No Distribution Models For Independent Films?

Posted on September 5, 2008 in Selling Your Film | No Comments

Will there ever be a business model for distributing independent films? Mark Gill’s “Yes, The Sky Really Is Falling” statement at the L.A. Film Festival has many filmmakers asking this question.

Investors have been flooding Hollywood with cash, upwards of $18 billion according to The Wall St. Journal (“Glut of Films Hits Hollywood”). Is all this investor funding creating too many “Big Budget Hollywood Movies” pushing smaller films off the limited distribution shelf?

Richard Corliss in Time Magazine (“The Trouble With Sundance“) writes there is not much originality in Sundance films these days. Could the problem be “Indiewood” films are draining originality from the market and pushing unwatchable award bait?

It seems every week for years we’ve been hearing about the next big break through in indie film distribution. To date all we have is a lot of great ideas, but not much more. Sure there have been 3 or 4 DIY films that have made it to the sub-mainstream, but I wonder how much of their success is based on a “one trick pony idea” or a larger media companies desperate grasp at cracking the Internet market. While some larger media outlets like Amazon have opened their doors to indie film, others such as Netflix and iTunes (“How to Get Your Indie Film on iTunes …It’s Not Easy“) have not yet embraced independent filmmakers. Will the Internet one day be the “Holy Grail” of distribution?

Even if all these issues are resolved and a revolutionary distribution model is created, will it make it any easier for filmmakers to make profitable films? I doubt it. It certainly will be great for movie fans. It certainly will make billions for those that control the distribution. As far as making it easier for filmmakers it certainly will not. The wider the door opens the more people will walk through it. If filmmakers think there is competition now, just wait. Sure the cream will rise to the top, but maybe that’s the point. The best answer to these questions we can offer is make a great film. The nature of the industry will always have it chasing it’s tail, but no matter what the current cycle may be a great film is always a rare and valuable commodity, today and in the future.

What are your thoughts?