Something strange is happening.
BRIGHTWOOD, Noble Gas Media's first feature film was released in the United States just under 2 years ago (August will be our anniversary), but the past month has seen a remarkable spike in attention for the film.
Since May 17th we've:-- Received over 250 new reviews on Letterboxd-- Gotten 5 new video reviews on Tik Tok or IG-- Been included in multiple "Best of" or "Underrated horror movie" lists alongside some of our favorite films. We're also seeing actual financial results. On Tubi, the past month has seen a 200% increase in the average ad units sold per day against the film, as opposed to the two months prior.
All this is great news... but the ONE thing that stinks about it is that I can't quite tell you why... and I definitely can't tell you WHO.
Common sense suggests the spike was initially fueled by a hashtag#horrortok video made about BRIGHTWOOD on May 12 ("HORROR MOVIES THAT LOOK BAD BUT ARE ACTUALLY REALLY GOOD!" -- Thanks Gigi @roomforscream) which went moderately viral. I assume that initial blast pushed the film back into people's minds, including other creators who made their own videos, which pushed the film into the minds of their audiences. Additionally, the fact that the film can be watched for free on Tubi (and other AVODs) helps lower the bar to entry and allows many more people to find and watch it who might not otherwise.
But oh how I wish I knew WHO was watching!
Lacking direct access to the hard data for our audience (their names, emails, locations, horoscopes, etc.), is one of the most frustrating parts about being an independent producer. Because it makes it impossible to take full advantage of moments like these, especially as we are putting the pieces together for Dane Elcar's second film, which presumably the fans of BRIGHTWOOD would be inclined to want to see.
There are of course tradeoffs. We *could* have fully self-distributed and gone D2C, for which there are new and compelling platforms, but scale becomes difficult. Also, as our first feature, and without a massive publicity budget, it felt imperative that we cast a wide net and there is no way to do that without the major players (Amazon, Apple TV, GooglePlay, Tubi, etc.) -- all of whom tightly guard the information about who is watching OUR movie, on THEIR platform. Obviously, from a business case perspective it makes sense! Why give individual creators the power to take customers off platform? It's a losing business proposition for them.
But it behooves us, as individual creators and producers, to aggressively cultivate our own customer lists and profiles, owning relationships with our audiences directly, and allowing us to get our work out to the people who care the most while making sure we're prepared to react in real time to their habits, interests, and behavior.
Here's to another great month in July!