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rayw said:
The trick is to develop a story or premise that not only the audience will want to see but the theater owners/purchasing agents THINK the audience wants to see.
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In all seriousness, the tricks are

.pay for A list talent or bankable Face for overseas territories
.make a movie that's going to play well in a festival and garner attention.
.spend nothing and distribute it yourself
.know someone that knows someone that owes someone
.choose another career.

Choose.

Now, what you're talking about is QUALITY of the features themselves, and again I'll concede a lot of these are pure puke.
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Quality can sway one way or another, technical or concept/story. There's a base level of production value that gets attention, trust in that one.
 
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Where do you get this info from? First hand? Or someone told you this?
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Blockbuster and Hollywood Video has been replaced by Netflix. Pretty much common knowledge. Netflix used to order 60 copies according to people in this forum and people I've spoken to. Write down a bunch of recently released indie titles that are sold on Amazon and then go to Best Buy. They won't carry them. I know from first hand experience that even if you are so lucky as to get Best Buy to order from your distributor they will only order like 2 copies for maybe 25 of their stores. That's the last you will see an order from Best Buy. Expecting to sell as many as Paranormal Activity or Tiny Furniture is like expecting to win the lottery.
 
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Blade_Jones said:
Blockbuster and Hollywood Video has been replaced by Netflix. Pretty much common knowledge. Netflix used to order 60 copies according to people in this forum and people I've spoken to. Write down a bunch of recently released indie titles that are sold on Amazon and then go to Best Buy. They won't carry them. I know from first hand experience that even if you are so lucky as to get Best Buy to order from your distributor they will only order like 2 copies for maybe 25 of their stores. That's the last you will see an order from Best Buy. Expecting to sell as many as Paranormal Activity or Tiny Furniture is like expecting to win the lottery.
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So basically, someone told you this, and it's not a first hand account or experience.

I know that sounds like I'm being a jerk, but "someone told me" isn't a good way to operate, IMO.
 
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Ahhh, so everyone finally understands. My work here is done.

On the positive side, there are good examples of what is possible.

Swimming with Sharks is a great example of an indie film that made the cut without resorting to exploitationism. Got into theaters, bombed, and salvaged it's budget in the aftermarket.

1 known actor, inexpensive at the time

2 B-C actors that could actually act convincingly

3 solid locations that were well designed and sold the story

1 interesting story

1 original soundtrack

This is a formula that worked.

Reportedly made for under 2 million dollars, the film made it's money back on DVD sales, rentals, and movie channel showings. The key was a strong performance by Spacey, as the lead, and strong writing.

A Scanner Darkly was an independent Hit. Budget 8 mil, take 24 mil. Terrible movie. 4 known stars, no directing visible in film.

You can sell the hell out of a terrible movie, as long as your trailer actually gets on TV.
 
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