“Whale”, “Aftersun”, “All At Once”, “Euphoria”, “Hereditary”, “Midsommar”, “Lady Bird”, “Uncut gems”, “Background Noise”, “Florida Project”, ” Irma Vep’… Maybe that’s it for many List of TV series and movies that have been released in recent years, have had great success and even have a certain cultural and social impact.Doesn’t make much sense. Yet they have one thing in common, which is also necessary for their creation: all produced by an independent studio, A24. new YorkFounded over 10 years ago, but recently it has become the undisputed benchmark of the new American independent cinema. And actually much more than that.
A24 has accomplished what no other studio in the world has ever accomplished: to be a brand that has more to do with Supreme than Fox, and to be any brand. Similar to record labels like Sacred Bones, Rough Trade, Subterfuge. Sonido Muchacho, whose followers trust the taste of those who rule them, A24 is a trusted studio for many who know that if famous labels are at the beginning of a movie or series, they’re likely to like what they’re watching next..
Work accumulates multiple 92,000 followers 1.8 million on r/A24, Reddit thread, Twitter and 1.5 million on Instagram. The ‘merchandising’, which the brand started to produce in 2017, is a complete success and is launched as the collections of major clothing brands. The ‘drops’, which sold out in a very short time, have pieces from t-shirts to sweatshirts. pins, mugs, records, magazines, books, screenplays and all sorts of other collectibles. One example that has absolutely freaked out studio fans lately is the Butt Plug / Auditor’s Trophy candle of the month inspired by the movie ‘Everything at Once Everywhere’.
To channel this pursuit a bit, the studio formed a kind of fan club called AAA24 (for All Access A24) and a record label called A24 Music, which focuses on creation. original music and innovative release strategies Original “singles” by David Byrne, Mitski and Charli XCX were released, among others.
beginnings
In reality, it all started much more modestly. In 2012, Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges could not have predicted the success it is today when, on the Italian highway A24 en route to Rome, they decided it was time to quit their jobs at various companies in the film industry and find a place for themselves. own project The three founders firmly believed that it was possible. start a company that does things differently and incidentally, it redefined the way independent films were made and sold at the time.
Katz, Fenkel and Hodges were big fans of 1990s independent cinema and felt there was a gap in the market for films that combined a certain formal risk with solid artistic quality. From the beginning, A24 wanted to be the “home” of creators who were betting on a unique and different style and method of storytelling.gives them full creative control of their work. “Accountants dominate Hollywood today,” said Harmony Korine, regarding A24. GQ In 2017, “and it’s exciting every time you talk to someone who isn’t an accountant or pen pusher. He has heart.”
something hard to define
A24 did not produce any films in the early years of his life, instead engaged in distribution. He achieved his first successes in this field with Harmony Korine’s ‘Spring Breakers’ (2012), ‘Ex Machina’ (2014), ‘The Room’ (2015) and ‘The Witch’ (2015). It took until 2016 for them to make their first feature films in collaboration with Plan B Entertainment. It was Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, which chronicles the childhood, adolescence and maturity of Chiron, a fatherless African-American who grew up in a depressed and troubled suburb of Miami. Its initial claim couldn’t have been more successful: critics unanimously praised the film, and it won three Oscars, including Best Picture, from a total of eight nominations.
Other titles followed in 2017, such as “Lady Bird”, “The Florida Project”, “The Disaster Artist”, “Hereditary” (2018), “Euphoria”, “Midsommar”, “Uncut Gems” and “El Faro” . ‘ ‘X’ in 2020 and ‘Pearl’ in 2022… All these years the company has launched More than 100 movies and TV shows in all imaginable genres and genres (some with very bad reviews), but somehow they all have one thing in common, something that is not so easy to spot.
“There isn’t just one A24, but some pretty clear lines can be traced in their last bet,” explains film critic Mariona Borrull. “If we had to identify one thing in common among all his films, perhaps it would be the desire to find or build an ‘independent’ attraction that can be identified at a glance. Movies with great visual effects, like the famous “A24 return”, which turns the camera upside down waiting to bother us. And then he space for artists and filmmakers who have created a brand that will transform their public image”.
The criticism also refers to the fact that while not all A24 films are aimed at a young audience, many are directed by young people. “The protagonists of ‘Lady Bird’ or ‘The Farewell’ are exhausted and fully aware of their chronic disability. The exhaustion they carry is so cool these days (look at the messy stars we consume: Zendaya and Timmy Chalamet)”, he explains. “Add The weight of fantasy and horror in the formation of the A24 brand and you have the perfect mix: the young audience that regularly consumes horror movies in theaters has a reference brand today and comes back to find stories close to their hearts. Additionally, A24 has always had a special regard for caring for the aesthetics of their games, whether they are more or less fantastic. A movie that looks good and has good music is crucial to keeping it etched in the memory of young viewers. In addition, a staging that you can easily take with you as a wallpaper or a song on Spotify extends the life of a movie. When you’re young and suddenly obsessed with a job that fascinates you, you’ll want to take it with you everywhere, sell it, and show it off to your coworkers. One of A24’s greatest strengths in recent years has been to design films that appeal to the eye and the ear, which can be summed up in a frame or a musical theme.”
How to sell in the internet age?
But besides the intrinsic quality of their production, there is something else very important in the evolution of the A24, without which this article would never have existed. It was one of the first in the industry. tap into the potential of the new internet culture when advertising content. From the very beginning, they understood that if they invested in traditional advertising, billboards, television campaigns, etc., the slightest failure could lead to their eventual closure.
Instead, they turned to the new possibilities offered by social networks in full swing and the benefit of creating viral campaigns through them. A24’s first Instagram post was on June 25, 2013, and since then they’ve been actively posting about movies, products, and all kinds of clips and images that have managed to arouse the desire in potential audiences to fill movie theaters.
The level of experimentation was especially high in the beginning: for the premiere of ‘Ex Machina’. South by Southwest Festival in 2014 The company created a bot on Tinder with the character played by Alicia Vikander in the movie.Ava. When a user matched with him, they redirected him to the Instagram account where the entire cake was discovered.
A24 emerged at a time when everything on the internet was becoming more visual. Where the content extracted from his films, which has always had great art direction and photography, overlaps perfectly. For this reason, The image was so meticulous that it was sometimes wondered if the memes and pieces that went viral were already thought of directly on the set of shots.. Over time and thanks to the success on the networks, going to see one of his movies has become a trend and a cool part of the moment.
An excellent example of this attention to social impact is what happened with the 2016 comedy ‘Swiss Army Man’. When it premiered at Sundance, no one was very interested in distributing it, but suddenly an A24 executive came up with a tough offer. . Rejecting the person who added “either sign with us or I’ll jump out the window”. In addition to his acting, the imagery and humor of the film was very clear to me. daniel radcliffe (‘Harry Potter’) has guaranteed an incalculable impact on the internet.
Thanks to all this, the studio received a total of 49 Oscar nominations and countless other awards, such as the Golden Globe or the Critics’ Choice Awards. This year, A24 will be the studio with the most nominations at the Hollywood ceremony, with 18 nominations spread across 6 films. The empire would surpass him. disney 22 if different brands (Searchlight, Pixar, 20th Century and Marvel) are added, but as production giants Netflix, Warner Bros.’ anyone first of all they are behind. Also in the lead role is ‘Beau is Fear’, which will premiere in the coming months. of Joaquin Phoenix‘Past Lives’ or ‘You Hurt My Feelings’, nothing indicates that the star of A24 is fading.