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I wrote this earlier this year and I’m really glad it’s coming out now. I couldn’t be more grateful to the assistance and experience of @MicrowaveDrama and @MeganWMitchell to push me on my blind spots. Hire them! https://twitter.com/ICOtweets/status/1326548555998191617
It was a strange time to be thinking about audience development. Venues were closed, and there was a lot of mutual longing on both sides. I don't think I'd missed the magnetic connections with other souls in the dark as much.
I want to be in that space, to feel comfortable again. But there are issues in the way that indie cinemas conceive of audiences that are still uncomfortable even when we won’t have to wear masks.
It made me a little sad to write about aspirations and strategies that most indie venues can’t and don’t put central to their mission. I get the impression (correct me if I’m wrong) that audience development as a defined role in cinemas is in decline.
Mostly that work goes to programmers and marketers. In my experience, programming doesn’t necessarily change audience alone (unfortunately, if you show it, they won’t necessarily come).
Marketing has moved to focus more on recency, frequency and monetary value of people *who already come*; or they're pushed into a cycle of 'GET ME SOME PEOPLE FOR THIS EVENT NOW' rather than working on long-term strategies with other teams.
I can see the next few years are going to squeeze audience development more. When cinemas can reopen, they are going to have a tough time bringing back even their existing audience. Reaching out further slips down the agenda in the face of weathering the storm.
The older white middle class audience that cinemas have hitched their wagon to over the last few years is a narrow subset of society, and one that has an expiry date ( @ericallenhatch's essay ‘Why I’m Hopeful’ is really good on this https://filmmakermagazine.com/105446-why-i-am-hopeful/#.X6z8V9vLf_R)
It's not a fringe issue to broaden out who comes beyond that. It's an existential crisis.
This guide isn’t the answer, but it at least points to the value of a commitment to a plan rather than the scattershot way things are often done. People who are doing this work are often adrift in orgs that don't support them, so hopefully it holds some space for them.
The organisations that give me hope are ones that have a clearly defined ethos and don’t get knocked off that to chase funding streams or short-term commercial ‘opportunities’.
Shout out to folks who always thinking about the community they serve and consistently providing for them, not making lazy assumptions about what audiences want, building trust + credibility with their audiences.
Two that spring to mind are @TheLexiCinema and @wshed, but I know there are lots of great people doing the work in tough circumstances (that's why I like doing what I do) and mostly outside institutions (there's a reason I asked two freelancers to sharpen my thinking).
And if you've read this far, I'm always happy to chat about these things, work-hat on or not.
