Every now and then I do a post about the Irish DVD titles I stumble upon in shops near us here at the Irish Film Portal. You head up towards the windmill and take a turn for the town where, sometimes, you'll happen across a bit of an Irish DVD jumble sale.
I found this set of shelves recently with a scatter of Christmas market left-overs and a few additional titles. Sometimes I do a bit of re-arranging, just so as you can see all the titles that are available, but as I didn't do that this time I only spotted a copy of 32A lurking behind Mrs Brown's Bloomers after I had taken the picture.
These shelves were probably the least auspiciously placed in the section so the merchandisers and distributors (mostly Element and Beaumex) need to shmooze the shopkeepers a little to ensure the product can be seen by passing shoppers and not just by inquisitive Irish film nerds such as myself.
I wonder - as ever - if there's any return to the producers or the Film Board (where it's involved) from sales of these DVDs?
Oldest title - Da? Newest title - Parked?
6 comments:
not much return id say for ifb or producers on any of these, maybe The Guard recouped some money for the ifb which is good. Why not try create a list of films or tv porojects that have definetly recouped some money of not all the money it was given in development and production loans.
Ill start:
#1 Once The Movie (not to mention the large amounts of money the producers and ifb must be getting from the broadway show as surely they in for a slice of all things that come out of Once in whatever form be in book, play, soundtrack)
#2 The Guard, a big hit(surely recouped lots for ifb
#3 The Tudors, a huge hit on dvd
#4 I went Down, must have recouped by now
thats it id say, the other 400 havent made a dime
Don't forget that the Producer Recoupment scheme effectively means that a film has to generate twice as much cash as it normally would take for the Film Board to recoup all of its "equity".
Not all producers avail of the scheme but I bet anyone in a realistic position to generate a rights sale is quick to avail of the scheme - they would be mad not to.
Plus I wouldn't be so sure that the all titles above generated a return. The Tudors is not an Irish originated project and I doubt if the Irish coproducer retains much in the way of rights. As for I Went Down, popular in Ireland, yes, but not elsewhere, at least at the box office. There was a mildly successful US theatrical release (possibly a worldwide rights deal) but it's extremely unlikely that the advance would have covered the investment.
The success of Once is probably the exception that proves the rule - but yes, it would be fascinating to follow the money on that one.
Those are UNcommercial movies. Most people wouldn't watch those titles those if they paid to!
Interesting piece by Donald Clarke on Charlie Casanova in the Irish Times today. I think the IFB demurred from funding this film but they did award it support for marketing - I wonder what the position is on taxpayers' money supporting fraudulent advertising?
Actually, some of these films were commercially successful in Ireland. Not that commercial success is the only measure of a film's worth.
Certainly we do need to be a lot more open to the fact that some of our films are not successful by any measure - because they are bad films.
Not because they are 'uncommercial', not because of market forces, and not because (yes, this has been put to me) of the weather at the time of their release.
I think the IFB gave Charlie Casanova €15,000 completion funding in March last year. Not sure about marketing money, unless it has yet to be published.
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