Beanie Barnes has a MUST READ post up on Salon “America’s Next Wal-Mart: The Indie Film Industry“. Although Beanie primarily focuses on over-supply/grand abundance as the primary problem, the link-filled post captures many of the challenges we all now face — especially sustainability on a personal level. And the article is not just problem-picking complaining either, but also offers some alternative approaches, recognizing both the need for leadership from our institutions and a more community-based approach.
“If there were a magic formula, then we’d see more films being more successful and more film industry employees making living wages. The big question facing the industry is how to generate and sustain economic value — without sacrificing artistic value — in an industry where steadily shrinking profits are privatized while growing costs/losses are increasingly socialized.
Perhaps the answer lies in film institutes and filmmaking organizations collaborating to establish a network of talent labs/incubators where talent is developed in-house, the majority of top film festivals’ admissions are films developed within the network, and top distributors commit to purchasing movies made in the network. Perhaps it lies in top film festivals developing an accreditation system or trade union, discouraging the existence of festivals that do little more than collect submission fees and dole out digital laurels like candy. Perhaps it lies in top film institutions refocusing filmmakers on development – placing an emphasis on screenwriting, talent labs and a return to making short films. Perhaps it lies in updated vertical integration models inspired by the old studio system — say what you will about the old system, but everyone working within it got paid and lots of great films got made. And perhaps none of these suggestions hold the answer, but we need ideas because, whatever the answer is, it can’t simply be to unquestioningly make more features.”
It covers many bases, so make sure you read the whole thing!
