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Interview by JOSEPH
G. NAZEL, JR.
Q&A:
Q: Most
exciting part of your job?
SHELBY: Every day is different.
Each day brings new challenges and new victories.
No two films are alike. No two filmmakers
are alike. And no two marketing campaigns
are alike. There is no monotony. There are
challenges every day.
Q: How important is your role as
marketer in the success of a film.
SHELBY: The way that the studio
system is now, the opening weekend of the
film is critical to the long-term success
of the film. So, I would say that in terms
of opening that film, the perception and
the reason people will pluck down $10, $12,
to go see a film opening weekend is based
on the marketing of that film, and their
(filmgoers) perception of what that film
is going to deliver.
So, in that respect, in terms of opening
weekend, we are probably 80 to 90 percent
responsible for people going to see the
film. After that the film stands on its
own. Whether that’s good word of mouth,
bad word of mouth, whatever. But in terms
of getting people in the theater on opening
weekend, we are an integral part of that.
Q: What was the most challenging
film to promote?
SHELBY: For me, it was “Lord
of the Rings.” It was like working
on three “Gone With the Winds.”
In that respect, I would say that it was
the most fun and the most rewarding, and
also the most challenging, in that we did
film all three films at one time. And the
challenge, initially, at least with that
first one, was to make it work. If the first
one didn’t work, we might as well
have just thrown away the other two. It
was an all or nothing gamble by our studio
and us to make sure that film was successful.
And then we were faced with the challenge
of the second, the middle film. It’s
not brand new like the first, and there
is no satisfaction at the end of it, because
it is not the ending film. So how do you
get people to come see it and segue to the
third?
The third film was kind of a no-brainer
at that point. But then it was like, ‘How
are you going to win the Academy Award?’
So it’s always a challenge.
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