Distribution : The Snyder Cut is Hollywood's Life Support and it May Do The Trick by Christopher Cooksey

Well, I see your point. However, we're not making burgers, we're making movies. If you want to sell burgers, you listen to how much salt the burger customer likes, and give them that, even if it's the most inedible food on the planet. Ask McDonalds. But the point to movies is NOT to make it plain and inoffensive. Seriously, studios need to just abandon reboots and rehashes of any kind, especially in the super hero and comic book arena. If they did something actually original within genre, they might find newer fans. But they won't, because corporate producers can always blame the fan base or the lagging market for a "proven" franchise and thus avoid association with failure. That's how corporate animals get promoted - not by being associated with success, but by avoiding association with failure. The same cover-your-ass instinct pushes a corporate producer to consult a fan base, as if fans have any opinion worth consulting. They don't, and I will say that categorically even though I am sure to annoy some people. Independent artists who have a solid voice in ANY media - music, painting, dance, and yes, film - don't consult their fans on their material. They are fans, not artists, and as fans they will buy your stuff, and those who don't like your stuff will be replaced by fans who do like your stuff when you do something different. You don't call them nazis or other names, but you certainly don't consult them.

It's like the saying goes we're in show business, not show show. Now, I'm not suggesting that fans dictate creative decisions if that's what you mean by "consult" but if you want to be successful you DON'T ignore them. Aristotle figured that out thousands of years ago. Step one is to create something for the audience that you feel you are a part of. That's how you craft something that is authentic and has appeal. The second is to understand what emotionally bonded your audience to what you created and work in service to that. That's what gives it continued value. I don't believe abandoning reboots or franchises is actually the point. Today's "blockbuster" producers and directors don't understand what made them successful in the first place so how can they be expected to build on that success? If they worked from whole cloth they'd get the same disastrous results.

the thing is how many of us are Zack Snyder? Maybe less than 5 Directors in America can do what Snyder does. HBO and Warner are partnering with Zack. They ain't bowing down to fans. This is Zack Snyder finishing a movie he didn't get a chance to do.

Thanks for the comment, Dan. True, none of us are Snyder but using him as a case study, there are some useful factors to consider. I think "bowing down to fans." is missing the intent. That suggests capitulating to unreasonable demands to an audience that isn't there. That's a subject I partially cover in my video but whole books could be written about. WB lost money on Justice League so no matter what their relationship with Snyder, no corporation is going to send good money after bad unless they know there's a built-in audience for it, ready to spend their cash to see it. The hashtag #releasethesnydercut is the result of years of vocal fans who endured being mocked and derided by pop-culture media, as they campaigned to see it. They even raised thousands of dollars for causes like suicide prevention while doing so. Now, what does that mean for independent content producers? It means that if you find your audience and they're passionate, they will have a deep respect for what you do as long as you remain true to the core values of what you create for them. As I said to Shadow in the above comments, this doesn't mean letting them dictate creative decisions but it does mean paying careful attention to how they respond to your actions. Read Aeristotal's The Poetics if you'd like to know the foundations for what I base my thesis on. Of course, you can try to be purely and artist in a vacuum and that's fine. If you're happy with what you create and feel fulfilled, then more power to you. However, if you intend to see a return and don't want the people who have invested time and/or money into getting that vision in front of an audience to feel cheated, then it is crucial to understand these lessons.

Christopher Cooksey Today's blockbuster directors and producers certainly DO understand what made them successful, that's why they are successful. I'm just going to say that. They are, however, in a much different level of industry than indie producers, with very different pressures and influences on their daily work as artists and business people. But I didn't say ignore fans, I said they are not worth consulting and I stand by that. Part of the question here is what you are defining as a "fan"? There is audience, and there are fans. Miles Davis is among many artists who despised "fans" and it took me some time to understand why. Fans are by definition not capable of artistic judgement. Fans will buy your stuff regardless of the content and they will acclaim it or criticize it regardless of how much money they put into it. Because that is what fans do. An "audience" is different and you have to understand the audience you are reaching for - demographics, psychographics - are you doing something intellectual or something that relies mostly on visuals, etc, and does the audience you are writing to actually spend their money on movies? That's very different than trying to fit a story or franchise into what you imagine are the opinions of fans. For instance, I win awards for comedy directing and I work with a writer who understands a particular comedy audience. We aim our content at the, but the general audience finds it funny as well. But in no universe would we consult them as to what is funny. Because by definition they don't know until they see it. They are fans and audience, not writers or directors. Likewise, I write, direct and produce unusual and sometimes diabolically difficult (for actors) dramatic material that is challenging for some audiences. I have a specific kind of audience in mind with each of those properties. But again in no universe would I invite their opinions. The consulting of fans on anything really is crazy. It is guaranteed to make it hard to produce something with artistic merit and with any originality. Making a personal statement is the role of the artist. That's their only obligation. The act of crafting a statement to reflect what an audience says it wants (which as I have implied, they don't know) might be a kind of art form in itself, in the sense of crafting propaganda or polemics, but it certainly isn't likely to create an artistic statement.