On Principles
"Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed."
- Mark Twain
When we were mixing the film, the sound mixer asked me if I wanted him to output a separate M & E (music and effects) track for dubbing. I told him I am philosophically opposed to dubbing.
He said: "What if someone wants to buy the film, but they only want it if it's dubbed?"
I said: "That's not an option. If they want it, they're going to have to subtitle it."
Recently, our foreign sales agent got an offer from Italy. They're offering us a significant amount of money, but they only want the film if they can dub it. In other words, no M & E track, no sale.
"Okay, fine," I said.
Netflix
"Each day I go to the marketplace of lies. Hopefully I take my place among the sellers."
- Bertolt Brecht
Today, I discovered that
I Am A Sex Addict is already available on
Netflix (to add to one's queue), even though the DVD won't be out until September 12th. All of my films are already available on
Green Cine, who have always been wonderful to deal with, but I've never been able to get any of my films on Netflix before now. My phone calls and emails were always unreturned. It's amazing what a difference having a recognized distributor makes. Before, Netflix wouldn't even return my calls. Now, they've put my film on their site even before it's out.
Bertolt Brecht
DVD Cover Compromise
Yesterday, the Weinstein Company sent me a revised DVD cover. I had complained that the previous cover was lacking in humor, and that I found the Roger Ebert quote less-than-inspiring. I liked the new cover much better than the last one, and preferred the new quote, but I was still unconvinced that it was better than the original poster image. Moreover, when I asked for feedback from readers, the comments were overwhelmingly in favor of the original poster.
Today, I spoke with the marketing people at the Weinstein Company, and they said two things that I found convincing. 1) They said that if a couple walked into a video store together to look for a video to watch together, they would be more likely to rent a video with their DVD Cover than with mine. I found this plausible, and most likely true. 2) They said that they had taken their own survey, and that the comments they had gotten were overwhelmingly in favor of their DVD cover. I found this surprising, since I'd had the opposite experience, but I conceded that my blog readers were undoubtedly a very specialized audience, and might not represent the majority opinion.
I nevertheless objected that the proposed cover arguably misrepresents the film, and that the hypothetical video couple might rent it but then be annoyed that the film wasn't what they had been led to expect - namely a sexy, erotic thriller. The Weinstein Company people countered by saying that the poster also misrepresented the film, and that they had found the film to be much funnier and more complicated than the poster had led them to expect. Moreover, they argued that their proposed cover would more likely bring in a wide range of viewers who might not otherwise rent the film, but who might really like it once they saw it.
Their arguments were persuasive, and so I capitulated and agreed to their proposed compromise cover.
Compromise Cover
Initial Cover
Poster Image (Before)
Poster Image (After)
