Christians in Cinema

Warner Brothers Home Entertainment Group is launching its own branded manufacturing-on-demand (MOD) DVD system at a new studio site. The label called “Warner Bros. Archive Collection” will include films and television shows that have never been released on DVD.

Starting today, consumers can select from 150 films priced at $19.95 each, and can preview 30 seconds of the original film before buying. They’ll come shrink-wrapped in an Ameray case with cover art, which will be shipped to the consumer within five days of the order. Warner intends to add 20 classic films and television series per month, and expect to have over 300 titles available by year’s end.

They house a collection of 6800 films, only 1200 of which have been released to DVD. At this point, the format is limited to standard DVD. Launch titles were selected based on requests the studio received over the years. According to an article in Video Business, Warner Bros. believes their MOD system is the most extensive service offered from a major studio to date.

The implications for standard retail operations are many. Providing DVD-on-demand cuts out some of the factors that drive up costs associated with traditional duplication. Duplication runs are normally done in the thousands, but with burn-on-demand technology, that cost (and often overstocked inventory) is eliminated. The costs of shipping – from the manufacturer to the distributor to the retail outlet to the customer – are drastically reduced.

Perhaps most significantly, with the studio managing the MOD in-house, they retain the full amount of the sale, versus a percentage at which they normally sell product to distributors and retailers. Their costs are not changing significantly, so they should see a great deal more profit with this new system.

The big question mark is the consumers. Will they buy a DVD at $19.95 whose cover art is not unique (the film title and a picture from poster artwork are on the front of the DVD cover, but everything else is uniform across the MOD offerings)? Will a population that has grown used to, and even anticipates, the “extras” on a DVD settle for a DVD with “just the film?”

And that’s what differentiates it from the CD-on-demand technology that’s been available online and at retail stores. CDs never came with extras. You bought the CD, you got the songs. Occasionally an artist would put out a CD that also included a DVD, but it never became de facto as extras on DVDs have.

But with a price point of $19.95 and a much greater profit margin, one person buying an “Archive Collection” DVD may be worth the sale of 4 or 5 regular DVDs through normal channels for the studios.

Independent producers who may be interested in this model need to consider a few factors:

• Equipment costs. These are not burned on a computer, so you need good duplication equipment
• Cover artwork. Warner Bros. has simplified the covers to a standard look with a small picture unique to the film. You can create custom artwork which you print on demand, but consider paper and ink costs, as well as the labor involved.
• Demand. Warner Bros. is a big company with the finances and manpower available to dedicate to this process. Or they may outsource it. But if it’s jst yourself and your parents, who is going to take on the labor of producing these DVDs?
• Time/profitability. With the amount you’ll need to invest to do this, how long will it take you to be profitable, and how many DVDs will you need to sell to reach that point?
• Marketing. You still have to get the word out about your film, and that is best accomplished by telling as many people as possible through as many venues as possible. If you limit sales to  your own site, how will people find you?
• Amazon.com offers a similar service through their CreateSpace service, which may be a better way to start than attempting to do it yourself.

The future is here, and manufacturing-on-demand has arrived. Keep an eye out for other studios who may follow Warner Bros.’ example.