Download Matariki – a talk by director and screen writer Michael Bennett (Deb

Matariki – a talk by director and screen writer Michael Bennett (Deb has the sound file to
this talk if you need to listen to it).
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It’s a small film - budget $4 mill – as opposed to Hobbit (1/2 billion)
It’s been 12 years in the making
10 years in script development – the Film Commission gave him $25,000 to do this
Once they accepted the script he applied for production funding of $4.5 mill, which
they gave him. You MUST have a distributor to get that funding
 It was due to come out this February, but it’s coming out in November (18th)
 The distributor went bankrupt (see below why distributors are so important)
 It was good in the end to have a delay with release – It’s been a positive thing,
because Boy came out in March – it has made it cool to see NZ film again. Also it
gave them a chance to try out for the Toronto festival – which they wouldn’t have
been able to do if the film had already shown here.
Marketing –
 Trailers are very important for marketing a film – and it needs very specifically
targeted subject matter (In ‘Matariki’ that’s not highlighting the dire stuff, but
highlighting relationships, recognisable actors (Alix Bushnell from Go Girls), funny
moments encourage audiences to attend)
 Also this trailer was made by a really experienced Hollywood Trailer Editor who now
lives in NZ
 It doesn’t tell the whole story – still need to get the audience to experience
something new when they get to the theatre
 Trying to use music to get the movie to audience – A CD to be released shortly
 The characters are introduced and defined by music , Gin Wigmore and other
artists – popular music works for marketing but also good for the film. It also makes
a good CD (linking merchandise to the movie markets it but also makes money for
the film makers)
 Music videos go to C4 and Juice – take people to film (cross-pollenation)
 Will give away CDs on radio etc
 Music Video has Bella ? who is really big in south Auckland – so this will market to
the South Auckland audience
 Everything has changed in the age of social networking. The money spend in
marketing traditionally would have been TV and Billboard. These days to get 100%
value out of marketing they need – 1% bill board 2% TV. The Website, Facebook,
Youtube and other social networking – over 80% value.
 All the social networking sites are linked together – click through to one another with
related content (Behind scenes, the premiere, sneak previews, music – all needs to
be visual).
 The website a vital part of marketing in conjunction with social networking – the
value of facebook to a marketing campaign is huge – this is a big change in the new
way of marketing films
 The website has the trailer, pictures and CV’s of actors etc. Short and snappy works
best on a website, and links with other internet places (Twitter, FB)
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They also filmed stuff at Toronto – a ‘human face’ to their film = which has hd a
fabulous response
 The video footage makes it ‘real’ and helps sell the film to ordinary people
 Traditional marketing kicks in about a month before the NZ premiere. Newspaper
and magazine articles
 Any way to get it out is tried – Magazine articles with actors (human interest articles
– ie Alix and her dog
Distribution
 Distributors find screens, make prints – they are the key person in the puzzle.
Having a distributor who is willing to risk all for a film shows the Film Commission
that the industry believes this film will make money/is worth making
 The opening weekend is the focus, films rise or fall on opening weekend crowds
 Highly unlikely to make any money – even Boy (at $9mill from box office) will only
be turning a profit now
 Most of the money made goes to the exhibitor – at least half of the ticket price
 NOTE: 5 major NZ films have made less than $200,000. Recent examples, Vitner’s
Luck, Predicament, Strength of Water – check on the sheet I gave you to see how
much they cost and consider the consquences to the film commission of
contributing to films when they don’t know how well they will do at the box office
Toronto film festival – One of the ‘top tier’ festivals to be accepted at – Cannes is the other
 Canadian response to NZ culture – they related to the indigenous nature of Matiriki.
The stories are specific and it’s about cultural conflict in NZ but it has universal
themes that other cultures relate to. Once were warriors and Whale Rider did big at
Toronto too.
 Having been to Toronto gives the film industry kudos and selling power (really
important) here and overseas
Sentence starters you could use in combination with the information above, as part
of an exam essay
Marketing a New Zealand film is important because…
Ways a film is marketed have changed. For example ‘Matariki’ was marketed
by…and… These are significant changes in terms of attracting audiences
because...
Distributors are an important part of the organisation of the industry because…The
role of distributor has been important to the film ‘Matariki’ because…Consequences
of the distribution process of this film are…Exhibitors are important because…
Festivals are important to the marketing of a film because…
‘Matariki’ has been to the….festival. This is important because…One way the
director used this festival experience was to… because…