This is a conversation I have had frequently over the past couple of years (and if you have encountered me at a film festival or party or filmmakers’ panel and you’ve heard a variation on this opinion of mine, then sorry but not sorry – it’s time to put thought to column):

It’s time to take back the value of the films that we make.

Now, I will cop to the fact that there is a lot of presumption on my part stating “we” when I have only made one feature film to date. However, I have seen the value (or lack of it) placed on that film and it will greatly color how I approach the distribution and availability of my second feature, which I hope to shoot later this year.

 

But enough with my tiny sample size experience for right now, let me lay out some of my thoughts on this subject:

When you go to a Best Buy, you’ll frequently see a couple bargain bins for DVDs and Blu Ray discs. And if you are like me, you can’t resist pawing through them to see what you might want to add to your DVD/Blu ray library. Now, I understand that is establishing how ancient I am, that I still have such a library and I haven’t just ripped everything and put it on a hard drive or just torrent the fuck outta that shit like the kids do. Not the point I’m making at this moment, so lets not get distracted by the fact I’m a grampa when it comes to my DVDs, Blu Rays, and CDs, okay?

 

Anyway, we’ll (because I’m including you, the reader in this experience) go through the bin and inevitably come up with a dilemma that goes something like this: “Holy crap, they only want $5 for this GODFATHER TWO Blu Ray! But I don’t know. I mean, The BULLITT and BULL DURHAM Blu Rays are only $3. I don’t know if THE GODFATHER TWO is worth it. That’s another $2, right?”

 

So, you’re haggling with yourself over spending an additional $2 for one of the greatest films ever made, because Best Buy (and Paramount) has convinced you that is all those films are worth. I remember the VHS days, when a single film ON A VHS TAPE was $89.99. Studios needing a quick boost to their profit margins fucked themselves by knocking the price points down on those tapes, and then on DVDs and Blu Rays. That’s great for consumers. Not so great for filmmakers.

 

How much is your film worth on VOD? $6.99? If you’re film is BLACK PANTHER or STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, and it first arrives on VOD, then it’s worth $19.99. Because that is what people are willing to pay to watch those films just as soon as they can in their living rooms. A month or so later, and they’re back down to $6.99. You know how this works. I’m not telling you anything you don’t know here. But wait…

Let’s return to John Wildman, the old dude with his cherished library of films. When I go to L.A., I will make a required, designated visit to Amoeba, that hallowed warehouse of film and music. When it still existed, the NYC equivalent was Kim’s Video. And after an hour plus of pouring through the films upstairs at Amoeba, I would encounter a dilemma that usually revolved around some rare, out of print, DVD that I absolutely HAD TO HAVE. A criterion disc on THE IN-LAWS, maybe? A region-free copy of THEY SHOOT HORSES DON’T THEY, perhaps. And the price tag for those might be something like $49.99. And I just might pay that for those particular films (spoiler alert – I did) because I wanted them, they were rare, and I wanted them. So it was worth it to me.

Supply. Demand.

Simple.

Let’s go back to VOD. You’re scrolling through the poster images on Amazon, or iTunes, or Google Play and it’s a sea of movies you’re familiar with because they were in the theater with films you never heard of because they went straight to VOD with no PR, marketing, or fanfare, and maybe you choose something – if it isn’t one of the really expensive ones priced at $7.99, and there is someone in the cast you recognize, or there is a HILARIOUS or provocative title, I’m guessing.

And what about Netflix. How much worth are you placing on the films that are offered there? As you scroll through the choices offered for your monthly fee of, what $10, or something like that, what are you thinking? Any urgency to watch anything there? How many times do you scroll through the choices, get bored by the process and maybe just watch a stand-up comedy thing instead? Or start binge-watching another series? Huh, movie lover?

