(Page 32 of 32) - A Big Fat Indie Story: Discourses Surrounding the Making and Marketing of a 'Hollywood' Movie authored by Perren, Alisa.

has been acknowledged the company “will see a significant seven-figure sum.” Compared to what the majors would
get for distributing this film, this is still a small amount. Dollar figures come from Eller, “Jilters.”

For examples of such opinions, see Dennis Harvey, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” Variety, April 22-April 28,

2002, 30; Charles Taylor, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” Salon.com, June 28, 2002; Harlan Jacobson and Claudia
Puig, “‘Wedding’ Celebration Has a Hitch,” USA Today, September 9, 2002, 1D.

Kinzer, “An Indie Movie is Outlasting the Blockbusters,”; Schruers, “‘Fat.’”

Seiler, “Success.”

Ibid.

For example, see Schruers, “Fat.”

James Verniere, “What Makes a ‘Big Fat’ Film Hit?; This Success is all Greek to Hollywood,” Boston Herald,

September 16, 2002, 33.

Alcestis Cooky Oberg, “Maybe ‘Greek Wedding’ Will Wake Up Hollywood Bigwigs,” USA Today, September

12, 2002, 13A.

James Sterngold, “My Big Fat Indie Payday,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 17, 2002, D2.

Scholars from a variety of approaches have discussed the role of film in the contemporary entertainment industry.

Among the most extensive examinations of the relationship of film and television can be found in work by media
economists and New Hollywood scholars. For examples of the media economic approach, see Benjamin Compaine
and Douglas Gomery, Who Owns the Media? Competition and Concentration in the Mass Media Industry, Mahwah,
New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000. For an example of the New Hollywood approach, see Schatz,
“Return,” and also “The New Hollywood,” Film Theory Goes to the Movies, eds. Jim Collins, Hillary Radner and
Ava Preacher Collins, New York, Routledge, 1993, 8-36.

On occasion, a movie will garner enough prestige during its television airing to have a limited theatrical run after-

the-fact. Such was the case with The Last Seduction (1994), which initially broadcast on HBO and went on to have a
successful theatrical run.

This observation stated during panel discussion at South by Southwest festival, 2001.

This is not to say that all barriers and differences have eroded; rather, I am suggesting there is an increasing

amount of overlap.

Josef Adalian, “Greek Piques Interest at Eye,” Daily Variety, October 2, 2001, 1.

T.L. Stanley, “Guerrilla Marketers of the Year; It’s All Greek to Thee,” Brandweek, December 9, 2002.

Wayne Friedman, “Wedding Gets Big Fat Reception,” Advertising Age, September 30, 2002, 55.

For examples, see Friedman, “ ‘Wedding’ Gets Big Fat Reception,”; also see Schruers, Seiler.

Tod Hoffman, “Keeping My Big Fat Mouth Shut,” The Globe and Mail, July 24, 2001, R1.

See Matsumoto, “State.”

With less than one half of one percent identifying itself as Greek for the U.S. Census Bureau (for a total of

1,175,591), this would be too narrow a demographic to target in isolation. Statistics found on
http://factfinder.census.gov.

For a discussion of the development of niche marketing tactics, see Joseph Turow, Breaking Up America:

Advertisers and the New Media World, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.

According to Eller, “Jilters.”

Only by earning the hundreds of millions of dollars that it did – which, as the discussion of the discourses

surrounding this film show is an extremely rare occurrence – could the movie have been a worthwhile investment
for the major studios, their specialty divisions, or the top independent distributors.

Thanks to Caroline Frick for her input on this topic.