The Power of Making Great Projects Shouldn't be Wasted
Andy Marken May 22, 2024
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I love you, Molly. I've always loved you, Sam. Ditto, Molly. Ghost, Paramount, 1990
We had wrapped up the business part of a video conference call with a highly respected industry observer/analyst when he said he was a little surprised at how rom-coms and Barbie had changed studios priorities.
That launched us into a nearly hour-long discussion of the ebb and flow of film genre over the years. We admit it, rom-coms and light-hearted flicks have never been our go-to movie choices.
However, for Barbie, there are a number of reasons it was a record-setter with everyone but the old white guy voters in the Academy.
Two major reasons they overlooked were:
50.5 percent of US population today is female, while the ratio is roughly equal globally
People need a reprise from the constant barrage of negative news, half-truths
Video stories (movies/series) have always been a relief/release opportunity for people who simply want to unwind and refresh.
It wasn't that long ago that superhero pics were guaranteed to be winners at the box office.
Today, they struggle.
At home, couch potatoes want adventure, action, animation and rom-com.
Tina was right, we don't need another hero.
People want to live, experience life beyond Thunderdome.
Barbie is admittedly not our fave; but when you have a daughter, you bend a lot. It was a refreshing, light-hearted change of pace.
The project was well written, well shot, well-acted, well produced, well posted.
We somewhat enjoyed it because it was empowering for females without being mean or vindictive.
In other words, it was a breath of fresh air.
That should be celebrated, reinforced!
Frankly, we've gotten tired of watching the news, skimming social media and seeing/hearing nothing but physical/verbal violence.
We know (O.K., we're pretty sure) there is kindness and positivity waiting to rise above the chaos, and the content industry is in the best position to nurture it and help it thrive.
Social media was developed with the idea that it would allow people to share ideas and information through virtual networks and communities.
It's so misused/abused, we avoid it.
So how do we change this?
Maybe the change is already taking place and content creators have to catch up and leverage the opportunity? We're not saying that the Hallmark Channel is the bellwether to positive change, but it's one of the first places you look in America when you want rom-com, comedy, Christmas/holiday movies/shows.
Safe Haven - Often overlooked in the maddening rush for capturing more subscribers everywhere, all the time; Hallmark Channel has achieved slow, steady audience growth especially when compared to hard news viewing sources during prime viewing times.
And it's been a serious cable option for primetime viewing with an average of 1M+ viewers, compared to news channels such as Fox News (2M primetime viewers), MSNBC (1M) and CNN (605K).
The go-to-channel for feel-good content (especially around the holidays) has even expanded and broadened its programming most recently with a family/friendship/time travel series, The Way Home.
Viewership nudges Fox News and surpasses MSNBC and CNN.
O.K., the viewership numbers pale in comparison to the Netflix audience (81M, US/Can; 260M global), but you know you're not going to show something you'll mumble/fumble to explain to your kids or look at your significant other and say WTF.
And if you're an advertiser that wants to reach/influence a largely middle-of-the-road female audience (25-54) and not harm your brand because of something that appears before or after your ad, it's a great safe bet/opportunity. But don't think for a moment that the leading streamers - Netflix, Apple, Amazon - have glossed over the female influencers.
Balanced Offering - By closely monitoring their audience's data and viewing, streamers have broadened their libraries to include more people friendly content like animation, family fantasy and comedy shows/films.
They have also increased their family/viewer-friendly content.
We didn't include Disney in the above list because a wide swath of their content has always been female boss and family friendly with their other content hosted by Hulu yes, the mix will change following the acquisition.
The content creation/distribution industry is effecting the change but it won't be smooth, won't be easy.
Film industry analyst Stephen Follows addressed the issue a while back noting that the skew between male genre and female genre is almost a rounding error except when it came to musical and romance films vs sci-fi and horror films.
The subtle shifting of the population mix (male/female) has also determined the types of shows/movies most of the audience wants to see.
The shift has become painfully obvious at the box office where superhero (even female superheroes) and crime films have failed to meet financial expectations.
More Similar - With the exception of a few, very few, genre; streamers and theaters have seen that the audience has more in common than differences, which may be why projects such as superhero films don't score big at the box office anymore and sci-fi films/shows have gone beyond their macho feel/look.
Since they're operating under the mandate of budget preservation, day/time TV has found that low-cost contest and reality shows have done a better job of keeping their dwindling audience numbers compared to expensive scripted violence.
Streamers enjoy the luxury of creating a balanced set of films/shows even though most tilt toward the gender that usually controls the selection.
Subscriber Retention - Both sexes have become tired of hard news and need to move beyond the c
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