What Is Hollywood’s Business Model?

For a while they tried what’s become known in the industry as the “theater” model. It was based on the way that stage plays used to make money. Basically, you only show the movie in one physical location at a time, and you don’t allow people to go there unless they first pay ‘admission.’

But This fell apart rather quickly. Nobody likes to be forced to go anywhere to buy a product, let alone consume it.

I have a few suggestions:

• An ad-based model, in which the user implicitly agrees to accept a certain amount of “product placement” in exchange for free content. The products in question might appear as props within the movie itself, or in the form of a 300×250 that would float near the main character’s face until clicked upon. Each scene in the movie could represent one ad impression, and the studio could price according to act (I, II, or III), whether the ad appears before or after the climax, a happy or sad part of the movie, etc.
• An “extras” model, where the content is given away for free, but if you pay for it, then you get something special, like a T-shirt with the name of the movie on it. It might even be a production crew t-shirt, as if to suggest that you sort of helped make the movie retroactively.
• A premium level of viewership. At the free level, the resolution of the movie is lower quality, and gets interrupted periodically with a nag screen. At any point, you can choose to upgrade, and then watch the rest of the movie in peace.

This last option may also be tested out with different types of “lower quality” films. The screenwriter can lower the quality of the story by softening character motivation, inserting obvious anachronisms, and cheapening the dialog with references to pop culture. Viewers can watch this version first, and then decide whether they want to upgrade to the premium version, which would have strong arcs, a solid mis en scene, and witty repartee.

image by tiseb