Marketing plan prepared and pitched for acquisition of the movie from TF1.

1. Prepared by: Alessandro Masi
1Serial (Bad) Weddings | Marketing Analysis
Serial (Bad) Weddings
Marketing Analysis
March 31, 2015

2. Prepared by: Alessandro Masi
2Serial (Bad) Weddings | Marketing Analysis
Generally speaking, bad reviews are very common for politically incorrect comedies, particularly if
foreign, although people seldom respond positively to the demystification of stereotypes.
It is our firm belief that this movie will be over performing in US and Canada following its positive
worldwide trend.
We are specialized in marketing difficult movies over our 17 years of activity.
Press
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/serial-bad-weddings-qu-est-699426 - Apr 28, 2014
Serial (Bad) Weddings (Qu’est-ce qu’on a fait au Bon Dieu?): Film Review
“The majority of the jokes are extremely heavy-handed - the Jew calls the Arab "Arafat (…)yet
never go as far as they could.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11158603/Racist-French-cinema-hit-
too-politically-incorrect-for-UK-and-US-audiences.html - Oct 13, 2014
'Racist' French cinema hit 'too politically incorrect' for UK and US audiences
“The people [in US and UK distribution companies] we spoke to found it politically incorrect,"
Sabine Chemaly of TFI International told Le Point magazine.
http://frenchmorning.com/en/2014/12/09/serial-bad-weddings-hit-french-film-fail-fly-us/ - Dec 9,
2014
Serial (Bad) Weddings: Why did a Hit French Film Fail to Fly in the US?
The failure of Serial (Bad) Weddings to launch in the US and the UK caused a mini flare-up in
the French press, with the film’s promoters blaming anglo-saxon “political correctness.”
Meanwhile, a small audience in New York was able to screen it during the In French with English
Subtitles festival where it won the audience choice award.
http://blogs.forward.com/the-arty-semite/216421/the-french-comedy-too-controversial-for-america/
- Mar 12, 2015
The French Comedy Too Controversial for America
If a U.S. distributor does decide to take a chance on “Serial (Bad) Weddings,” after first dropping
the terrible revised title, they should feel free to market the film by telling people it’s not as
offensive as they think.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/05/25/the_intouchables_racist_french_people_don_t_th

3. Prepared by: Alessandro Masi
3Serial (Bad) Weddings | Marketing Analysis
ink_so_and_here_s_why_.html - May 25, 2012
Is The Intouchables Racist?
In Variety, Jay Weissberg describes it as “the kind of Uncle Tom racism one hopes has
permanently exited American screens.” Stephen Holden in the New York Times says the film
exploits “every hoary stereotype of the black man as cultural liberator.” In their words, Omar
Sy, who plays Driss, is a French Viola Davis, only more compromised: Like the Oscar-nominated
actress from The Help, they express regret that Sy is getting his due as an actor for such a
demeaning role—in this case, the part of a “Magical Negro.”
See also: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/05/25/movies/the-intouchables-arrives-from-
france.html?referrer=&_r=0
Humor and racism
The ‘Other’ Laughs Back: Humor and Resistance in Anti-racist Comedy
http://soc.sagepub.com/content/44/1/31
“I argue the humor of reverse discourse is significant in relation to racism because it forms a type of
resistance that can, first, act rhetorically against racist meaning and so attack racist truth claims and
points of ambivalence. Second, and connected to this, it can rhetorically resolve the ambiguity of
the reverse discourse itself.”
Film Analysis
We do not want to convince anyone that this is not racist. We want to insinuate the doubt that
everyone in the press saying this is racist is a hypocrite and does not notice that such stereotypes do
exist in our society, unfortunately. Everyone with a brain will realize that this movie is the opposite
of racism, it is in fact a desecration of the concept of racism. This movie makes people realize how
stupid clichés are. What is really racist is a taboo. We will not avoid the challenge, we will face it.
Let’s make fun of the press. Let’s be very politically incorrect. Let’s play with them. Let’s use their
bad headlines.
Also, and most importantly, let’s involve any big influencers active on the themes of anti-racism
and cultural aggregation we can reach to support the movie (e.g. sociologists, stars, bloggers).
We really are 101% confident that all this fear is not justified and people are much smarter than
they are assumed to be. In fact… sold out at Atlanta Jewish Film Festival! Which is not the most

4. Prepared by: Alessandro Masi
4Serial (Bad) Weddings | Marketing Analysis
progressive place in the United States…
For the key art, we want to focus on the wedding and the (apparent) dichotomy between white and
black is much more translatable to the US than the scuffle among different religions, which is also
much more dangerous and delicate to be treated within a comedy setting.
Further, it is the real and funniest misunderstanding of the movie: besides being both Catholic, they
are both conservative, and much more similar than how it may appear when they first meet. They
are depicted as they are, at the same level. This film ultimately challenges the hidden fragmentation
of the society, like other US hits did in the past (Coming To America, Django Unchained, …).
TOO POLITICALLY
INCORRECT!
EXTREMELY
HEAVY-HANDED!

