Wow, how desperate can you get?
Eric Parkinson, CEO of indie distributor Hannover House, hit Facebook today to plead with people to raise the IMDB ranking of Joel Schumacher’s forthcoming youth-and-drugs drama “Twelve.” The film has had non-existent if not outright negative buzz. Starring a fairly random cast, including Chace Crawford, Kiefer Sutherland, 50 Cent, Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin and Ellen Barkin, the film is based on the book by Nick McDonnell and chronicles a bunch of rich white kids who experience the bad side of drugs.
Anyway, in his Facebook missive, Parkinson begged, “Twelve opens at theaters next Friday, and this is my last shot at driving up the film’s ranking and score on the Internet Movie Database site. Just by CLICKING on the link below, you will help drive up the film’s popularity ranking. And if…you’re registered, you can even VOTE for the film (up to TEN stars!) You can only vote once, but you can click repeatedly. The reason this is important is that many media and broadcasters refer to the film’s ranking on IMDB to decide whether or not to do coverage!”
Um, if your last marketing shot for a film is sending out a Facebook message, you might want to be thinking about a career change. And not to get too far into it, but Parkinson thinking that Mary Hart is suddenly going to see the interest percentage change on “Twelve” and demand an exclusive interview with Chace Crawford shows either flawed logic or basic lack of comprehension of how films are marketed. Campaigns are plotted out far in advance, yes, even for indie films, though considering Hannover House started out as a book publisher who decided to make a foray into theatrical distribution only a few years ago, we suppose we can’t be too surprised at their lack of….refinement (though their naiveté is slightly galling).
At the very least, Parkinson owns up to his tactics with a rather impassioned if again, very flawed logic saying, “Every studio and PR firm knows it and engages in stealth searching to elevate rank of films and stars. The only difference is that Hannover House is completely honest and upfront about it. If all the other studios are stuffing the ballot box (so-to-speak), anyone who doesn’t do the same will have what appears to be a `low’ popularity ranking. It’s very hard for an indie studio to compete against the major releases. They outspend us ten-fold and outmaneuver us at every turn. Internet outreach teams are engaged to do countless Google and key-word searches and relentlessly pound IMDB to elevate a film’s ranking. Hannover House doesn’t have that sort of money or resources, but we do recognize what’s happening, and are not afraid to shine light on this truth.”
Yeah, there is a truth in there but we’re pretty sure even Harvey Weinstein doesn’t resort to sending out messages to his Facebook buds to tell them to go click over at IMDB. There is just something a little tacky about the whole thing that should have everyone involved a little embarrassed.
We probably shouldn’t be too shocked that the film is directed by Joel Schumacher. Yeah, we rag on the guy a lot, but with one film almost losing its lead and another being given the most amateur of marketing campaigns, even we think the guy deserves a break. Anyway, thanks to Parkinson, we now know “Twelve” opens on August 6th.