Distributor to DCP: Without 200K, "Witnesses" Will Flop

[Gadianton]

More excellent points, Dr. Moore. It sort of makes you wonder if DCP is getting gouged/"suckered" by his marketing advisors.

I advise the Proprietor to be cautious.

[Doctor Scratch]

I sort of think that this may be one of the reasons that he made the post without consulting his wife, or any of the other major stakeholders. To be honest, his thinking seems remarkably tribalistic and provincial. Look at what he says:

he is, by universal consent, the expert on the distribution of LDS-oriented theatrical films

Do you see what that reveals about his thinking? All he cares about is just that this "defeats" Meet the Mormons or Brigham City or The RM. Because why limit yourself to "LDS-oriented theatrical films"? Is that really the low, and exceptionally lame bar (as he himself has said on numerous occasions) that they are setting? So, what he's admitting here is that he has been consulting with--and presumably paying, quite handsomely, I assume--someone who is an "expert" in LDS-oriented theatrical films. Think about that for a second. How out of your gourd would you have to be to jump on board with this? It's like, what, you want your movie to be as successful as God's Army? Mormon Cinema--based on Dr. Peterson's own public declarations--pretty much consists of mediocre dreck. So, I guess the idea is to be the "Best of the Dreck"?

At the end of the day, you can see how confused DCP is: he doesn't quite seem to know what he wants the movie to be. He has these vague ideas about it functioning as a conversion tool, or perhaps as advancing the ideals of Mopologetics, or even as sticking it to critics somehow, and yet there is also this misguided idea about wanting it to make a bunch of money (despite saying repeatedly that he won't "profit" from it: remember, there are ways to profit from something that don't involve money), or have it reach a "huge" audience (including EVs and Ex-Mormons, one wonders?).

[IHAQ]

However, our distributor, Brandon Purdie, having watched the development of the Witnesses theatrical film for some time now, feels that our wonderful and dedicated filmmakers have created an exceptionally significant movie, and that we may be limiting the success that it will achieve and the impact that it will have if we don’t spend additional money on advertising.

A couple of months ago, he gave a lengthy, simply stunning, and, to me, entirely convincing presentation to our producer and director and to me on the need for an expanded advertising budget for Witnesses. Theater owners simply won’t take the risk of turning screens in their theaters over to films that, in their judgment, are unlikely to draw significant ticket-buying audiences. He gave us specific examples of LDS-oriented films that, in his expert judgment, had fallen short of the market that they could have achieved because their producers’ investment in advertising was incommensurate with the investment in the films themselves. He recommended a substantial additional investment–roughly $200K. If we want to get beyond the “Mormon corridor” at all, we’re going to need something like that amount. And fairly soon.

But, thus far, we don’t have that additional money. And I agonize over that. If Brandon Purdie is right — and he is, by universal consent, the expert on the distribution of LDS-oriented theatrical films — we may underachieve even with a very good film. And the thing we want most, once the film is done, is for it to have as wide a positive impact as it can possibly have.

That’s why I’m posting this. I haven’t discussed writing this blog entry with anybody. Not with my wife, not with the producer or the director, not with Ed Snow, not with Brandon Purdie, not with my board.

I worry. It’s my (unpaid) job to worry.

So I’m making a frank public appeal:

There's a lot of revealing information in there.

An expert on LDS film making who has a financial interest in distributing the film is saying that Witnesses is only going to have limited success. This expert who will get paid more if the film is distributed more, wants Interpreter to shell out another $200,000 to advertise it more widely so that it gets more widely distributed. Is this distributor cum expert making excuses for his inability to get uptake on the film? And now he wants Interpreter to bilk an additional $200,000 of donations to help him overcome that problem? If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck and waddles like a duck...

And the most staggering revelation is that the Executive Co-Producer hasn't discussed this problem with the Executive Board of the film, nor the Executive board of Interpreter before going laying bare to the world at large the embarrassing news that the film will likely flop without significant additional expenditure (an additional 20%) of the films budget)?

If this were a company, the shareholders would be holding a no confidence vote in Peterson and asking him to step down from both entities. Perhaps a key question for potential donee's might be to enquire as to how much Peterson himself has put in to this project, and how much of the additional $200,000 he's asking for will be coming from him...

[Kishkumen]

If it takes an extra 200K to make sure Witnesses reaches the widest possible audience for this type of production, they should probably just raise the money and spend it appropriately.

[Moksha]

If it takes an extra 200K to make sure Witnesses reaches the widest possible audience for this type of production, they should probably just raise the money and spend it appropriately.

Even if the distribution with the extra cash is totally unsuccessful, it can still be enjoyed in the Morridor theaters and used as training material in BYU classrooms, LDS Seminaries, and 5th Sunday Ward discussions. Maybe Dr. Peterson could even smooze it onto the KSL viewing schedule during the April Conference, although it would have to complete with emergency food storage and a bevy of new LDS books.

[dastardly stem]

I wouldn't know what constitutes a flop or not, but I'd imagine it'll be a bit of a flop with or without the extra 200k. How many out there really want to see it? You could try and pay people to go and see it, and it'd be a bit of a flop, I'd imagine. 200K at 8$ a ticket? Is 25K viewers a big number? If you use the 200K to get it to reach more theatres around the country, will it pull in 25K more viewers?

I admit, I kind of want to see it. And I admit, from what I've seen of it, it doesn't look very good. Why do I want to see something that doesn't appeal to me? Maybe there's something wrong with me.

And I don't want to be mean about it. I'm just guessing. Maybe it'll be a huge hit. How they get people to watch a movie about a historic event focused on every aspect of that event that, as it turns out, doesn't matter is beyond me. One thing is for certain though, you hit the right note with people and they'll be all over it.

[Kishkumen]

Even if the distribution with the extra cash is totally unsuccessful, it can still be enjoyed in the Morridor theaters and used as training material in BYU classrooms, LDS Seminaries, and 5th Sunday Ward discussions. Maybe Dr. Peterson could even smooze it onto the KSL viewing schedule during the April Conference, although it would have to complete with emergency food storage and a bevy of new LDS books.

I think every reasonable attempt to get this movie seen short of advertising on Kwaku's drecky YouTube show should be considered seriously.

[Dr Exiled]

I will see it when it is available for download. I don't know if I'll shell out any money to see it, but I want to see it. I want to see it because I take part in these discussions and have so on Dr. Peterson's site as well. I also want to see how the whitewash will occur. I suspect I already know how they'll portray the content but I'm still interested in seeing how it'll be done. I know Martin Harris and the deer Jesus episode won't make it in and that's a shame.

I don't know if anyone outside of ours and Dr. P's apologetic world will want to see it. I don't think the Dehlin crowd will or the heartlanders or the chapel Mormons, etc. Meet the Mormons flopped and that had the Q15 backing it, and the dodo leading the way. So, Witnesses is probably not going to be generating enough to break even. I'd tread cautiously like Gadianton advised too.

[IHAQ]

If it takes an extra 200K to make sure Witnesses reaches the widest possible audience for this type of production, they should probably just raise the money and spend it appropriately.

I suppose my question is why this wasn't planned and budgeted for at the start. How much were they planning on spending to advertise this? I'm guessing that there was no planned advertising spend and they were hoping to spread the word for free on blogs and social media.

[Moksha]

I don't know if anyone outside of ours and Dr. P's apologetic world will want to see it.

I certainly want to see it. Hope it comes to Youtube at some future date.