5. Prepared by: Alessandro Masi
5Serial (Bad) Weddings | Marketing Analysis
The wedding is the happy ending and the end of the misunderstandings related to religion and race
misconceptions, and is a generally accepted event of conciliation and happiness. Furthermore, it
attracts women to theaters, a key audience for success.
Nevertheless, we will be using images and scenes depicting the Jewish character (David, aka Ary
Abittan) and moments of the film to target our core and loyal audience.
Stressing the concept of the film being too politically incorrect for the American audience… while
everyone else in the world loved it!
Branding
VERY RACIST! … TOO POLITICALLY INCORRECT! – According to the other distributors
“EXTREMELY HEAVY-HANDED” – The Hollywood Reporter
"perpetuating racist stereotypes and feeding into France's ambient xenophobia". – Variety
“'Racist' French cinema hit 'too politically incorrect' for UK and US audiences” – Telegraph
Menemsha’s Uniqueness
We have decades of experience with movies treating complicated and delicate themes, therefore we

6. Prepared by: Alessandro Masi
6Serial (Bad) Weddings | Marketing Analysis
are not scared to accept the challenge and make this film be a hit in the US also.
We are market leader in the United States for the Jewish audience.
http://www.menemshafilms.com/menemsha-films-complete-library.html
Benchmarks
Hindered marriage, romantic comedy, family
My Big Fat Greek Wedding - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259446/
A young Greek woman falls in love with a non-Greek and struggles to get her family
to accept him while she comes to terms with her heritage and cultural identity.
$241,438,208 gross theatrical US box office
Guess who’s coming to dinner - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061735/
Matt and Christina Drayton are a couple whose attitudes are challenged when their
daughter brings home a fiancé who is black.
$56,666,667 gross theatrical US box office
Racial and cultural clash comedies
Coming to America - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094898/
An African prince goes to Queens, New York City to find a wife whom he can
respect for her intelligence and will.
$128,152,301 gross theatrical US box office
Trading places - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086465/
A snobbish investor and a wily street con artist find their positions reversed as part
of a bet by two callous millionaires.
$90,404,800 gross theatrical US box office
You don’t mess with the Zohan – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0960144/
An Israeli Special Forces Soldier fakes his death so he can re-emerge in New York
City as a hair stylist.
$100,018,837 gross theatrical US box office

7. Prepared by: Alessandro Masi
7Serial (Bad) Weddings | Marketing Analysis
The love guru - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0811138/
Pitka an American raised outside of his country by gurus, returns to the States in
order to break into the self-help business. His first challenge: To settle the romantic
troubles and subsequent professional skid of a star hockey player whose wife left
him for a rival athlete.
$32,235,793 gross theatrical US box office
The toy – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084809/
An underemployed reporter finds himself literally purchased as a toy for a rich
spoiled brat.
$47,118,057 gross theatrical US box office
The dictator - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1645170/
The heroic story of a dictator who risks his life to ensure that democracy would
never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.
$59,650,222 theatrical US box office
Foreign language (French)
Intouchables - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1675434/
After he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, an aristocrat hires a
young man from the projects to be his caregiver.
$10,198,820 theatrical US box office
Amelie – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0211915/
Amelie is an innocent and naive girl in Paris with her own sense of justice. She decides to
help those around her and, along the way, discovers love.
$33,225,499 theatrical US box office
One similarly criticized current case
Another good example of a comedy facing racism accusations, even though appealing to a different
target audience, is the upcoming release Get Hard - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2561572/
http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2015/03/24/get-hard-producer-adam-mckay-whines-when-
viewers-call-film-racist-homophobic/

