ORLANDO, Fla. -- Screeners are more important in making buying decisions about B-movies than about hits, according to retailers attending SN's fifth annual video roundtable here last month.
Traditional measures, such as box office revenues and star power, play key roles in buying decisions on the hits, said the retailers. But video executives need more information when it comes to lesser-known titles. Many involve other employees, especially store-level department managers, in the buying process. "When we are talking about B-titles or something that might be a sleeper, then a screener really affects how I buy them," said Dennis Maxwell, director of video at Reasor's, Tahlequah, Okla.
When it comes to watching screeners, time is an issue for most supermarket video executives. "The time to view movie screeners to make purchasing decisions is a luxury that not very many of us have," said Sharon DeSordi, video buyer/supervisor for Grand Union, Wayne, N.J. "I rely very heavily on my distributor for input," she said.
Bob Gettner, video buyer/coordinator for B&R Stores, Lincoln, Neb., agrees with DiSordi on both counts, but solicits input from video managers. "I get other employees to watch many of the screeners because, in our company, we are not allowed to give free rentals to employees. In my opinion, to rent or sell the movies, especially the B-titles, the employees need to know about the content," he said.
A full report on the roundtable will be published in SN's July 7 issue, timed to coincide with the Video Software Dealers Association convention in Los Angeles, July 9 to 12. Eight retail executives participated in the event, which is previewed here.
Here's a preview of SN's video roundtable:
Dennis Maxwell
director, video
Reasor's
Tahlequah, Okla.
Our decisions are based, first of all, on box office, which tells us how well-known a title is. Secondly, we base them on star power. Thirdly, we might base a decision on the box art.
Sure, I can watch a screener and it will change my buys a little, up or down, but that usually doesn't happen with the hits. I try not to let my personal views interfere with my buys.
For example, there are some titles that did $100 million at the box office that I thought were lousy movies, but you have to buy them based on customer perception.
When we are talking about B-titles or something that might be a sleeper, then a screener really affects how I buy them. But you can't possibly watch all the screeners.
On box art, I think the consumers are a little smarter than they used to be. Once, if you had a good box, you could rent anything. But consumers are a little more skeptical, because they rented some of those things that had a picture of a girl on the front who wasn't even in the movie, or a picture of some star that was 10 years old. So box art alone is not good enough any more.
Jamie Molitor
director, video operations
Dierbergs Markets
Chesterfield, Mo.
There are a lot of things that I use to decide what I am going to buy -- star power, box office, genre. But the box art isn't important. It also depends on what other titles are coming out that month. If it is a slow month, and there is not a lot coming out, then you are looking for other titles. I also look for point-of-purchase materials and how much money they are spending on advertising.
I use the screeners if I don't know what the movie is about. On the big titles, I enjoy them, don't get me wrong, but I don't have to watch the screeners. It's the B-titles and the other movies I'm not that familiar with that I spend my time watching screeners of.
Sharon DeSordi
video buyer/merchandiser
Grand Union Co.
Wayne, N.J.
The time to view movie screeners to make purchasing decisions is a luxury that not very many of us have. I rely very heavily on my distributor for input. Also, we watch the box office, of course, and the star power. This is a hit-driven business and those are the areas that we primarily look at.
If you sat down in a room with 10 video buyers and if they are buying 25 films, they are going to come real close on the majority of those titles. There aren't going to be that many variances.
A big issue is the available open-to-buy funds, which determine how broad a selection we can bring in. But you need to get a feel for the key titles to pick in this business and you don't have to go very far to find that answer.
Matthew Feinstein
vice president
Marbles Entertainment
Los Angeles
Like everybody else here, I depend on the store managers and our district managers to really begin to create a new-release buy for a certain month. Then I will go back and look at the buys and see what they are missing.
I feel that the screeners are most useful for those B-titles. A good example is "Fargo." It didn't do great in the movie theaters, but it got a great buzz. People like Siskel and Ebert were praising it and consumers were hearing that it was a great movie. So when it came out on video, it was something that we stocked deeply after we watched the screener. We felt comfortable with it and we were ready for the demand. We had the copies in our stores.
Other B movies, like "Freeway" and "Bound," did fantastic in our stores after we had watched the screeners and found that they were good movies. They also got good word-of-mouth and that really helped.
Tom Carton
president and CEO
Buckeye
Entertainment Corp.
Dublin, Ohio
Certainly for the A-titles, like the others have said here, you look at a litany of issues. It is with the B-titles where the screeners become most important in buying decisions.
Blockbuster has its own movie-buying department and for us to buy a movie, it has to be on Blockbuster's approved list. (Buckeye is a Blockbuster franchisee that operates departments in three supermarkets of Big Bear Stores, Columbus, Ohio.) So they have already eliminated a lot of movies that I might be getting screeners of. That saves me time and we don't miss too many.
Bob Gettner
video buyer/coordinator
B&R Stores
Lincoln, Neb.
I rely heavily on our distributor rep. Fortunately, she has been to visit all our stores and she knows the kind of numbers we do and the genres our customers like. She is very up on what is going on in our stores, which helps me a lot.
But I also rely strongly on our video managers. Every month, they get an order guide and I ask them to give me their picks, because they know their stores best.
Matt Dillon
video director
Boogaart Retail division, Fleming Cos.
Concordia, Kan.
Like Bob [Gettner of B&R Stores], I get my people involved with the buying. Our distributor sends out a suggested list that we put together and the department managers make the final decisions on what goes in their stores. With better distribution of screeners to our stores, I feel they have a better idea of what is going to rent, especially when it comes to the B-movies.
Denise Darnell
video supervisor
Southeast Foods
Monroe, La.
I also like to get the video managers to help with the decisions. From the very beginning when movies are advertised for their theatrical run, customers start coming in asking when these movies are going to come out on video. As a result, the managers are always going to know best what their customers need.
As far as the screeners go, I pass those along to our video managers, as well. But I like to watch the trailers that are on the screeners.
Normally, when I am going to watch a screener all the way through, I fast-forward through the trailers, because once you watch the trailer, a lot of times you might as well not watch the movie. They show you so much of the movie. After I watch the movie, then I go back and watch all the trailers. They are really very helpful to me.
