Day: January 8, 2011

I have been rambling/ranting the last two days about Indie Film’s missed opportunity over the last decade.  Where are we headed now?

If we missed an opportunity over the last ten years, do you know what it was?  We missed the opportunity to make indie film a sustainable culture and business. I earned a good living for over fifteen years, but I don’t expect to do that now or even going forward — if I am even going to stay in Indie Film, that is.  It is going to take an awful lot of work from a great number of people to bring that squandered opportunity back. Are the people out there, who are willing to do that work?

Do you know why we missed that opportunity to make Indie Film a sustainable enterprise?  Because we all were/are selfish, focused on own short-term success, chasing a hit, not devoted to the long term or the community.  The filmmakers, the performers, the artists and the craftspeople all feel as if we’ve behaved as selfishly and as greedilyy as the bankers who have virtually destroyed this country.  Yes, a great number of people give a great deal back, but that is not enough.  Instead of building a system that works for a wide and diverse populace, we all went out and just got ours. We squandered a great opportunity.