ABSTRACT
Historically, early films were driven by publicity generated around stars, normally while a film was being shot. The two key marketable elements were stars and the picture title, and every effort was made by the Studios to get those names and titles into the press. Later, the long release patterns – sometimes months – of the 1960s and 1970s allowed film titles to build a following (via word of mouth) without the urgent pressures of a make-or-break opening weekend. Today, given the competitive pressures of the entertainment mass market discussed in the previous chapter, marketing presents an all-encompassing and ever-present challenge at every stage, starting with a film’s inception and all the way along its journey towards finding an audience. Marketing in the film business has historically suffered from a tendency to be approached and viewed from a tightly drawn and narrow perspective. The standard, traditional assumption is that marketing stands for a set of elements created and executed by a department at a certain stage of a film’s life – most often restricted to the theatrical release.
