Back at the head of the year I did a three part post for the indispensable website/podcast Film Courage pondering what might have been in Indie Film and what actually could still be. They have been kind enough to collect all three posts in one handy dandy spot for your reading enjoyment. They have also been generous enough to post it on their front page. Here’s a taste, but I hope you dive in for the whole meal.
I graduated from high school in 1980, the year often associated with when the Hollywood Business fully became the Blockbuster Business. When I graduated I thought I had revolution to run (even if I wasn’t prepared to run it), but I didn’t get around to finding the film business for a few more years.
I was fortunate in the timing of my professional & artistic pursuits that I could benefit from the DIY aesthetic, the approach of the first wave of punk rock (circa 1977), and political events like the class antagonism of the Reagan Years, and the fear & consequences of the AIDS epidemic. Add to that the prevailing post-modern, multi-culti, deconstructionist sway of academia, the birth of a new distribution platform (VHS video), and Hollywood’s abandonment of the complex and personal. What could have been a more perfect storm for the coming wave of American Indies?
Circumstances gave me and my generation of filmmakers opportunity (even if some paid a high price). Has such an opportunity come again over the next thirty years? Did we miss it?
Read the rest (and enjoy Film Courage’s choice of photos too!) here.
