It's hard enough to think all the bookers at the the various theaters want to hear from all the filmmakers eager to screen their work. It's harder still to imagine the theater owners want to squabble with these filmmakers over how much they are owed. What's needed is a neutral party to collect and distribute the theatrical receipts and a set of rules on what needs to be provided to demonstrate earnings.
This would be a great undertaking for either the IFP or Film Independent to embrace. Frankly though it could be done just as easily as a for-profit venture and is the sort of low-cost infrastructure build that is perfect for the risk adverse type that still wants to be in the media space; I have to imagine that for less than the cost of another Sundance-wannabe feature, an investor could create a self-sustaining entity that benefits the entire community and our culture as a whole.
Such an agency would also be a very unique entity in terms of its data mining potential. How great would it be if the funder embraced an open source attitude too? Well, a guy can dream can't he?
2 comments:
This is an excellent idea. Dealing with non-profits, I find them to be pretty honest. But when you're dealing with any theater owner or chain, they're notoriously tough. If you don't stand outside and count the attendance, they'll screw you. They'll screw you anyway. I've always assumed that's one of the reasons distributors are so tough.
This isn't the first time the idea's been tossed around, and I know that you (Ted) have mentioned it a number of times in you posts. Something like this would be absolutely key in attaining funding from investors. Two years ago, there was actually some small movement by an upstate New York Investment Firm to put together something quite like this, but when they got their feet wet talking with a few actual distributors (one I was working with at the time) they were met with such a horrible resistance that they were turned off from the idea shortly after and considered it an "acceptable loss" in financial information, returning to their own business model if i'm not mistaken. A lot of the resistance was due to a misunderstanding of an individual project's Overhead and split returns.
However, I do believe something like this is entirely possible, and with the right motivation and resources can be done. It would be wonderful if we could pool our collective resources, or find those among ourselves that wish begin this venture. I will certainly throw my hat in the ring.
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