Top Film Industry Stories of 2013: #3

Niche Films: The Cable-ization of the Movie Industry

By Kim Hollis

January 12, 2014

They solve crime!

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Once upon a time, the entertainment landscape in North America was fairly simple. The Big Three television networks ruled with practically no challenge to their dominance. Universal, 20th Century Fox, Sony, Disney, Warner Bros. and Paramount had a vice-like grip on theatrical releases. When looking for movie rentals at Blockbuster, the categories you might see on shelves were a simple few – drama, comedy, horror, western, classics, and perhaps one or two more. Choosing an option was a simple process precisely because choice was so limited.

Of course, that also meant that there wasn’t really something for everybody. Certain audiences were neglected purely because of the notion that a concept wouldn’t “play in Peoria” (a phrase I despise, by the way, having grown up about a half hour from that happy metropolis). Entertainment was broadly targeted to the biggest cross-section of the population possible, meaning that it was also mostly safe. And pretty boring, in retrospect.

When cable TV began to expand in the late 1990s, the notion that programming had to appeal to “everyone” started to disintegrate. There were channels for women, channels for African-Americans, channels that drew a broad homosexual audience, channels for children, channels for teens, channels for foodies, channels for history buffs… and the list goes on and on. Advertisers suddenly realized that where before much of their television advertising budget went to waste because it went to an audience basically titled “All these people,” they were suddenly able to put messages in front of a more precise audience. Now, in 2013, cable networks are offering programming that the Big Three would never consider. A show about a cancer-ridden teacher who turns to making meth to make money? Inconceivable. An animated series about spies with sex, foul language, and quirks galore? No way. What about a reality show focused around a Louisiana family with a company that makes products for duck hunters? Impossible!




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Nonetheless, cable paved the way to proving that there’s more to entertainment audiences than simple footballs to groins and crime procedurals. With streaming options available on the Internet, people have nearly infinite ways to spend their time dedicated to entertainment. Netflix has more than 75,000 “microgenres”, ensuring that subscribers would be served suggestions and ideas that fit such specific selections as “Irreverent TV Comedies from the 1990s,” “Visually Striking Foreign Sci-Fi and Fantasy” and “Heartfelt Social Issue Dramas.”

With movie budgets spiraling out of control, studios are finding it ever more challenging to plan projects that make true profit. Sure, we still have the big blockbusters, but as spending on those films moves into the quarter billion dollar range, even those movies are fraught with peril for their studios. For every Iron Man 3 or Catching Fire there is a Lone Ranger or 47 Ronin. Today’s audiences are a tempestuous lot to be sure, and determining the next big thing is no easy task. Just witness the multiple Twilight clones that have tried and repeatedly failed.

And so it is that a handful of studios have started taking the same approach that we saw work for cable channels. They are developing plans for definitive, targeted audiences and creating product that directly appeals to those groups. The idea is paying off, too.


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