1 - Introduction

Summary

Released in 2010, Scott Pilgrim Versus the World (Wright) illustrates how indie music can be used in a film to both aid marketing and strengthen a film’s indie credentials. Based on a Canadian indie comic, the film included characters playing in an indie-rock band, performing songs written by Beck, with a soundtrack featuring an extensive amount of indie-rock music by bands such as Broken Social Scene, Beachwood Sparks and Black Lips. These elements were used to promote the film to its target youth demographic, and the existing appeal of both indie music and the indie comics it adapted were considered hooks which might encourage audiences to see the film. Scott Pilgrim Versus the World points to both the risks and potential benefits of such a strategy. Its aim of targeting existing indie music and comic fans was supplemented by social media advertising, where it was hoped that younger social media users would share content to further promote the film. Its initial box-office performance was, however, disappointing. Although the film was discussed and shared heavily across social media sites, some marketers thought that it was being shared by a limited community and creating, according to marketing agent David Berkowitz, an ‘echo chamber effect’ (Friedman 2010). Since its release, though, it has continued to generate cult interest and further revenue, with its soundtrack a prime factor in its continued relevance (a tenth anniversary soundtrack edition was released in 2020 in variant-coloured discs). As such, it points to how targeting indie fans in this manner can be risky for larger-budgeted films if they do not appeal beyond their core target demographic. The continued interest in the film, however, also emphasises how a niche fanbase might sustain interest in specific films and spread awareness of them to newer generations.

Scott Pilgrim Versus the World connects to several issues that will be examined in this book, including the licensing of indie music within indie films and the representation of both indie performers and indie music scenes. Yet, as a film which cost around $60 million and which was produced and distributed by Universal, it also represents the more commercialised realm of ‘indie’ filmmaking, a realm that some would not consider authentically ‘indie’.