Toy Story and Charity
For several decades now, Hollywood hasn't been in the business of making movies. It seems that way, because every year the cast and crew of that year's best films attend the Academy Awards ceremony and Oscars are handed out to the winners, seemingly based on the merits of the art that has been created.
This holds true for independent filmmakers who want to make art through storytelling, a craft which is, thankfully, very much alive amongst passionate filmmakers. But the notion of Hollywood as a traditional business, where you invest money into a project in the hopes that you'll make it all back and then some, isn't quite complete.
Hollywood isn't in the business of making movies so much as they are in the business of creating properties.
They want a film that will sell out in the theaters and have a killer opening weekend. But what they're really striving for, with each movie, is to create a platform on which to hang the marketing and profitable licensing for a variety of different media channels.
Toy Story 3 is a great movie. Since it came out, I've seen three kids carrying around a Woody the Cowboy doll. Buzz and Woody are all over the place now. Harry Potter is more than just a bunch of movies that came out; they're a brand empire that's given J.K. Rowling enough money to buy Scotland.
I'm certainly not the first person to point this out, but I would argue that the principles being used to generate oodles of money for Hollywood don't apply just to the movie industry. Take your favorite non-profit organization: in the midst of doing whatever charity is in their mission statement, they have to ask for donations.
It's ten dollars to go see a new movie in a theater these days; it was ten dollars you could donate to Haiti in the wake of the earthquake by sending a text message that would charge your carrier and end up on your bill. But Hollywood knows better than to just charge you for a ticket and be done with it...they're interested in engaging consumers on a deeper level, so they can sell you the toy, the video game, and the DVD down the line.
Every non-profit should be in the business of creating, following, and recruiting for a mission. If they do this properly, the fundraising will take care of itself.
This holds true for independent filmmakers who want to make art through storytelling, a craft which is, thankfully, very much alive amongst passionate filmmakers. But the notion of Hollywood as a traditional business, where you invest money into a project in the hopes that you'll make it all back and then some, isn't quite complete.
Hollywood isn't in the business of making movies so much as they are in the business of creating properties.
They want a film that will sell out in the theaters and have a killer opening weekend. But what they're really striving for, with each movie, is to create a platform on which to hang the marketing and profitable licensing for a variety of different media channels.
Toy Story 3 is a great movie. Since it came out, I've seen three kids carrying around a Woody the Cowboy doll. Buzz and Woody are all over the place now. Harry Potter is more than just a bunch of movies that came out; they're a brand empire that's given J.K. Rowling enough money to buy Scotland.
I'm certainly not the first person to point this out, but I would argue that the principles being used to generate oodles of money for Hollywood don't apply just to the movie industry. Take your favorite non-profit organization: in the midst of doing whatever charity is in their mission statement, they have to ask for donations.
It's ten dollars to go see a new movie in a theater these days; it was ten dollars you could donate to Haiti in the wake of the earthquake by sending a text message that would charge your carrier and end up on your bill. But Hollywood knows better than to just charge you for a ticket and be done with it...they're interested in engaging consumers on a deeper level, so they can sell you the toy, the video game, and the DVD down the line.
Every non-profit should be in the business of creating, following, and recruiting for a mission. If they do this properly, the fundraising will take care of itself.