sometimes for no good reason. The most important thing is simply your ability to last. The business always comes back...but you have to "be there" to get any benefit from that upswing. Most videographers go under in times like these... no staying power.
Back to Home Media Expo and my visit with distributors...................
Almost every one of these people said they wanted more "family" productions. You know, the box cover with the young girl or boy with maybe mom or dad behind them smiling...and of course, the horse, or cute dog ( I want more gerbils! ). I asked, " You mean Disney"... they said you mean "disneyesk... We can use the word Disney". Ok, picky picky. But you get the idea. Something that they can rent or sell to the Family. They just don't have enough G rated product. We're over saturated with horror right now. Comedy is hard. So "heartwarming" is in. That was very understandable. Those big screens are being sold to... Families, and they want something to watch that won't gross half of them out. Sorry if you're planning a horror movie (actually not, you still have a great foreign market).
But here's the bit that blew me away... I would ask a dist.rep. "If you were able to order up a movie genre that you knew you could sell this week...what would it be?" Besides the Family genre, 5 of the 30 said... WESTERNS ! What??? Westerns aren't even on my radar! Westerns have been passe for over 20 years. They said "That's exactly why we want some". I told them you just made a bunch of Reinactor Groups in Sacramento very happy. So what if you would combine genres... the family western? That would be Little House on the Prarie or even Bonanza. It might even be 3:10 To Yuma... a bit about honor and values, not just gun slinging. My head was spinning on that one.
