Posted on 06/20/2011 10:28:32 AM PDT by The Bronze Titan
"Conservative filmmaker Stephen Bannon thinks his film can win hearts and minds — and maybe even, one day, votes — for the former Alaska governor"
MINNEAPOLIS — He says his publicists didn’t think he should meet with me. “Why?” I ask. “They said you wrote something bad about Palin or something.” I tell him about the list I compiled of all her media feuds, with people like Dave Letterman and some former McCain staffers. Currently there are 86 names. My interviewee, filmmaker Stephen Bannon, shrugs, dismissing it, then goes about asking me questions about myself. This is a charming trait of his.
The night before I had viewed his latest film, The Undefeated. The original title was Take a Stand: The Stewardship of Sarah Palin.
“What did you think of my film?” Bannon asks. I smile. This was his opening question and he’s now asked it three times. I relent.
“I thought there were a lot of GOP dog whistles in it,” I say.
He says he has never heard that phrase before. Never? Really? He asks me what I mean.
The two-hour film is peppered with keywords. It’s like SEO (search engine optimization) for movies: the words “ethics,” “principles,” “threat to the establishment,” “CEO,” and “kitchen table” are repeated several times during the film. So when you walk out of the theater suddenly you think, “Sarah Palin’s ethics and principles are what make her a threat to the establishment.” And everything wonderful and wholesome on this planet is summed up in the phrase “kitchen table” — a table Palin chairs as its executive.
“Was that intentional?” I ask. What only can be described as a wry smile comes across Bannon’s face. “‘Dog whistles.’ I like that,” he says.
Here in CA, a single screen in Orange County serves the entire west coast.
What better way to bury this than to allow liberals to distribute the film?
Will there be a national release.....HELP!
hmm...I counted around 45 theaters in California on their website...
Omly one has the film on July 15! City of Orange. Next nearest opening day screen is in Denver, CO!
Omly one has the film on July 15! City of Orange. Next nearest opening day screen is in Denver, CO!
Omly one has the film on July 15! City of Orange. Next nearest opening day screen is in Denver, CO!
OK!
Oh, I see. Thanks for the clarification.
Is something wrong with me?
“Conservative filmmaker Stephen Bannon...”
When’s the last time you read, “Liberal filmmaker...”?
Nothing wrong with you...
2 Cor 2:14-15 paraphrase:
Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life. But those on the way to destruction treat us more like the stench from a rotting corpse.
“Liberal filmmaker...”
Goes without saying, that’s why they have to identify one that isn’t.
You don’t go around saying “striped zebra”, now, do you?
No need to label something that's considered the 'norm'.
They are doing what is called a "limited release" like "Atlas Shrugged." If it does well, they expand the # of theaters.
Now, I corresponded with Steve just a week ago about his distribution and he never once mentioned the theaters, so I'm guessing they aren't too important in his model. He is getting a whale of Wal-Mart, Netflix, and other orders.
Next question: Since the distributor, which I assume is AMC (?), controls the number of copies produced in a limited release, who decides where thos copies go? It seems obvious to me that if one places all the limited release in liberal meccas like San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, etc., they can make the film appear not commercially viable, right?
Since the only measure of its popularity/profit potential is the box office, little things like the numbers of the public who are willing to travel the 50-200 miles to see it do not enter into the equation, just how much $ goes into the till.
Next question: Who has control of the DVD rights? If I cannot get to see it in a theater, I'd sure like to see it at home and share it with a few hundred friends by purchasing a quantity.....
Steve has deals with Wal-Mart and Netflix for hundreds of thousands of DVDs, of course. But that's not necessarily a lock. We knew one picture that had an order from WM for 22,000 and within a month returned 18,000 that the producer had to sit on. Now, I've heard that Palin's camp has pre-ordered a quarter million (but I have not had that confirmed by Bannon). But at what price? If this is at $.10 a copy, you ain't making much money.
The point is, it is NOT EASY to sell $10 million worth of theater tickets. That's why the ad campaigns are so precious and aggressive. "Green Lantern" made, I think, $53m the first weekend, and is considered unimpressive.
If you're serious about following the profit/sales of films, you can do so on IMDB.com. Anyone can pay the $$ (not much) to get an advanced membership there, which posts the revenues of any major film (although not privately released docs, perhaps like Palin's). "Atlas Shrugged" was a big flop, earning less than $7m in theaters at a (stated) cost of $10m (and most people in Hollywood lie, so you can probably figure that the real cost was $20m with P&A. Do you think there will be a sequel to that? I don't.
Home DVD sales, Netflix, and VOD will bring a lot of revenue---but your price falls in half if you don't have a solid theater release. So let's say that WM does take 1million of the Palin movie, it is doing so at a tiny cost, and probably selling it around $10. I doubt it will get the $19.95 that, say, "Thor" will get. What do you think the profit on a $10 DVD is? From a place like WM, it's certainly under a buck. And what do you do if next week they return 500,000 copies???
If Palin were more competent she'd be far less controversial to women. Women don't like how Palin is treated, but for some, it's not because she's criticized by the media or scrutinized -- it's because she's held to a lower standard than other politicians. If a man had given any of her answers to Katie Couric or in any of her interviews since, no one would think to make a movie highlighting all his accomplishments while being governor of one of the least populated states in the nation for a fraction of a term. It feels condescending to women who are actually smart and accomplished that Palin gets called smart and accomplished.
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