It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.
- Charles Darwin
The technology is changing faster than time so are business strategies.
In the current film-making world, technology, casting style, film-making methodology, distribution model, and marketing strategies have changed. A new co-operative model has come in place.
In a traditional film studio model, the standard allocated film marketing budget is 37% of the total budget. With the drastic reduction of cost of producing Independent films, Inde revolution is giving a stiff competition to legacy major studios. Traditional studios have become distributors. People are still going to theatres to get the real movie experience. Theatres are not going away from the streaming or so called video on demand(VOD) model. In fact theatres will also be part of VOD and can be on demand to stream their favourite movie using the VOD and screen the movies at their local theatres. The days of depending on big distributors or exhibitors to watch movies are fading away. Audience can watch their favorite movies at their favorite theatres through Theatre-On-Demand (TOD). This is a new do it yourself (DIY) model. My point is the convention middleman or 'agent' system is almost going away.
Independent Filmmakers are abandoning convention expensive public relations (PR) firms. When actors themselves have their own followers, they have their own networks , spending heavy budget on PR is not a wise investment. Actors can directly reach out to their fans with using their projects without a PR agent. Most of the top actors already are very active in their social media marketing and they are doing an awesome job promoting their projects.
New and upcoming talent , cast and crew who don't adopt to this new trend eventually will fail to survive the heavy competition at the film industry. As an Independent film-maker, I would encourage you to adopt DIY culture, be active in social media to increase fan following, promote the projects that you or your friends are involved in, be creative, and always try to connect with the latest trends/cultures. Social media active people are going to be in my next project. All the best!
