The Attention Game
When I first read this quote, it floored me.
“What the pupil must learn, if he learns anything at all, is that the world will do most of the work for you, provided you cooperate with it by identifying how it really works and aligning with those realities. If we do not let the world teach us, it teaches us a lesson.”
— Joseph Tussman
This simple paragraph helped me put words to a problem I’d been seeing for years.
Most indie filmmakers never make a living with original work because we’re trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
We’re accustomed to using a certain set of business strategies that just don't work in the modern, hyper-connected world. Not anymore.
Our job as filmpreneurs, then, is to identify how the world is actually working, right now.
Before we ever write a word, or shoot a frame, we need to see reality as it is, so that we can align ourselves with it.
Only then do we stand a chance of earning our slice of the most valuable resource in the modern economy.
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Attention is everything.
It’s the foundation on which multiple billion dollar industries are built.
From media to tech, attention is the lifeblood that makes everything else possible.
Social media only works when people are glued to a screen.
Shows and movies are only viable when people tune in.
Once we have attention, there are many ways to monetize. From ads to subscriptions to transactions, it’s all fair game.
But none of that works unless people choose to spend quality time with our work.
Again, attention is everything.
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Unfortunately, attention is finite.
There are only so many people on this planet. And each of us only has so much time to spend on consumption.
And boy, the competition for a slice of that limited attention pie is overwhelming.
There are five or six mega corporations duking it out for media dominance on the high end.
Then you’ve got the social media and tech companies, always devising new ways to keep us glued to our screens just a little longer.
On top of all that, you’ve got indie media companies, along with hundreds of thousands of individual creators scrapping for their own small piece of the pie.
This is the world as it exists right now.
As indie filmmakers, this is our playing field.
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The task in front of us is daunting.
First, we need to catch attention with our marketing.
We must find a way to initially stand out in a sea of noise.
But that’s only half the battle.
Because then, we must direct that attention towards our actual work.
People must WANT to spend time with what we’ve created. That’s the only way they’ll buy or stream our film.
They’ve gotta care about our work more than the competing options.
It’s a sobering, brutal reality.
Let’s call this whole depressing situation The Attention Game.
Like it or not, we’re all playing. And we must find a way to win.
Our livelihoods depend on it.
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Hollywood’s got a finely-tuned playbook for winning mass market attention.
In a phrase, it can be summed up at “go big or go home.”
The playbook contains a number of strategies you’ll recognize.
Rely on celebrity and stardom
Create as much awe-inspiring production value as possible
Tell generic stories that can cross cultural boundaries (gotta tap into those foreign markets)
Keep everything in predictable formats and styles.
Lean on existing IP that people already enjoy.
Market the ever-living crap out of projects, so there’s no way the general public can miss the message.
Hollywood has to lean on this playbook because of its scale.
When there are tens or hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, it takes an awful lot of eyeballs to make investors and studios whole.
So Hollywood sets their sights on the mass market. The global market.
Their goal is to get as much attention as humanly possible. Their survival depends on it.
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As indie filmmakers, we’ve been conditioned to take a page from Hollywood’s playbook.
We’re told that if we want to compete, we need to do the same things they do, just at a smaller scale.
So we write scripts to fit in certain genres that seem most consistently profitable.
We hire some C-list actor we can’t really afford.
We spend on PR and advertising in hopes of standing out.
Basically, we engage in cheap mimicry of Hollywood’s machine.
And 99% of the time, it’s all pointless.
Because at the end of the day, our work ends up right next to blockbusters and shows.
And when our work feels like a cheap knockoff of what Hollywood does, we virtually guarantee people won’t pay attention.
I mean, why would they?
If someone’s in the mood for a comedy, or a drama, or a western, they’ve got endless high budget options to satisfy their desire.
No matter how much “heart” our little indie flick has, it’s bound to slide into obscurity.
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By playing Hollywood’s game and emulating their playbook, we shoot ourselves in the foot.
That’s the thing about competing to win attention in the mass market…
It’s become a game of resources. Those who spend the most will win.
Hence the reason we’ve got five or six mega corporations all trying to outspend one another.
The only way for them to grow their share of the limited attention pie is to spend more.
In doing so, they flood the market with high-end content, and push indie filmmakers and creators even further away from mass market audiences.
This is the reality of the modern media landscape. This is the game being played around us.
It’s why Phil, even if he manages to make a genre film with name talent, doesn’t stand a chance.
Now, you might be thinking this whole situation makes indie film a pointless endeavor.
But as I mentioned in an earlier email, the internet is destroying the very notion of popular culture.
It’s giving people endless new avenues for where to spend their precious attention.
Tomorrow, we’ll look at how indie filmmakers can adapt to this reality, and thrive within it.
Instead of trying to beat Hollywood in a rigged game, we’re going to play a different game entirely.
Talk soon,
-Rob “mmmmmmmmm…. attention pie” Hardy