Film Distribution

I recently read an article called The Pros and Cons of Digital Distribution by Lauren Mahomes. Her article is mostly directed towards independent filmmakers. Her disadvantages were money, marketing and destroying art. Her advantages were money, range and keeping up with technology. I do agree with Lauren that digital distribution for independent films are more beneficial, however some of her points were unclear and contradicting.

She uses money as an advantage and disadvantage. She says that traditional distribution is expensive and the few films that are selected are distributed in a few number of theaters. She suggests that taking control with digital distribution will guarantee money to the filmmaker. She also uses money as a disadvantage because even though digital distribution guarantees money, it's not a lot of money. I think she contradicts herself because she's saying even though you're making money, it's not enough. That would make me think that is a disadvantage completely.

Her disadvantage for marketing relates to her advantage for range. In her blog, she states that marketing is extremely hard because the audience has to find you. I disagree with her because I don't believe marketing to be hard online. There are so many social networks video websites, that it is almost impossible not to be able to market yourself. This goes into the advantage she has for range, she says that with digital distribution you don't have o worry about finding your target audience because they will be able to find you. Again it was unclear to me because I feel if you market yourself, the right audience will know who you are and will follow your career.

I do agree with Lauren when she says digital distribution is destroying the art because many people do like to download movies on their ipods, ipads, etc. However, even though many people like to download movies, many studies show that movie theaters are still popular and with the launch of 3D films, it hasn't gone anywhere yet.

When she talked about the advantages of keeping up with technology, I wasn't sure of what she was talking about. It was very confusing and I couldn't grasp her point.

Overall, I think Lauren is still learning about distribution and the benefits it can have for a independent filmmaker. It isn't as easy as it may seem to most people but it can be stress fee if the right research is done.

The full article can be found at:
THE PROS AND CONS OF DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION

Source:
http://www.raindance.org/site/index.php?aid=6963