by Larry Richman
October 4, 2006 1:53 PM

Many filmmakers (producers, actually) won't admit it, but they often go into production with the home video release in mind. Yes, the technical aspects of a good theatrical release are still accounted for, but sound, color correction, and other post tasks are often tailored more for the small screen than the big one. Films are being shot digitally and being marketed with an eye toward a 3-4 month DVD window, and if it does well theatrically, so be it. There is just so much more money to be made in home video. The profit margin is so much higher without the theater owners in play.

You even have the Mark Cuban model of day-and-date release, with theaters, cable TV, and DVD releases occurring almost simultaneously. The same company is the production company, the theatrical distributors, the theater owners, the cable network owners, and DVD distributors. It's vertical integration, top to bottom, and they get it all. Now we are beginning to see simultaneous release by other independent film distributors (IFC Films and Comcast cable, for example) as well as simultaneous digital downloads on the Internet by major studios.

A couple of reasons some low budget indies are even released theatrically at all is to gain from the benefit of awards qualification and union rules which require a theatrical run to accrue certain benefits.