Week 65? Whoa. When I started this, I had no idea…
In many ways… this is indie film. Persist, pivot, problem-solve, persevere.
All our clear planning, structure and goals were blown out of the water with COVID-19. Some things are better: national publicity, awareness, the possibility that will lead to long-term value. Some things are worse: lack of in-person revenue-generating events with theatrical and bowling centers. Our theatrical-at-home revenue hasn’t matched original theatrical targets, but we hope that the awareness drives digital sales once the film is available in a way that feels more normal to consumers (iTunes, etc.)
We will continue offering the film on our platform throughout the summer so that we can control testing for marketing, ad spends, and partnerships. But it is likely that a large percentage of future revenues will come from standard platforms.
Schedule leading into digital June 1:
- May 3, 9, 16 — Theatrical-at-Home events and Q&As
- May 19 — iTunes pre-orders begin at a $6.50 discounted price for downloads. On June 1, pricing will increase to a standard iTunes model with $9.99 for downloads, and rentals (48 hour window to watch) being $4.99 HD and $3.99 SD.
- May 29-June 2 — push Amazon pre-orders — three days of discounted $6.50 pricing before price increases to $9.99 June 2 or 3
- June 1 — available on all TVOD platforms (transactional not subscription)
Current data suggests that films make the most TVOD revenue on Amazon, but it is important for iTunes placement to drive pre-orders. So that is the thinking behind 2 weeks of iTunes marketing and then switching over to Amazon by the end of the month once we’ve done what we can with iTunes.
In parallel and through the summer, we will continue seeking and testing various partnerships as we finish up Theatrical-at-Home and move to digital.
It looks like we have a good sixteen more weeks to go before we know how everything shakes out. What will be happening in “real-time distribution case study: week 81”? I don’t know. No one could have written the story for weeks 45–65…
♡ Annie
Photo by Ryan Johnson on Unsplash