On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 5:02 AM, Joe Coughlin <[email protected]> wrote: > Well, the article is thin on details. Kevin is going on the road and hoping > to make back the $4 million budget of the picture before exhibitors get it > in October. Kind of a good, old-fashioned road show. > > And no-marketing is a bit misleading. He's not doing any traditional media > buys, but the man is really savvy when it comes to promoting his stuff. I > mean, his "Red State of the Union" podcasts have been entertaining. His > picture was the single most talked-about thing at Sundance. > > "Red State" will make back its money and then some. All of his films have > made a profit. It's actually a pretty good track record.
They've all made a profit, but they've also fallen short of expectations on more than one occasion. I appreciate an outspoken critic of the status quo. But George Lucas can pack up his toys and move to Northern California; he can even survive "Howard the Duck." I'm not sure Kevin Smith carries enough weight (sorry about that) to move the game, or to bring about a change in how things are done. The only people he consistently provided for were the Weinsteins, but they passed on "Red State" and their expectations are higher than they were 20 years ago. To merely make a profit is not enough to be considered a success in Hollywood. Only by consistently outperforming expectations can you be considered a success, which is almost impossible when they keep raising the bar. I like most of Smith's movies (the one costarring Shannen Doherty stands out for some reason), and he has a rabid cult following. When considering somebody's level of success, let the word "cult" serve as a red flag. The redone "Battlestar Galactica" (or my favorite, "Babylon 5") also had a certain core group of fans, but they were never really able to expand beyond it (some might argue they lost fans with "Caprica"). If you can't grow your audience with each new thing you produce, you aren't long for Hollywood. Smith is hoping to stay connected to his core by taking his film on the road, and he might succeed by his standards, but he will almost certainly fail by industry standards, and he almost certainly won't extend his sphere of influence. I agree with his notion that marketing has become ridiculous in the industry (as well as an accounting nightmare), but in this instance, to forego it when he has written and directed an entirely different genre of film than his core is used to seems perilous. Perhaps this idea would have been better employed in "Clerks 3" or some other film closer to his wheelhouse. For me, "Red State" is one of those films that interests me, but I'll wait until it appears in a discount DVD rack at Target. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
