Will paying for someone with a minor following help the financing? Will it help the distribution?
This all depends on the investor and your business model.
Marketing-wise, this is a trick used by direct-to-video genre franchises. If an investor thinks that any name at all makes the movie more marketable - which is definitely not always the case - then the investor will see value in the expense.
If your business model is based on the demand for quality content, and if the investor knows the difference between marketing a film like "Attack of the Sexbots" and "Once" or "Primer", then the value of spending that money becomes dubious at best. Consider that even if your investor doesn't know the difference, your audience will. So will any distributors you go through.
Marketing-wise, this is a trick used by direct-to-video genre franchises. If an investor thinks that any name at all makes the movie more marketable - which is definitely not always the case - then the investor will see value in the expense.
If your business model is based on the demand for quality content, and if the investor knows the difference between marketing a film like "Attack of the Sexbots" and "Once" or "Primer", then the value of spending that money becomes dubious at best. Consider that even if your investor doesn't know the difference, your audience will. So will any distributors you go through.
Basing your marketing plan on a name that's only in the film for one scene can make an audience feel cheated, and create negative word of mouth at festivals, limited screenings, and online. Paying for the name and NOT using it means you wasted money that could have been sent on the kind of value audiences might actually respond to.
With "Attack of the Sexbots" and Corman, Troma-type films, the audience goes into the film knowing full well that you're going to cheat them. Basically, they expect the worst - and they're hoping that you'll make up for it with titties and gore. When expectations are that low, putting the name of a minor genre icon on the poster is an endorsement that suggests the film might not be all bad.
With "Attack of the Sexbots" and Corman, Troma-type films, the audience goes into the film knowing full well that you're going to cheat them. Basically, they expect the worst - and they're hoping that you'll make up for it with titties and gore. When expectations are that low, putting the name of a minor genre icon on the poster is an endorsement that suggests the film might not be all bad.
If you're out to convince audiences that your film is ACTUALLY GOOD, that same endorsement will cheapen it. Putting ketchup on a nasty fairground hot dog makes it edible. Put that same ketchup on the finest sausage in Frankfurt, Germany - and you couldn't give the thing away!
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