A24’s New Marketing Trick: Straight Outta Miramax

A24 may have just pulled off one of Hollywood’s oldest marketing tricks: making audiences desperate to know a secret.

The indie studio’s campaign for Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s You Can See Everything has turned an unconventional movie into an online curiosity, complete with a surprise Telluride premiere, a provocative teaser and a carefully concealed role from a famous actress (in addition to lots of other twists).

For veteran Hollywood marketing executive Gerry Rich, the playbook looks awfully familiar.

Back in 1992, Gerry was at Miramax, which was struggling to make payroll as most of its movies barely registered beyond art houses. Then came The Crying Game, a small thriller with a big secret — and a marketing campaign built around persuading audiences not to reveal it.

The film went on to gross more than $62 million in North America, becoming Miramax’s biggest domestic hit to that point.

More than three decades later, as Hollywood fights to get audiences excited about anything that isn’t already a franchise, Gerry sees a lesson in what Miramax pulled off — and what A24 is attempting today.

Gerry’s new book, Chasing Hollywood: A Marketing Chief’s Lessons on Breaking Through, chronicles not just the big wins — but also the pivots he made to save great movies from dying on the vine.

Still, as he tells me on today’s Rushfield Lunch, creating the next movie phenomenon isn’t simply a matter of keeping a secret. And one of his biggest recent successes required throwing out a campaign everyone thought was perfect.

Here are three big lessons from our conversation…

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