How A24 Disrupted the Film Industry

A24 is a film production and distribution company that has established itself as a leading cultural tastemaker since its founding in 2012. The company has released 89 films, grossed over $500 million domestically, and has won 5 Academy Awards and received over 30 nominations. The company has become known for its distinctive and boundary-pushing films, as well as its innovative and highly-curated approach to film distribution and marketing.

Here are the fundamentals that have driven A24's success:

Diversified Business Model

A24 is known as a disruptor in the film industry, attacking market inefficiencies and power vacuums. Unlike other indie companies, A24 has had to revolutionize their marketing techniques to keep costs low and maintain their thin margins. The company has also diversified its business model by entering the highly lucrative TV world. In the early days, A24 announced that they would seek to distribute eight to ten titles each year, but by 2015, they increased that number to 18-20 films per year. They also added a production arm and an international sales department. Additionally, A24 entered into a multi-year agreement with Apple to produce films for the company. The company's first self-financed movie, "Moonlight," marked A24's transition from an indie distributor to a full-fledged art house studio. This diversification of their business model helped the company to continue to grow and innovate, allowing them to remain a successful and competitive player in the film industry.

Innovative Marketing

A24 has been known to take an innovative approach to marketing, placing a heavy emphasis on their online presence and connecting with audiences in meaningful ways. In the early days of the company, this approach was out of necessity as a startup, but it also allowed the company to take advantage of the growing opportunities presented by social media. The company's marketing efforts often focus on creating viral, interactive content that creates buzz, as seen in the promotion of Spring Breakers.

Auteur Filmmakers

A24 has a reputation for producing and distributing films that are daring and push boundaries. Each A24 film is unique and doesn't follow formulaic concepts. Some notable examples of this include Moonlight, The Farewell, Eighth Grade, and Minari. The company doesn't have a "house style," meaning that each film stands on its own. This is driven by the auteur filmmakers that they work with like Ari Aster. A24 often gives voice to creators who might not otherwise have a chance to tell their stories. The company is known for supporting filmmakers who tell emotionally generous stories from a personal perspective, and it has developed marketing expertise and credibility through repeated, flawless execution. A24 affords filmmakers a certain level of autonomy, resulting in projects that are sometimes outwardly risky and at other times deceptively so.

Audience Appeal

A24's films appeal to a specific, artistically-educated audience, who are drawn to the company's unconventional fare that appeals to literate and artistically adventurous people in their twenties and thirties, whom major studios generally ignore. A24's films rarely break particularly high into the box office, and only Everything Everywhere all at Once has broken $100 million. However, this is largely due to the company's choice in films, as well as their distribution strategy, which almost never includes wide releases for their films.

A24 is a film studio that not only produces outstanding films, but also demonstrates a deep understanding of how to leverage digital media, storytelling, collaboration, direct influence, and trust-building to achieve rapid growth and success in the current age of ideas. The studio has created an ideal platform for genuine creative storytellers, and has put in place a machine to directly share their stories with audiences, along with the expertise to collaboratively amplify their messages.

Despite being in a flashy industry, distributors can often be invisible, but the A24 production logo carries significant cultural weight, with one filmmaker describing it as a stamp of approval. The logo appears on a wide variety of projects, from coming-of-age tales like Lady Bird, Eighth Grade, and American Honey to horror-thrillers like The Witch, Hereditary, and The Killing of a Sacred Deer to grief-stricken character studies like A Ghost Story, First Reformed, and Room. Despite being a relatively small company, A24's reputation and impact in the industry is significant.

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