Here’s a morality tale in extremis that was first broadcast on NPR by reporter Cory Turner a few weeks back:

One industry has long been considered recession-proof: Hollywood. Well, no more.

It’s true Americans are still buying movie tickets. But the trouble isn’t getting people to see movies, necessarily. It’s persuading an ever-shrinking pool of financial companies and individuals to pay for them — particularly for independent films.

Case in point: The Maiden Heist. The feature-length comedy stars three of the best — and best-known — actors working today: Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken and William H. Macy.

That’s two Oscar winners and one nominee, not to mention a third Oscar winner, Marcia Gay Harden, in a supporting role. The movie’s wrapped and ready for theaters. There’s just one problem: You can’t see it.

Let’s go through that again. A movie. Starring Morgan Freeman. Christopher Walken. William H. Macy. And Marcia Gay Harden. Straight to DVD.

How the hell did that happen?

Patrick Goldstein of the LA Times “Big Picture” fills in the details:

The real rub, as indie filmmakers have discovered in recent years, is that it costs nearly as much to market a film as it does to make it. “Maiden Heist,” for example, was made for $20 million but clearly needed nearly another $20 million to be properly marketed in a theatrical release. Needless to say, there aren’t many distributors willing to plunk down that kind of money for a film that — despite its classy lineup of top actors — has relatively limited commercial potential.

And what’s the lesson of this morality tale? Per Goldstein:

But the lesson here is pretty simple: It’s no longer enough to simply round up the financing for a film. In today’s brutal, bottom-line environment, you need to have a plausible marketing strategy — and plenty of moolah behind it — before you start dreaming about your big opening weekend.

Marketing has become such a critical component to a movie’s success. As we’ve discussed before, movies aren’t just competing against other movies: They’re battling against every form of entertainment and communication including TV, the Web, mobile content, text messaging, social networks, Twitter, online gaming and on and on and on. The entertainment marketplace just keeps getting ‘noisier’ and ‘noisier’ — and to cut through that noise, a movie has to have a strong marketing push.

This is — again — one big reason why I emphasize so much the importance of a strong story concept. Take “The Maiden Heist” for example. Here’s that story concept per the NPR piece:

In the film, Freeman, Walken and Macy play security guards who’ve worked at the same art museum for so long that they’ve fallen in love — with the art. When the museum announces that it’s suddenly shipping much of its permanent exhibit to Denmark, the three men conspire to steal their favorite pieces.

High concept? Yes. Strong story concept? Well, it’s clever. But here’s a couple of things it has going against it: (A) It’s about art which is not a head-turning subject. (B) Art and the cast suggests an adult audience, but does the humor match that target demo? It may play a bit too broad for the adult crowd. For example:

At one point early in the film, the three men practice — awkwardly — their rappelling skills for the big break-in. Walken’s character has particular trouble, and he finds himself dangling off the side of Freeman’s apartment building — stuck.

That’s pretty slapstick, reminiscent of a scene — promoted in the trailer — of last year’s broad comedy Get Smart, which targeted a much younger audience.

So a not so gripping subject matter…
Combined with what may be a misfit tonally…
For the presumed target demo.

Ergo: Not a strong story concept.

Now let’s take this lesson one step further: Imagine you work in a studio’s marketing department: How do you market “The Maiden Heist”? Play up the comedy? Or go smarter for the heist angle? More action?

I’m not convinced that even if the producers managed to get a big-time distribution deal they could have marketed the movie successfully. Witness the trailer:

Do you find this trailer funny? Does it seem fresh and new, or something straight out of the 80s, including the soundtrack music?

A smart screenwriter comes up with a strong story concept with a clear vision of the target audience, then writes a script that is consistent tonally throughout, all in service to a great story.

That makes a marketing department’s job that much easier.

And that makes a studio exec’s job to say “yes” to acquiring your script that much easier, too.