Knowledge is Power
The Trade Press: What is it and why should I be reading this
They say “Knowledge is Power”. Well, the best way to stay up to date with what is happening in Film and TV is to read what is called the Trade Press. These are publications that are specifically created for the industry and not targeted at the general public.
It never ceases to amaze me quite how many actors working so hard to establish themselves in this industry of ours know so little about what a production has to go through before they arrive on set and what has to happen afterwards in order to best position that production to return a profit for their investors. Or even something as basic as which direction is the industry currently moving in? And why should they, they are actors. It’s all about the talent, isn’t it?
Well, the truth is that the film industry is a business first and an avenue for artistic expression second. Let’s not forget that.
Did you know that the global box office revenue is forecast to increase from about 38 billion U.S. dollars in 2016 to nearly 50 billion U.S. dollars in 2020 and yet the U.S. is currently the third largest film market in the world in terms of tickets sold per year, ranking behind China and India and not the actual market leader any more, with China constantly having its eyes on the West and proving to be not shy of really big investments? Why is this and why is it relevant to an actor wanting to build a career? Do you know how many more projects Netflix are commissioning this year as opposed to Paramount and why and, more importantly, who are behind these projects and what are their contact details? Where are the growth markets? Which projects are likely to happen and which are not? What is VOD and why should we all be excited by what Disney is doing in this space in 2019? Who is the hottest Director on the planet and who is likely to take that crown this year? Fancy yourself as a “Gary Oldman type? Well, who are Gary Oldman’s agents and what are their contact details?
How can you best position yourself to be part of this industry if you don’t know what is going on beyond the set that you’re standing on?
You can learn so much more than you know already for free! I do mean free. No cost at all but your time. Information that will prove vital to you as you try to move your career forward - stuff they don’t teach you at drama schools.
The film industry trade press (the “trades” as they are known by) are a series of publications, newspapers if you like, that are created for the industry by industry specialists. There are basically three main players and each one of them offer free, daily emails with news breakdowns, analysis and discussion. You can subscribe to get these emails sent to your inbox every single day for nothing.
These three leading players are, Screen Daily, Variety and Hollywood Reporter (with Hollywood Reporter also running an excellent YouTube channel).
To sign up for these free email news alerts go to:
Screen Daily:
https://www.screendaily.com/home/how-to-sign-up-for-screen-international-newsletters/5129771.article
Variety:
https://www.varietyinsight.com/free_news_alerts.php
Hollywood Reporter:
http://link.hollywoodreporter.com/join/38o/thr-signup
And the excellent Hollywood Reporter YouTube Channel is here:
https://www.youtube.com/hollywoodreporter
(Be advised that it costs money to get full access to all the various pages of some of these bodies but you can still get the daily newsletters for free).
There are two other online resources you ought to consider, one is free and one costs but is truly worth it (remember, the cost of subscribing should be a tax-deductible expense assuming your accountant knows what he or she is doing).
The free one is here:
It’s a breakdown of how much money projects are actually making and is core to the function of the industry. A very well-known and extremely high profile Producer I used to work with once said to me “it’s ALL about the numbers” and the long line of awards he has proves that he’s 100% right here.
The one that costs is IMDb Pro, the link for which is here:
It costs $149.99 a year to subscribe to this pro version of IMDb (the Internet Movie Database) but consider this: IMDb Pro is the number one resource that so many of us working in the industry use as a research tool. It won’t get you cast in anything and for the love of God, please just ignore the “star ratings” as these are so easy to manipulate that no one ever bothers to take them seriously. But if you’ve an audition coming up, you can find out what other projects the Director has done before, who the Production Company is, what source of financing they may or may not already have in place (that’s a REALLY good way of judging a project’s viability), who their lawyers are, who are the key Agents involved, who other Casting Directors may or may not be, who is already attached to the project, etc, etc. You can also get direct contact details of pretty nearly every single player in the industry (this information isn’t available on the free version of this website) and SO much more. Oh, and currently, you can get one month free if you sign up today.
I’m forever telling actors to be snipers not machine-gunners. A sniper will do their research, stalk their “prey” and choose their moment very carefully having built up a complete picture of what they prey is doing at any moment and why. So learn from this, do yourself a massive favour and start each and every day reading the trades. EDUCATE YOURSELF. No one else is likely to do that foryou.
