By Jay Webb
Previously: IndieStreet Post #3: “Indieconomies of Scale Part 1”
Indieconomies of Scale, Part 2 (of 3): Production Benefits & Vertical Integration
There is one aspect of business that seems to remain constant no matter the advancements in technology: the pressure placed on producers to create better products for less money…the story telling business is surely not immune to this stress. In my opinion, there is no better way to accomplish greater story-telling on smaller budgets then by having a group of filmmakers that are cooperative, competent, but most importantly, alarmingly passionate about the stories being told.
When considering how to apply business concepts like economies of scale to Independent film, in the case of production we have to reorganize our thought process a little. In this post, we start by treating a small group of Indie filmmakers as a story producing company with each member having both objective story telling capital (skillset, equipment, etc.) and subjective story-telling capital (interest in project, loyalty, emotional connection to material). The more story-telling capital that can be attained through cooperation, the more a group can benefit from production Indieconomies of scale.
Traditional Production Economies of Scale
Decreasing Costs per unit: When companies look at production economies of scale, they find a wide range of advantages that stem from increasing their production to a certain level. With the growth of a company’s operation, cost per unit will decrease so per unit profit increases.
So there I was. I had totally given up on my film career in LA, and gone to live in Berkeley, CA. In trying to put together a fiction film, I had met Robert Reich and become friends with him. Reich and I had started making short videos together, they were successful, and I had begun thinking about how to make a film about what had happened to the American economy and the Middle class. But I had no idea where to start.