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Kelli McNeil-Yellen is a twenty year marketing and PR pro who finally made the leap to indie filmmaking with her award-winning Slamdance film DARUMA, now available on platforms. Learn more about DARUMA here. To work with Kelli, click here.
Amazon dropped the biopic about Sam Altman which has been picked up by Neon. Apparently Altman didn’t like the way he was portrayed. Neon is going to have the easiest time with publicity for this film. - KLA Media Group
This may shock you… actually, it probably doesn’t at this point. Of course there’s self-dealing in the industry, that’s how it goes! But NBC Universal already owns 75% of Rotten Tomatoes and Warner Bros owns the rest.
I’m not saying that the site prioritizes their titles over others but the Tomatometer has become one of the industry's most influential signals. Its scores appear across ticketing sites, search results, digital storefronts, and marketing campaigns, and shapes what audiences choose to watch. Whether or not it's part of a platform's recommendation algorithm, it undeniably influences the clicks and attention that feed those algorithms.
You know who doesn’t have a stake in Rotten Tomatoes? Netflix. Which is what makes Letterboxd such an appealing purchase option, IMHO. It’s the only platform that can possibly compete with the existing status quo so of course it’s natural that Netflix wants to buy it. You know what else makes Letterboxd an appealing purchase option? All that data they have, especially on younger audiences.
And as much as I don’t want to see it happen, my gut tells me we can expect this to play out like you’d expect it to if it goes through.
Moana 2 tanked at the box office. So did the live action Snow White, the live action version of the Little Mermaid and so on and so on. The question must be asked: why does Disney keep doing these live action remakes?
The studio knows that these adaptation stand to lose a ton of money. But in the long run, they’re actually saving the studios millions of dollars.
How and why?
Because copyright protections in the United States only last 95 years and Disney is in the business of maintaining intellectual property worth billions.
Every remake creates a new copyrighted work, refreshes the brand, introduces iconic characters to a new generation, and reinforces trademarks that can last forever if they’re actively used.
So keeping Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, and Moana relevant is the bigger business, regardless if the movie makes money or not. There’s a longer play at work here and as long as the Mouse is in the house, you can expect the mediocre remakes to keep coming.
It’s been another week of media hits rolling in for my clients and I’m thrilled that my re-release of my film DARUMA is also gaining significant traction press-wise! In case you can make it, the film is screening at the following theaters below:
July 17 - Smodcastle Cinemas (Atlantic Highlands, NJ)
July 21 - Greenbelt Cinema (Greenbelt, MD)
July 26 - The Hill Arts (Portland, ME)
This week I’ve got media hits for DARUMA, After the Act, The ASSET, Above the Line, Pitfall and my nonprofit client, The Pollination Project. If you want to work with me on your film, DM me!
DM me to work with your film or business on your marketing and PR! We’ll set a half hour intro call start!
Every week I do a round-up of headlines that are pertinent to our business and list them here in my newsletter. I do my best to provide non-paywalled articles when possible! Here’s this week’s fresh catch:
Motion Picture Academy Creates New Honor To Celebrate Theaters And The Moviegoing Experience
States sue to block Paramount’s $111-billion Warner Bros. takeover
100 Notables’ Summer Book Picks: Kathy Kennedy, Neal Mohan, Zohran Mamdani, Triple H & More
Are You the Best Distributor for Your Film? | Jeanie Finlay (Glimmer Films / Glimmerama)
A love letter to New York City that follows two stories: a missing young man with Asperger’s Syndrome who seeks refuge in the underground labyrinth of the city and a gambling Ecuadorian livery driver and Chinese woman desperate to get home to her sick child. From writer / director Daniel Maldonado.
If you have a finished feature length film (narrative or documentary) that’s available for people to watch that you’d like me to promote, click here to submit your materials. I do not promote crowdfunding campaigns but I also never charge to plug your film! This support matters and I hope you’ll spread the love around.
And now let’s talk about…
This is something that I know filmmakers agonize about, because it’s just one more thing that you have to do in order to market and promote your film. In this week’s subscriber post I’m going to break down the times when it matters the most to help you prioritize your launch.
Looking at where you are in your film’s lifecycle can help you map out what you need to do at various points. I’ve outlined everything from pre-production to long-tail marketing way after your film’s release in this week’s subscriber newsletter.
Content below is for subscribers, so please consider upgrading your subscription! As a reminder I do four in-depth posts per month and a subscription could save you time and money!
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