Adventures in Self-Releasing: Week Three of Our Theatrical Release

by Jeffrey Goodman | Published May 22, 2009

Before I forget, I wanted to mention that there’s an article detailing how the money came together for The Last Lullaby in the latest print issue of MovieMaker Magazine (Spring 2009 edition, with Seth Rogen and Anna Faris on the cover). For those of you who want to take a look, the issue is available at most Barnes & Nobles, Borders and newsstands—or you can order it online.

Okay, now on to week three of our national release…

How honest am I supposed to be? Am I supposed to figure out a way to spin to you that every week we’re on a course of upward mobility? That it’s just getting better and better as every week passes? Well, I’m not going to do that. I don’t want to mislead and certainly don’t want anyone following our model, saying, “But, Jeffrey said...”

Look, it’s rough out there. It’s no coincidence that most movies chunk huge amounts of money in their first weekend and are rarely on screens for more than a few weeks. We’re no longer living in the late 1970s/early 1980s, when movies would hang out there for 30 or 40 weeks—and maybe even increase their weekly grosses in some of those later weeks. The midnight movie, the slow build, the cult film… those are outdated terms for another time and place. We’re living in the era of instant consumption, and that’s a fact. 

What we’re doing with The Last Lullaby—going city to city, slowly, taking the long tail approach—has never been the norm. But it sucks so badly out there right now for independent movies that I really don’t see any other option. 

So where are things?

Well, week #1 we did gangbuster business and ended up as the independent movie with the second highest per screen average in North America. Last week, our second week overall and first week in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, we did enough business for us to come out $2 ahead—a victory, really. But now this past week, reality struck. 

So what happened? Hard to say. We were in Davenport, Iowa and received pretty significant publicity. We were on the front page of the entertainment section of the daily newspaper the Sunday before we opened. And we were on several TV stations. But still, the audiences were much smaller than I had expected. In fact, I thought we would easily do three to four times the business we ended up doing our opening weekend in Davenport.

I don’t think I’ll end up losing much—if any—money in Davenport. But it’s really given me some pause as we move to the next city. I need to continue revising and revamping, looking at what works and what doesn’t. There will probably be other cities like this one, where for one reason or another things just don’t quite work out the way that I had expected. But, truth be told, if I have too many more Davenports, The Last Lullaby will not be playing at a theater near you.

So, what can I take from this past week?

1. No matter how well I prepare, some weeks just will not work out. 

2. I didn’t have a street team in advance in Davenport, and that probably didn’t help our cause. 

3. Having our movie at a first-run theater that’s also showing Star Trek and Angels & Demons probably isn’t the right fit. We need to be either at an arthouse or a second-run theater where we can kinda compete with the big boys/girls. Otherwise, we’re in a place with two or three other movies, each with advertising budgets about 4,000 percent bigger than ours. And I don’t know about you, but something tells me we’re probably not gonna win that one. 

Next week, I’ve got high hopes as we head back to Shreveport, Louisiana (my hometown) for a one-week run at the Robinson Film Center. 

In the words of Mike Tyson, “The thing that separates the strong from the weak all boils down to how you react after that first punch to the face.”

After living in Los Angeles for seven years, Jeffrey Goodman returned to his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana to direct The Last Lullaby. Co-written by the creator of Road to Perdition, and starring Tom Sizemore and Sasha Alexander, The Last Lullaby was filmed entirely in and around Shreveport and financed by 48 local investors.

COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT

Comment by Victor on 6/03/09 at 12:28 pm

“We’re living in the era of instant consumption, and that’s a fact.”

Jeffrey, you hit the nail on the head. I’ve been meaning to tell you and I hope you consider this. Put your entire film up on your website as a streaming Pay-Per-View. Charge $9.95 to $15.95. You can contact me and I will give you the name of the company I use. People can watch it but not save it.  I made five times more money by having one of my film as an instant watch than I did from DVD sales the previous year. More people get to see it, you don’t have to mail out a DVD unless they want it on DVD (more money), and it’s just really cool to have such a large internet audience.  Think of all of the times you post your website on your flyers, and how many people will go to the site and want to watch it NOW. 

Email me at or victorweb at aol dot com if this site does not allow emails.

Comment by Pete on 6/06/09 at 3:14 am

Victors idea is really worth looking at!
Using social media is a smart way to spread your movies!

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 6/06/09 at 8:28 am

Hi Victor and Pete,

Thank you so much for your comments.  Let me think about this one.  It’s an interesting idea.  I will be selling DVDs soon off the website.  But need to think about whether I would also benefit from offering an “instant watch” option.

I truly appreciate your time and hope that you will continue to follow along.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by idwn on 7/17/09 at 1:00 am

Victors idea is really worth looking at!
Using social media is a smart way to spread your movies!

Comment by توبيكات on 7/18/09 at 10:22 am

gooooooood thanks

Comment by Ahmet on 7/18/09 at 2:23 pm

Thanks ;)

Comment by ligtv izle on 7/18/09 at 5:45 pm

thanks :)

Comment by ad3m on 7/18/09 at 7:28 pm

gooooooood thanks

Comment by Justin tv on 7/18/09 at 7:29 pm

gooooooood thanks

Comment by health on 7/19/09 at 12:59 pm

thanks for informations

Comment by oyun oyna on 10/01/09 at 7:06 am

Thank you, Really helped me out in an essay I’m writing.

Comment by Jeffrey Goodman on 10/01/09 at 7:09 am

Hi oyun oyna,

Thank you so much for your comments.  It’s so nice to hear that these posts have been helpful.

All the best,

Jeffrey

Comment by maç oyunları on 11/06/09 at 3:37 am

Thanks for informations

Comment by bakugan games on 11/06/09 at 3:38 am

thanks for informations

Comment by benten games on 11/06/09 at 3:39 am

thanks for informations.

Comment by ben 10 games on 11/06/09 at 3:40 am

Thanks ;) . bye

Comment by sniper2 on 9/27/11 at 5:08 pm

موقع زفات
موقع زفات

Comment by Mehmet Hakan Çolpan on 11/05/11 at 1:18 pm

thanks good articles

POST A COMMENT

OUR PRIVACY POLICY | We will not publish or sell or share your email address or other personal information. Read more.

Name:
Email:
URL:

Type the word you see below:

Comment:

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

SITE DELIVERY OPTIONS

Home | Latest Headlines
Screenwriting | Producing | Directing | Acting | Cinematography | Editing | Distribution | Education | Festivals | Locations
Listings | Archives | HOP Interviews | Blogs | Forums | Contests | Subscriptions | Advertising

About | Site Map | Privacy Policy | Contact

© 2012 MovieMaker Magazine

Web site design by Hop Studios