Last week I talked to a producer that worked on numerous Nickelodeon projects and has recently entered the faith-based production market. During a recent network gathering, he learned that most faith-based producers do not understand the business of filmmaking. This lack of knowledge has led to numerous films flopping during the highest demand for faith-based products in the history of cinema.

The producer also spoke with many investors who have risked money on unknown filmmakers that could make a nice short, but who had no understanding of how to produce a feature or run a film business. The obvious result was bad pictures that performed poorly at the box office.

Every independent filmmaker should learn the business of filmmaking because of the number of impressions a film can make by understanding the trends. The greater the amount of impressions, the more people take away the important message salted into the story, and the more investors get a return on their money.

Two weeks ago box office tracking firms, studios and investment firms released results from 2013 and part of 2014. They also gave projections on the trends for 2015, 2016, and 2017. The cumulative average of the announcements have been within a +/– 5% over the past 12 of 13 years.

The three most notable trends in the independent film industry are as follows:

Trends in Genre

The number one film genre destined for failure over the next three years is westerns. The main reason is that the audience no longer knows how to relate to the westerns and lifestyles of that era. Those producers set to shoot westerns within the next three years will find it wise to shelve the project for a time or make it a contemporary story set in the past.

The top two genres that will be in demand include patriotism and stories of redemption (not to be confused with faith-based stories). Investors will be cautious with soldier stories that don’t have an obvious streak of patriotism throughout the story.

Other notes of interest included niche market information. Horror film hits will include stories laced with comedy in between the scary moments. Faith-based films will see a decline until the producers shift from being supported by individuals who support faith-based films because it’s religious to individuals who support great storytelling.

Trends in Box Office

The biggest in demand item that is predicted to generate the largest margins and ROI will be strong female lead based action/adventure films – A perfect time to produce my STEELE BLUE title.

The box office will also tip during this three-year period to films with solid international casts. While audiences worldwide will still want to see specific local and nationally driven stories, they will desire it to have a worldview perspective within the telling of the story.

The stories expected to generate the biggest buzz outside of tentpoles, include personal stories filled with 3-6 set pieces. In common terms, the story has to take the audience on a journey that they haven’t seen before. Faith-based stories will suffer greatly from this trend, as most producers market the same basic story as their competitors.

Trends in Marketing

Horror producers are shifting to specialty advertising in combination with social media. The trend will reward companies that promote iconic messaging and specialty items with the message.

Sports producers are already shifting to a more reality based social media storytelling format to drive feature length projects. This trend takes the story from the love of the sport to following an accomplished person within each given sport.

Redemptive story producers are looking to create tentpole films for the general market with the hopes of drawing faith-based audiences to higher quality stories. The marketing campaigns will be split between audiences with distinctly different messages. The faith-based message will be subtle, rather than overt to avoid being pigeon holed into the faith-based market. Several producers hope to use excessive profits to train up faith-based filmmakers in redemptive story techniques.

The trends have been announced and those in tune with the industry are adjusting their portfolios accordingly. In the meantime, those who don’t understand the business side of filmmaking will continue to do whatever they think is right, regardless of the trends. And, if they do it really well, they will have huge success as a trend breaker, but if they fail, everyone will see them as a fool for not following the trends. So goes the world of entertainment.

Copyright © 2015 by CJ Powers

Courthouse Comp from Tried & True (A film designed for all audiences)

Rarely do critics and filmgoers have such a disparity between what they like until now. There’s been a recent deluge of polarized perspectives concerning secular critics and faith-based films. The latest glut of low budget, poorly crafted faith-based films has given rise to critics blasting the filmmaker’s stories. Some Christian audiences have taken offense to the comments, as if the critics were opposed to the Gospel itself, rather than giving a mere evaluation of a poorly crafted film.

Now, keep in mind that the rising controversy might be marketing driven to get more people into theater seats, but it might also be positioning the audience to take sides – Art versus Faith.

For instance, Mark Burnett said, “Little Boy is an instant family classic, that is utterly unique, but reminiscent of films like E.T., The Sound of Music, and Life is Beautiful.” Those words are very powerful and will surely send many more people to the theaters to watch the film, or at least pick it up on video.

However, those words are polarizing and very large like daddy’s big shoes that can’t be filled. When a person watches the film and realizes that Little Boy is not really a strong story like E.T. or The Sound of Music, they will be forced to decide that either Burnett doesn’t know a good film from a great classic or he lied to sell more tickets – Neither response will be welcome.

I love when controversy forces more people into the theaters, especially when the film doesn’t disappoint. However, when the story has specific flaws that cause many to miss the point that the director intended and couldn’t pull off, the controversy looks like a desperate attempt to survive rather than an attention getter to alert audiences so they don’t miss out on a great story.

Recently I spoke with several faith-based film producers to get their viewpoint on the latest trend of marketable lies. They told me that it was hype, not a lie. They defended and justified their choices by stating that everyone does it. The implication makes me uncomfortable – After all, don’t they need to live up to their own messages?

I mean, consider this…

Some faith-based producers state that the message is more important than the story, while I state that a great story allows you to salt in a strong message.

Other faith-based producers tell me that false advertising is not a lie, but just hype that’s okay to do because everyone is doing it, while I believe promotions must to be true to the story or product.

Several faith-based producers told me that they wouldn’t hire anyone who is living in sin and will trust God to make up the difference in lost quality, while I’ll hire masters of the craft regardless of their shortfalls in order to create the best quality story for the audience.

Numerous faith-based producers and screenwriters will write only one or two drafts to keep the screenplay to as close to the original vision God gave them, while I’ll take God’s vision and work it dozens of times until I actually get God’s version of the story without my mess included.

Based on the trends in the faith-based genre, I see no reason to participate in it. I’ll continue to work on projects that are great for all audiences and continue to develop my craft to the point of excellence. And yes, I’ll fail a few times along the way, but I’ll at least be able to hold to and live out my convictions while doing it.

Copyright © 2015 by CJ Powers