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Blog, News, The Business: August 13, 2009 : 10:47 am

NY Times: “Indies Going Solo”

The New York Times posted this article today: Independent Filmmakers Distribute on Their Own. (Thanks to Joshua Smith for the link)

More than ever, it’s the wild west out there now. Right now, studios are less and less interested in developing new material, turning back again and again to remakes and derivatives of pre-existing properties.

As a storyteller, that scares me, not because of any artistic choice, but because once any industry stops investing in the future, they start digging their own grave.

IMAGINE THIS

Right now, fewer and fewer productions are being developed in-house. Studios have decided to sit back and purchase more films after they’ve been completed, offering low purchase deals with non-existent profit-sharing, and promising to shoulder the seemingly-daunting task of advertising and promotion.

Well, somebody drew back the curtain at the turn of the century, and independent creators are starting to realize that

Marketing isn’t magic
It isn’t nearly as expensive anymore (thanks, Internet)
mainstream media was never really especially good at it; they were just louder
as an independent, it’s becoming less financially-viable to court mainstream distribution companies anymore

I’m not predicting the end of the studio system, they are too large to disappear entirely (we still have major radio broadcasters today – how much of them are doing original narrative work any more?). But unless there is a major change in policy, I think studios in future are going to find themselves falling out of the conversation.

To put it another way: right now filmmakers are seeking the independent route because they have to; what is going to happen when that becomes precedent? “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” has already made roughly a million dollars at the box office; others can do that, too.

Filmmakers don’t choose storytelling because it’s a sound financial investment. They do it to tell their stories and keep the power bill paid. When it becomes easier to cut a new path through the marketplace instead of fording through the studio system, they will do that.