8. Prepared by: Alessandro Masi
8Serial (Bad) Weddings | Marketing Analysis
But the film’s stars and producers are vigorously defending their comedy as not a representation of
stereotypes but a satire of them.
“Any time you’re going to do an R-rated comedy, you’re going to offend someone,” said Ferrell in
an interview alongside Hart. He continued: “But that’s kind of what we do. We provoke. We prod.
We also show a mirror to what already exists out there. We’re playing fictitious characters who are
articulating some of the attitudes and misconceptions that already exist.”
SERIAL (BAD) WEDDINGS
People are the same the world over.
Logline
When a traditional and fervent Catholic couple’s daughters get married to a Muslim, a Jewish, and a
Chinese, and the fourth one gets engaged to an Ivorian, they start questioning both their bad fate
and the education they provided to their princesses. However, a series of hilarious
misunderstandings will ultimately allow the multicultural family members to get closer and
ultimately modify their stereotyped beliefs. A worldwide blockbuster comedy made in France.
Positioning
Serial (Bad) Weddings is a modern and family comedy about today’s current religious and racial
issues, a fun, and daring, attaching, kindly tone: a ‘feel good’ movie for a wide audience. It is the
perfect way to sweep clichés away and promote cultural diversity. We will focus on the positive
effects of the movies within a multicultural “meltin’ pot” society, almost regardless of the particular
circumstantial minorities (white-Catholic, Jewish, Arabic-Muslim, black, Asian), even though
connecting particularly with our core and loyal audience, the Jewish community. We will be
stressing on the film’s $174M worldwide box office success. The main benchmark is The
Intouchables: the movie faced similar criticism from the press, nevertheless it grossed more than
$10 million and was programmed for 34 weeks (134 screens at its widest release).

9. Prepared by: Alessandro Masi
9Serial (Bad) Weddings | Marketing Analysis
Scenes for trailer and teaser for overcoming criticism
1. Guys having fun at the theater, guys setting up a business of bio Halal;
2. Dads fishing, dads in jail, dads hugging each other at the wedding;
3. Mothers in a zumba session.
Targeting
 Mainstream audience 18+
 Core target demographics: 50+ married couples, 24-35 engaged or in a relationship, more W
than M
 Religion-based targeting: strong focus on Jewish community, our core and loyal target and
unique strength above anyone else, but also Catholics and Muslims
 Race-based targeting: African-American, Asian
 Art-house loyal, francofiles
Release date and distribution
Independence Day, July 4 (same day in the movie) in 50+ theaters platform release starting from the
biggest markets, opening in NY and LA, then expanding to Florida, Chicago, Boston, Dallas (...).
We will be releasing the movie one week after theatrical throughout all major transactional VOD
platforms in order to maximize the positive w-o-m.
Key art and EPK
One set for the broad audience (gather all characters, funny), one set for art-house and French
speaking audience (typical French, focus on the parents), one set for Jewish community (baby
showering scene)
Teasing phase (3 months)
 Teaser poster campaign in the biggest exhibitor chains (AMC, Regal, SMG, …) and art-house
chains (Landmark, IFC, Angelika, …)

10. Prepared by: Alessandro Masi
10Serial (Bad) Weddings | Marketing Analysis
 Trailering with big local comedy features and series
 Web campaign (Youtube / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Online PR / IMDb / Rotten
Tomatoes)
 Press ads in local trades
 Social media monitoring and campaigns fine tuning
Launch (W-3 to W-1)
 Extensive poster campaign in biggest markets (LA, NY, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Boston)
 Press ads in the exhibitors’ and free magazines
 Radio campaign
 Interviews and live tweeting with Ary Abittan from the cast
 Media partnerships (network TV)
 Ad spaces outside and inside theaters
 Web campaign (display, video seeding, SEM)
 Web exclusive contents and games
 Active social media campaign (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc)
 Partnership with online ticketing sites for pre-sales (Fandango, MovieTickets)
 Multiple preview screenings for press and selected target audiences
Hashtags: #SerialBadWeddings -> all targets, #MyWedding / #LikeRomeoAndJuliet -> 24-35
engaged or in a relationship, tell us about your wedding, #PeopleAreTheSame, tell us about your
multicultural experiences
Engagement actions
Contest
To push social engagement: pictures from your hindered marriage -> Instagram contest: the most
liked picture wins a trip to Verona, go visit Romeo and Juliet balcony (partnership with OTA and/or
Italian local tourism consortium).
Blog
Tell us the story / videostory of your countered engagement and win a honeymoon to Paris
(partnership with local production company and film commission).
Gaming app
Quiz: how much do you know about your / other religions and local uses?

11. Prepared by: Alessandro Masi
11Serial (Bad) Weddings | Marketing Analysis
Co-marketing partnerships
 Family oriented fast food chain (e.g. Wendy’s) -> free admission (1+1) with a $20 menu
 Phone carrier (e.g. AT&T) -> free admission (1+1) with a $45 recharge
 Francophile festivals, event, publications -> free admission (1+1) with yearly subscription
Revenue Forecast
Week Weekly Gross (000s) Theaters Average (000s) Total Gross BO (000s) P&A (000s)
1 150$ 5 30.0$ 150$ 7.5$
2 350$ 40 8.8$ 500$ 60.0$
3 400$ 45 8.9$ 900$ 67.5$
4 450$ 50 9.0$ 1,350$ 75.0$
5 200$ 30 6.7$ 1,550$ 45.0$
6 50$ 10 5.0$ 1,600$ 15.0$
6,050$ 270.0$