Opinion leaders as intermediaries in audience building for independent films in the Internet age

Abstract

How are contemporary film-makers building audiences independently from distributors or sales agents? This article uses two case studies, Tenner Films and The Hunt for Gollum, to argue that opinion leaders are intermediaries who play a vital role in do-it-yourself audience building for independent films in today’s Internet age. The article concludes that (1) the Internet has increased the number of potential and accessible opinion leaders, (2) online opinion leaders have potentially bigger audiences than their offline counterparts, (3) new opinion leaders have emerged, (4) opinion leaders act as multipliers and (5) non-experts can be opinion leaders too. (6) The Internet allows cultural producers to reach different opinion leaders through a single medium and while (7) different opinion leaders come with different audience sizes, (8) they all continue to function as taste guides. Finally, (9) the Internet makes it easier for independent film-makers to nurture personal audiences and therefore, partially replace opinion leaders by becoming opinion leaders themselves.