Earlier this week, Hollyblogger and producer Ted Hope submitted his "38 More Ways the Film Industry Is Failing Today." Here's what I think of his 38:
1. We cannot logically justify any ticket price whatsoever for a non-event film. There are too many better options at too low a price. Simply getting out of the house or watching something somewhere because that is the only place it is currently available does not justify a ticket price enough. We still think of movies as things people will buy. We have to change our thinking about movies to something that enhances other experiences, and it is that which has monetary value. Film’s power as a community organizing tool extends far beyond its power to sell popcorn (and the whole exhibition industry is based on that old popcorn idea).
Nonsense. You are buying into the Hollywood mentality that has served to destroy the independent film community. *You* might think of movies as things people buy because that’s your own ultra-commercial attitude toward an art form. Back when filmmakers thought about money last rather than first, the ‘thing’ was called an ‘art film’.
2.The Industry has never made any attempt to build a sustainable investor class. Every other industry has such a go-to funding sector, developed around a focus on the investors’ concerns and standardized structures. In the film biz, each deal is different and generally stands alone, as opposed to leading to something more. The history of Hollywood is partially defined by the belief that another sucker is born every minute. Who really benefits by the limited options for funding currently available other than those funders and those who fee those deals? We could build something that works far more efficiently and offers far more opportunity.
There you go again. The independent film community is not and never has been an industry. Listen to yourself Ted: “Industry” “Biz” “Deal” “Standardized Structures.” All of these things diminish and limit creativity.
3.The film business remains the virtually exclusive domain of the privileged. Although great strides have been made to diversify the industry, the numbers don’t lie. The film industry is ruled by white men from middle class or better socioeconomic backgrounds. It is an expensive art form and a competitive field — but it doesn’t need to a closed door one. Let’s face it: people hire folks who remind them of themselves. These days everyone needs to intern and the proposition of working for free is too expensive for most. Living in NYC or LA is not affordable for most people starting out. We get more of the same and little progress without greater diversity. And although I essentially mentioned this last year (#36), the continued poor economy limits diversity even more now.
Great strides *had* been made to diversify, but then producers whose focus was increasingly on the bottom line served to crush that diversity. The film “business” may be the exclusive domain of the privileged, but independent film is not and never was a business.
