How Streaming Paved The Way For Smarter Action Films
+ what happened to the Million Dollar Blueprint
Happy AFM week!
Last week I talked about AFM Then and Now and I promised I would throw it back to the real glory days of AFM - when the Home Entertainment boom fueled a proliferation of indie action films getting made and how the collapse of that heralded the end of an era for readily available pre-sale funding for a certain class of indie films.
Some of you OG’s may remember the Million Dollar Blueprint series I did as part of the legacy Film Specific membership back in early 2000’s. The reason those trainings were so popular is because they basically outlined a path to getting your million dollar indie film financed without the burden of having to raise private equity to complete your financing plan like we do today.
And the sole reason the Million Dollar Blueprint worked? Because Home Entertainment fueled international pre-sales on projects where you could cast stars on the ‘decline’, leverage cheaper labor by shooting in international locations (hmmm, sound familiar?), and sell off home video rights to international buyers at double your production budget. Those were good times! You were in profit before even going into production! 🙌
However that all came crashing down around 2018/2019 when the Streamers came to town, viewing habits changed, and DVD’s slowly became a thing of the past (womp womp)
And those home entertainment companies and producers who were wildly successful leveraging home video rights to make a mint? They had to shift from the Million Dollar Blueprint home video model to making higher budget films with bigger stars. To stay competitive, now they had to make theatrical level films with much lower margins (goodbye 2x profit before production!) International buyers who were accustomed to picking up home video rights and not having to spend a fortune to market the titles in their territories could no longer afford to be in business.
I distinctly recall during my career as a sales agent the moment when I could no longer do business with the home entertainment buyers I had grown up with because they didn’t have deep enough pockets to license these bigger budget projects. It was sad turning old friends and colleagues away because they didn’t have enough money to do business together anymore!
A few of those companies managed to stay in business another year or two but others sold off their companies, consolidated, or found investment to help stay afloat another couple years and sustain them through the transition so they could offer bigger licensing fees. The companies that survived were able to become market leaders in their territories but they had to have least triple the purchase price to plow into theatrical release marketing and keep sellers and producers happy.
The upside to all this, at least from my perspective is that the low budget action era made way for ‘smarter’ action films complete with healthier budgets and elevated themes. The budget sweet spot for these is currently in the $15-$30 million range depending on level of director and stars and it’s a thriving business. Some might say an opportunity hiding in plain site.
And you can see these films on full display at AFM this week. They are on all the high end sales agency slates and are coveted packages to have. They’re also tough to source as the material has to balance being commercial with elevated and must be packaged with the right director and stars. Stars on the decline will no longer do 🥹
How's Your AFM Prep Coming Along?
Let me know in the comments below or email me at stacey@filmspecific.com.
Have a wonderful day everyone and speak again soon!
Stacey
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