What Film Distributors Mean by Sub-Genre
For film distributors, genre refers to tone and style whereas Sub-Genre tends to refer more to setting. Hee’s more on that.
If you thought that I missed a few genres in my blog last week, it might be that they’re more classically sub-genres. The biggest difference between a genre and a sub-genre is that a genre is generally a tone or a feel of a film (and sometimes some elements related to those tones) and a sub-genre is more related to Themes, Settings, Style, or niche audiences that targeted largely by those themes settings, or style. Some sub-genres pair better with certain genres than others, and it’s common to have more than one in a film. More as we go through them.
Before we get started, this is not an exhaustive list. If I get requests, I may publish a secondary add-on to it.
Crime
Crime is as it sounds. It’s a piece of content about crime. These generally have some level of mystery associated with them. Noir might be classified a sub-sub-genre of the crime sub-genre. Nearly all noir films revolve around crime (I know exceptions exist) but not all crime films exhibit the gritty darkness that characterizes Noir films. Also, there’s no major demand for noir films, at least as of right now.
Faith Based
What I’m about to say is purely a US distributor’s view on how we classify faith-based films. When we refer to a faith-based film, we mean an overtly Christian film. They nearly always have a lot of overt bible references in them and generally involve a fall from grace and a redemption arc. If you’re making a film about murderous nuns and sexual assault, it’s probably not a faith-based film. Generally, they have an inspirational feel.
Again, I’m not saying that movies about Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or any other religion are not films rooted in faith, it’s just not generally what distributors and sales agents mean by Faith-based films.
As an aside, authenticity is Important in these films. If you get things wrong, it’s easy to alienate this market.
LGBTQ+
So, I put LGBTQ+ here because as an ally and a member of a strong queer community in my social life, I’d rather use the proper term. However, sadly, when a distributor says they work in LGBT films, they mean films targeted for consumption by gay men. For quite a while they were the people who consumed the most content in this niche, and distributors figured out how to target them and make money getting them content.
Again, I’m not defending that, but it is generally what’s meant when you’re having these conversations.
As with faith-based films, Authenticity is key. If you haven’t spent a lot of time in the LGBT community, you probably don’t want to make an LGBT film. This is probably even more important than it is with the faith-based community.
Animated
Animated films should be relatively clear, although generally, this refers more to Western animation than it does to Eastern animation like Anime. It can mean 2d, 3d, or even stop motion, but generally, it means 3d and that’s where the highest demand is. Most of the time it’s family content, but there’s a bit of a movement building up steam to take it out of that sphere. We’ll see if it gets there.
Sci-Fi
I’m going to get nerdy on this for a second. Technically, Sci-fi is a subset of fantasy where there’s an extrapolation of real science in the universe-building. As such, Star Wars would not be Sci-Fi, but Star Trek would be. Technically speaking, Star Wars is a fantasy action adventure set in a space-faring culture.
But in practice, Star Wars would be considered Sci-Fi 19 out of 20 times. Sci-Fi generally means space stuff to distributors. Aliens would be sci-fi as well. Shrink Rays are also Sci-Fi, Sci-Fi as are ice rays, multiverses, and a few other things although those types of films are less likely to be thought of that by distributors.
As an example, Futurama would be an example of Animated Sci-Fi by anyone’s definition. While they take A LOT of liberties with science, they also had Stephen Hawking consult on the show to invent new math.
Fantasy
Fantasy is things like magic, unicorns, orcs, centaurs, and the like. If you could see it in a Dungeons and Dragons game, a Brother’s Grimm Story, or Lord of The Rings it’s likely fantasy.
There are a lot of other ways one might decide to classify as fantasy, but in general that’s what distributors are thinking about with fantasy. The massively fantastic world involves some kind of magic.
Romance
People falling in love, generally with some sort of romantic foil, often a jerk of a rich, handsome boyfriend that the clearly much better Ted Mosbey of guy must win the girl away from that dude she’s been with for years just because the new guy is creative or something. Clearly not the favorite genre of this author and producer’s rep.
