The Founder's Brew - Vol.4

This Week's Topics: Know Thy Audience, A Future Hit, and Pages from the Commonplace Book.

Know Thy Audience

Let's do a thought experiment. As we're coming up the holidays, I'm going to focus on Christmas shopping. Yes, yes, we all, in our unique way, hate the idea. Some of us get our shopping done by Thanksgiving (yes, this is my wife), and then there are those of us who like to wait until the last minute (yours truly). Regardless of when you shop, you always go into the process thinking about the person for whom you are buying. What might they like? Is this something they need? It would defy rational thought to approach gift buying without asking these questions. Yet, it is pretty standard for people in content production to ignore or not even give a second thought to their audience.

Every conversation I have with my clients usually starts with this exchange:

Client: "I want to make this story. It's been a passion project of mine since I was a kid going to the theater every Saturday."

Me: "Sounds great. Love your passion. Who's the audience?"

Client: "Uh.....and then some fumbling answer about "four-quadrant."

This is a fairly regular occurrence with my clients, and it startles me how little they think of the audience they want to entertain. I was thinking about this even more after watching Dune. It's an entertaining film, no doubt, but I have to wonder if Denis Villeneuve thought at any point about his audience or did he say, 'I want to make DUNE.' There is no question that passion is needed to get a project completed. Still, if the audience never comes into the equation, if it's just about seeing it on the big screen, then when it's time to sell your product to an audience, you're already behind the eight ball. Now, I'm not going to say marketing always does right by the audience. As I discussed on last week's Hollywood Breaks, Warners missed a broader audience opportunity by just going for the authentic sci-fi audience. Given the numbers this past weekend, that's who they got. Some of my smaller brand clients almost always start asking about their audience, and they've typically done some deep research as well. I think it's time for content makers to do the same. There is no doubt that we should still focus on the story we want to tell, but the audience needs to be a part of the conversation much earlier in the process. In every step of the creative process, the target audience should be in the back of your mind. 

I close out this section of the newsletter with a long quote from Matt Labash's Slack Tide Newsletter (which is excellent, by the way). Matt was describing how many of the folks he had done profiles on have passed these last few years and one, in particular, was a true citizen of New Orleans. He loved everything about the city and felt that love in his bones. In describing that love, Matt references a quote from Tuba Phil Frazier, the anchor of the Rebirth Brass Band, on whom Matt was doing a profile. After Katrina had gutted the city that the Rebirth was synonymous with, Tuba Phil said: “Other shit goes on…….But when you come to our show, man, you forget about your problems, the mortgage, the insurance, the housing…….You might go home to half a house, but you sleep better that night. That's what I hope our music does to people. That's our obligation. The bad and the good stand side by side. I have tragedy. But I'm a stronger person. I can take it. Keep on goin'. Try to make it better. When I play in New Orleans, I play like this is the last time I'm ever going to play again. What if the city really is sunk? I play like the hell with it. I play like I might never come back to this again. I play like it's my last year of livin'. That's how I play."

That's true dedication to your audience. Not just to entertain but to transport them away from the crazy of the outside world. That's the obligation, and we, as content creators, need to remember that as we embark on our storytelling adventures. 

Hits and Misses

This week's hit is one I see coming down the road. Andrew Rosen, who writes a very informative newsletter, Parqor, did a deep dive into the forthcoming Avengers dining experience on the Disney cruise line. It's an adventure that involves all of your favorite Avengers, but this is where it gets good:

To bring this action-packed spectacle to life, we have specially designed the restaurant with immersive cinematic technology, including hundreds of screens and special effects embedded throughout. Filming with the actors has already wrapped and we are now working on the post-production editing and effects. (Here’s another secret for you: Because most of the battle takes place on the upper decks of the ship, we are actually re-creating it in photo-realistic CGI while the real Disney Wish is still under construction).

Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes. This is precisely what entertainment needs to do to start pulling audiences back in who got used to sitting at home rather than going out. This will be a massive hit with families and customers of all ages. Disney and the other studios need to be doing much more of this. What are they doing with theaters to bring audiences back? It can't just be the product anymore. Disney - you're on the right track. Now, buy a theater, and apply this innovation to that tired old experience. If you can make a cruise line dinner an adventure, you certainly can change the theater status quo. 

Pages from the Commonplace Book

This week's quote comes to us from the oft-overlooked Founding Father and subject of fabulous HBO mini-series and an even better book by David McCullough: John Adams. Over to you, Mr. Adams:

"We can't guarantee success [in this war], but we can do something better. We can deserve it."

This great quote from Adams in a letter to his equally formidable and fabulous wife, Abigail, and quoting from the play Cato by Joseph Addison (very popular with the Founding generation) highlights what I was discussing. Granted, he was discussing success during a fraught time in American history, and I'm just talking about content, but the message is the same. Success doesn't just come to you. It won't necessarily come to you because you have the right star or the correct IP. Adams believed we deserved success because the cause was righteous. We, as content makers, deserve success if we are accurate to the story we are trying to tell; we're kind to all those working hard to get our project out into the world, and we don't ignore our audience. 

This Week on Hollywood Breaks

Richard Rushfield, Editor-in-Chief of The Ankler newsletter, joins us for what is sure to be a fascinating conversation. 

See you next week!