Hot Desert Knights PRESS RELEASE

[robin]

Hey Bill,

Anything that helps you out in wider distribution and that allows you to focus on the production end is always good.

A thought just occurred to me today...This new distribution deal doesn't affect any stock that's currently in stores does it?

What I mean by that is; will retailers be sending back the old stock in order to have the stock with a white tiger releasing label? Just curious I guess.

[gaybucks_chip]

In other words, to me they are like glorified beer distributors - companies who because of some structural requirement, people have to go to them to get their products to the public.
Steve

I think that depends a lot on the distributor. In truth, every distributor probably has more product lines than they can effectively handle, so some clients will get great service and quite a few might get little to no service at all. That's one of the things I have to say about White Tiger, they have expressed a desire in limiting the number of studios they carry, and if their financial model supports that idea, they should be able to provide good service to their studios AND to the retailers they service.

If the relationship with the distributor is a healthy one, the distributor and the studio are working closely together. The distributor has his ear on the pulse of what retailers and customers are asking for and can communicate that to the studio, who, in turn can shoot or edit or mold the product he produces to better fit what the market wants. Likewise, the studio that is really aggressive and works hard to provide product on time and when needed will win more support from the distributor.

I think a lot of studios make the mistake of saying "I have a distributor" and sit back and let the distributor do all the work... and then said studio gets mad when their titles don't sell as well as they'd like. If there's good dialog and a strong effort both on the part of the studio and the distributor, then a lot is possible... but there are distributors who are just "order takers" and there are studios who take the "I don't want to fuck with marketing" approach, and those two types are, unfortunately, all too typical in this business.

[hdkbill]

It is interesting that you say that. Because I receive many movies here to review, and particularly with the international DVD's - the US distributor does nothing except slap some enticing, easily sellable title on it, and churn it out. Not only do they not contribute to the creative process, but in many cases they screw it up.

One good example is how early this year I received a DVD on a film which basically was about some Czech twinks doing it in some ski chalet. It was probably filmed in 2005... but by the time it got here the DVD title was "Ridin' High on Bareback Mountain"

I get Brazilian movies all the time which have no translation from the Portuguese, and some even have basic stories - but they will be titled something completely generic, like "A Piece of the Action" or "Brazilian Nuts"

In other words, to me they are like glorified beer distributors - companies who because of some structural requirement, people have to go to them to get their products to the public.

One of the remarkable innovations of the Internet is that producers don't have to look to these kinds of middlemen as much as before. And I think in ten years or so, purchasing movies online and burning them to your disc, like iTunes today, will become much more commonplace.

Steve

Steve I hear you. I get that stuff all the time as well. You are correct about downloading movies and burning to disc. I'm guessing it will be in less than 5 years.


Bill

[hdkbill]

Hey Bill,

Anything that helps you out in wider distribution and that allows you to focus on the production end is always good.

A thought just occurred to me today...This new distribution deal doesn't affect any stock that's currently in stores does it?

What I mean by that is; will retailers be sending back the old stock in order to have the stock with a white tiger releasing label? Just curious I guess.

Robin,

No, the retail stores are not affected. The White Tiger logo will be printed on covers only as we need to reprint and, of course, on new releases. Our logo will remain on the covers and we'll just be adding White Tiger and Dusedo's logo. Dusedo is our European Distributor.

Bill

[Epoch Holly]

Congrats Bill! Good to see good news for good companies!

[hdkbill]

Congrats Bill! Good to see good news for good companies!

Thanks Holly!!!

Man, it's been a long time. Hope you are doing well!:cowboy:

Bill

[desslock]

I think that depends a lot on the distributor. In truth, every distributor probably has more product lines than they can effectively handle, so some clients will get great service and quite a few might get little to no service at all.

Insightful point, Chip. I had not thought of it that way. I know the White Tiger guys too, plus others who work with me all the time to promote their movies.

I am interested in how over the next several years Internet distribution changes things. Not too long ago, if you made a manstream Hollywood picture, your distribution depended on movie theaters and the three television networks.

Steve

[hdkbill]

Chip,

You are correct on all points. The producer and the distributor have to work together if both are to be successful.

One of the the primary reasons we finally made the decision to go with Rob over at White Tiger is he doesn't want to represent everyone. He want to pick those that he thinks are the best in their particular genre and then work closely together to make sure that they both are succesful.

Just yesterday Rob contacted me about a problem that another studio he represents was having and asked if I'd be willing to give him a call to see if I couldn't offer some help in resolving his problem. That is the type of interaction I want to see between studio and distributor.

Their philosophy at White Tiger is that if they help their studio to achieve whatever the studios goals are, then by default, White Tiger will achieve their goals. It's a good business philosophy that seems to have gone by the wayside in todays business climate.

Bill