Romantic comedies can sell well, and romance in general can be very interesting when it’s paired well with other content and breaks the mold a bit. Also, it’s pretty common in content targeted at teenagers, and any sort of serial TV.
Historical/Biographical
Movies are at least loosely based on history, generally from the 20th century or earlier. Or, a movie about a real person of significance. Vice is a recent high-profile example, or anything on the history channel before they started focusing more on ice road truckers and aliens than actual, you know, history.
Music/Musicals
Music would be something like any rockumentary you’ve ever seen, and musicals would be something like Les Mis, Dr. Horrible, Aladdin, Mulan… I can go on for a bit here. (I would have listed Hamilton first, but it’s not a movie yet.)
Note From the Future: That last line almost got this blog the “aged-like-milk” tag.
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The HOT and NOT Film Genres of 2019
Genre preferences tend to only change around the edges but this blog was at least a bit prescient.
If you’re a filmmaker, you’ve probably heard that making genre pictures is generally the best way to get your start. They can be a good way for you to start developing a community, and building a brand around yourself, your company, and your work. But the popular genres change on something of a regular basis. So to start the new year off right, I’m writing this blog to share the hot genres of 2019.
Oh, if you’re not convinced as to why Genre is so important, I encourage you to read the blog below.
Related: Why Genre is VITAL to Indiefilm Marketing Success
1. - Hot - Family
I know, you were probably expecting me to say horror or action. Well, while some of those might be on the list, Family is at the top of it. There’s a huge demand for family films right now, and it’s not being adequately filled. That said, it’s kind of hard to make a family film well on the cheap due to child labor laws and safety concerns. If you can, great, it will be easy to find distribution. If not, then you might want to move on down to #3 on the hot list.
Generally, family adventure content is also something you can pre-sell if you get the right package. Animated sells the best, but live-action works as well. Mixing it with animals or international holidays is also good for trying to attach a presale. All of that being said, you’re going to need a really strong script and a strong package to get that presale.
2. - Hot - Action
Surprise surprise. If you want to make a film that’s easy to sell, make an action movie. As we all know the problem with that is that action movies tend to be expensive. Even with that, you’ll probably need a name in it to really get the sales price up where you need it to be.
If you’ve already made a few projects, Action films can get some level of resale financing. However, you’ll be much better off if you focus on a popular subgenre as well. As of right now adventure or sci-fi looks like the best bet.
3. - Hot - Thriller
Psychological thrillers tend to be one of the best options for first time filmmakers as the film is easy to sell, there’s a built in audience, and they can be shot on the cheap. Just keep in mind to make sure that the film is suspenseful, otherwise, you’re just rebranding a genre.
Note from the future - This was and remains more warm than hot (as of mid 2023)
Now for the Not so Hot Genres.
1. - Not - Drama
But Ben! I read that dramas have the most breakout potential! All the Oscars winners are dramas! Yeah, but from those articles written by Bruce Nash and Stephen Follows also go into great detail to say that most of these films were budgeted between 1 and 3.5 million dollars, generally went through something like Sundance Labs on the Nichols Fellowships, and had some REALLY strong cast involved. If that sounds like your project, great. Make a drama. If it doesn’t, make a thriller.
The sad fact of the matter is that in order to make any real money, a drama has to be EXCEEDINGLY good. As in, 9 or above on IMDb. Also, dramas tend not to export well unless they have A-list talent in all the major roles. I believe for most of my readers that’s not really in the cards. However, if this does sound like you, an extra big thanks for reading, I’d like to remind you I have a submissions portal.
2. - Not - Comedy
Unfortunately, comedy is very difficult to sell internationally due to the cultural intricacies involved in making any situation funny. As with drama, you’ll need to make something with strong, recognizable name talent at the helm to be able to make any significant amount of money from it.
The Mixed: Horror
The future of horror is somewhat uncertain. It made a strong showing at AFM 2018, but in 2017 it was dead. If you can make a horror film better than you could make anything else, then you should consider it. If you can’t, I’d say focus on making a well-made horror film.
Note From the Future: Horror bounced back more than I expected, but the rest was right.
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