February 22

1. By the end of the 80's, many independent distributors had overextended themselves into financing pictures with larger budgets and eventually went under. The term "indie-blockbuster" refers to movies made with on a smaller scale that are meant to replicate box-office performance and marketing strategies of large scale Hollywood films. Every major studio created or purchased at least one specialty division meant to produce these kinds of movies.

2. First, they chose movies that would be considered to be quality "art" movies (Pelle the Conqueror, The Thin Blue Line). Second, they selected nonclassical movies containing unconventional subject matter. Third, they used savvy marketing strategies to appeal to the public. Limited spending and continued search for new acquisitions instead of producing their own movies.

3. RCA/Columbia and Virgin. The title suggested the possibility of a low-quality movie shot on videotape, which led producers to think it would not do well with audiences. Miramax recognized the tremendous marketing potential sex, lies, and videotape had in both subject matter and the title.

4. Miramax placed the film in Cannes, in which it won the Palme d'Or; rejected Soderbergh's "arthouse" trailer for an audience-friendly one. The poster appealed to both the arthouse audience and the youth audience. They used well-known critics' reviews and film festival honors for the arthouse people and played on the films "edgy" mystique for the youth audience. "Finding high-concept in low-budget films" means identifying what aspects of a low-budget film are of capable universal appeal and marketing the film based on these aspects.

5. They realized that the film had to compliment major studio pictures. Instead of outdoing the big-budget marketing of financial investments, they relied heavily on word-of-mouth and counter-programming strategies. They allowed it to build its prestige on positive reviews for almost six months. Hollywood blockbusters are meant to make as much money as possible in as little time as possible and then repeat with the sequel.

6. Studio fare would be less cost effective, relying mostly on stars and stories. Big event movies are based on special effects, super effects, and simple marketing hooks. Star-driven films, even when they didn't make money domestically, would still perform well abroad.

7. It was a marketing tool for studios to attract one of two audience preferrences: niche or high-concept. Ironic that all of the "independent" films were produced by subsidiaries owned by major companies. The two Hollywoods had similarities in their search for niche films, minimizing the distinction between the two. Films that may have previously been produced by independent distributors are now handled by subsidiaries of major studios. Independent filmmakers are currently struggling due to the lack of actual independent distributors and the distributors are suffering because everything is bought by major studios.