I did an interview for SF Weekly recently (Read it here). I have a lot to say so it then spilled out onto their blog. There, we got more into the changing paradigm of film culture and spoke about the bifurcation of Tentpoles vs “Amatuers”, and the crisis it creates.
It’s absolutely that bifurcation into mass-market, tent pole mega-budgets relying on explosions and CGI on the one hand, and then the hordes of passionate amateurs — and I use that word in the French definition of those who work from their hearts, out of love. With that, you see this incredible surplus — far more good movies are being made than ever before, and we’re having a harder time finding the time to watch them. And with that kind of supply-and-demand economics, some of our most talented artists are struggling to survive. And they find themselves asking, do they need to abandon what they love in order to appease the market gods? You see the fallacy of that approach when you look at something like The Beasts of the Southern Wild or Fruitvale. We need to find ways we can help artists be true to their hearts. I think what that paradigm shift often becomes, is how you help artists and audiences and industry transition to this world of plenty, and the best practices that that requires. It’s the shift from making or consuming one movie at a time to one of a creative model focused on a relationship, an ongoing conversation. Not just making something for an audience, but making something that a community can use. And that changes the definition of what we all do. We’re not just feature filmmakers. We’re creative individuals looking to be generative in our output.
Read the whole article here:
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2013/04/ted_hope_san_francisco_film_society.php
