2%

“Chance is always powerful.  Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish.” – Roman Poet, Ovid (43 BC – 17 AD)

I didn’t know a thing about Ovid before stumbling upon the above quote by chance.  I found it apropos (how’s that for a pretentious word?) for a fisherman and bonehead trying to do something just on the edge of statistical impossibility.  My lack of success on the lakes gives me hope I’m due for success as the bonehead.

According to an article from the September/October ‘08 issue of Script Magazine, only 2% of independent films ever get any kind of distribution (theatrical, DVD, cable, anything).  I’m not sure how to feel about that statistic.  On the one hand, I’m thrilled my first self-produced feature, Horror House, is in that 2% statistic.  On the other hand, how depressing is it that out of every 100 independent movies made, only 2 are picked up?

With my first movie being picked up (albeit by a very small label), am I now in line for 49 movies that don’t receive any kind of distribution?  Or does cracking that 2% barrier keep one firmly placed on the good side of the stat?  The answer, like just about everything else in this industry, lies somewhere in the gray between.

As Benjamin Disraeli said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”  Let us not allow stacked odds to dissuade, but rather motivate.  Those in the statistical minority are the exceptions, and my goal in life is to be exceptional.  Who’s with me?