Something I've Never seen before

I was listening to the most recent episode of Filmspotting and I heard something that was music to my ears: scenes from a trailer that was unmistakably a new movie.

I then found that indeed, my two favorite podcasters, stranded now without anything new to talk about for more than a month, would indeed be discussing a new film on their next podcast.

The Sundance favorite Never Rarely Sometimes Always had been moved from an expected theatrical release to a digital release in light of COVID-19. And because it's fun to have listened to the thing they talk about, I immediately went to iTunes to investigate.

As I was searching it up, I wondered how high I'd go on a rental price. I had the naivete to hope that it might be a $3.99 rental, though of course that wasn't likely to be the case. It was more likely to be $6.99, which is what I paid for Vivarium over the weekend.

It was very unlikely to be $19.99, but as you will see on the snippet to the right, that's what it was.

For a rental.

That $19.99 is what you expect if you're planning to buy a new movie, to be sure. But that new movie you'd be buying has already had its chance to get your $19.99 in the theater. Never Rarely Sometimes Always never got that chance.

So I'm writing this post not because I'm balking at the outrageous chutzpah of iTunes to charge us $20 for a movie we can only watch for 30 days, and only for 48 hours once we've started on it. I'm writing to recognize the desperation that may soon become commonplace in the movie industry, as studios/production companies/distributors try to figure out any strategy they can to recoup production costs.

And you know, I may just rent this movie.

I have until Friday to think about it, but then really, until any time after that, until I get too desperate myself to listen to the next Filmspotting. There are a lot of other things I'm not spending money on right now, and I'm one of the fortunate ones who is still making the same amount of money I was making a month ago. Maybe this is one of my ways to give back and support an industry that brings me so much joy, since I can afford to do so. And if enough of us do it, maybe they'll keep giving us new 2020 movies.

It's not something I might normally do. But COVID-19 is a never rarely sometimes always type of situation.