My film, THE LADIES OF THE HOUSE wasn’t picked up by Netflix. Gravitas Ventures, who distributed the film, for some reason couldn’t make the sale to get it on that platform. Maybe the film was so bad that Netflix simply wanted no part of it. Because the quality bar of films on Netflix is like the Criterion Discs of the…oh wait. No, that’s not it. Maybe, it just didn’t have any kind of draw, anything that would interest movie viewers. Two words: Cannibal. Strippers. On its surface, the streaming service that forever brings you ZOMBEAVERS would seem to be a good home for that film. Now, the film did enjoy a brief run on Hulu thanks to personal friendships/connections my wife and I had, but no Netflix. And that really frustrated and angered me for quite awhile.

 

But not any more. Because now, I want to take back the “worth” of my film. Now, I want people to have to pay money to see it on Amazon, or to buy the DVD. And when I have the opportunity, I want those rights back so I can drive that price-point back up. It’s a legitimate critically-acclaimed film that the distribution company didn’t value beyond throwing it up against a VOD wall with a hundred other titles to see what would stick. Which is fine. Their business decision. But there is a clock ticking on the rights they have on that particular film.

Now, let me pose another question? How many of you checked out Christopher Nolan’s FOLLOWING after seeing MEMENTO or any of his Batman films? How about Peter Jackson’s MEET THE FEEBLES, following THE LORD OF THE RINGS films? You think maybe Ryan Coogler’s FRUITDALE STATION got some more looks after BLACK PANTHER? I think it did.

 

This is likely where you catch on that my ego is HUGE, and I think either movie #2 or movie #3 from the Wildworks team of John Wildman and Justina Walford is going to BLOW UP. Maybe. Could happen. Allow me my self-confidence (or delusions of auteur grandeur), please. But more importantly allow the me the thought that if that were to happen, and someone was so inspired or motivated, that maybe they’d be willing to pay more for that VOD view or for that DVD or Blu Ray.

And that’s just talking about the film I’ve already made. I haven’t even got into the next one. On that one, I can take ownership before I start the first shoot day. If I’m not desperate for you to give me $1 to see what I have created, then I can hold out for $10 or $20. Of course, that requires me or any other filmmaker to not need that single dollar or the ego-gratification for a large audience to divert their eyeballs to our work for a second in between right swipes and outrage at Trump tweets or debates over the next phase of the MCU.

 

What all of this means, is that if we, as filmmakers want audiences to value our work in any real way, then we have to enforce that value ourselves – not just give it away. For an independent filmmaker that isn’t delivering a green screen-rific super hero movie or Sci-Fi epic with big studio or studio-like financing, I believe the answer more and more is lending itself toward self-release, but that is an entirely separate column’s worth of thinking. No, this is about limiting the access to our films so if someone wants to see it then they’ll need to pay to see it. Bottom line.

Yes, we will still need to do a lot of PR, and market our films and ourselves so that people know the film exists. We’ll need to do the social media thing with a vengeance. We’ll need to truly utilize regional film festival appearances beyond the free trips around the country and parties with all the Stella Artois we can drink. And it means we’ll have to budget our films as if we seriously want to make a profit (film business, as that hoary bromide is thrown out there to remind us), but it’s more than possible – it’s a necessity, I believe.

 

I can’t imagine Francis Ford Coppola standing in front of a Best Buy bin while wearing an old-timey change belt or fanny pack and taking a couple dollars at a time for his GODFATHER films. So why should I do that with my next epic (because it will TOTALLY be an an epic, I’m telling you)? Why should Brooke and Doug Purdy do that with QUALITY PROBLEMS (which just came out on VOD)? Or Paul Taylor’s award-winning, yet virtually undiscovered, DRIFTWOOD? Dorie Barton’s crowd pleaser, GIRL FLU? Or the other two dozen filmmakers that just had their films hit VOD today? In my opinion, the films I have cited deserve audiences – and they deserve to have those audiences pay them to see their work a decent amount, for the right to be entertained via their unique styles, viewpoints, senses of humor, insight into our heads and hearts, etc., etc., etc. Those films have worth. But the filmmakers have to have the mindset to establish what that worth is.

Gravitas won’t.

Best Buy won’t.

Netflix certainly won’t.

But we, the filmmakers can.