The theatrical run of my feature film, TORN, has just finished. We played in movie theaters across the country including New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and of course, San Francisco. It was an amazing experience – both terrifying and exhilarating. The terrifying part was waiting for the reviews to come out in each city before we opened. Our distribution company hired a PR firm who spent a lot of time talking up the film to reviewers in the hope they would choose to review the movie. TORN opened in October/November, very busy months for releasing movies, especially “art house” films, like mine. The weekend we opened in New York City, more than 20 other films were also opening. Magazine reviewers have a limited amount of print space, so they’re very choosy about the films they’ll review. There are two newspapers that MUST review your film, the Village Voice and the “star” of them all, the New York Times. One of the main reasons films open in New York City is because they hope for a good NYT review. The problem is that most NYT reviews are brutal! Reviewers take great pride in finding clever ways to explain how awful a film was directed, written or acted. I grew up in New York City, so for me, the NYT review was even more important to me, and I was terrified the days before it came out. When one of our PR folks forwarded me the advanced copy, I read it through, my heart in my chest. Thank goodness, it was a a good review. In fact, it was a glowingly positive review, and I was thrilled. That is when some of my apprehension started to wear off, allowing the exhilaration to come in. The film also got a great Village Voice review, and the high I was feeling grew.
The excitement continued to build when the film finally opened and I could experience the audiences reaction directly with the handful of Q&A’s I was able to attend. Good reviews are wonderful, but would an audience respond to the film. Would they feel what I hoped they would feel? Would they go on the journey I wanted to take them? It turned out people did. They responded to the film very positively, and I learned as much from their questions, as they did from my answers. I’ve said this before in a previous blog – the audience completes the film. Everyone brings themselves to the experience of watching the movie, and they “finish” the film in their own unique way. In every city that the film opened, it was the same experience for me. Terror before the review, and relief and joy at the opening Q&A. I’m not saying the film got all rave reviews – we got some mixed ones as well – but for a small indie film we did great (see many reviews here – http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/torn_2013/ ).
It has been hard to come back down from the intense high of all of this, back to the everyday life of a filmmaker/teacher/filmschool president. What’s next for TORN? All of the ancillary market releases where the film can actually make money. A theatrical run for a film is usually a break-even or money loser. Some films do bust-out and make a lot of money, but those are few and far between. The run in theaters is meant to get reviews and create awareness of the film for the potential audience. It’s on VOD, DVD, TV and foreign sales that a film makes it’s real money. And to even get it into theaters is crazy. You have to work with a distributor who has a good “booking agent.” A person with a relationship to the theaters and a reputation for releasing good films. Then if you’re not a big Hollywood studio, each theater watches your movie and decides if it’s right for their audience and if anyone will some to see it. Of all the theaters we showed in, the best ones were Landmark Cinemas. The staff was terrific, and they even had their own in-house PR person who got us some great local press. Once you’re in the theater, every week they decide if they’ll hold you over another week. They make their decision on Monday after looking at the weekend box office. If your film did well, you stay. If nobody came to see it, you’re out. It’s a crazy cut-throat business where the theaters have a lot of power – especially for indie films. That said, if you’re ever lucky enough like I did to have your film play on the big screen – smile your biggest smile and enjoy it. Who knows when it will happen again.
And for those of your wondering, TORN will be available on VOD (video-on-demand), iTunes, Amazon, etc. on January 28th.
Wishing everyone a very happy New Year!
Jeremiah Birnbaum
President
FilmSchoolSF