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Click to EnlargeDistribution Taking It to the Screen
The other day I got an e-mail from a long-ago film student of mine. It was an invitation to the premiere screening of Holy Cow - the sequel to his comedy short about two inept security guards. The viral blurb went like this: "Outfitted with a two-man cow costume and more enthusiasm than brains, the perilous pair stake out a farmer's field to apprehend a group of elusive cattle-thieves." A colorful poster attachment announced three consecutive screenings at a local pub. Admission was free, but the beer was not.
Although this was a contemporary and snappy DIY movie marketing campaign, I was struck by the throwback of this invitation to the pioneer days of motion pictures, before there were theatres to show them. The road-show era of film exhibition was a time when itinerant showmen bought the films outright, took them on tour and screened them wherever they could mount a projector and a white sheet - in fairground tents, department stores, opera houses, museums, churches - and yes, even in saloons.
More than a century later, finding an audience continues to be the engine that drives moviemaking in all its forms.
Blockbuster marketing machinery aimed at bringing audiences to the big screen is the distribution turf where the big boys play. But there are more and more examples of DIY filmmakers finding captive audiences and the requisite four walls it takes to mount and show their f…
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