The Death of Indie Film as a Business Model

There is a really interesting rant, or I should say opinion over at Mike Curtis's Blog HD for Indie. In it he discusses the demise of independent film making as a business model. Actually when was ever "indie" film making a viable business model. Of course you can point to the success in the field and say look at so and sos company and how it evolved, but that was then and this is now. Curtis says that with every success there are several failures, and it's this point that I've been hammering away. You could put even me in that category, but I'd like to think of myself as a success just because I got a movie made.

Finding an audience is a problem. Not that there isn't an audience, but that the competition for that audience is intense. How can the little guy compete with films budgeted at $50 million and marketed for $35 million. Also there is a lot of FREE content out there now, so why pay. At what threshold can you make a product and still make a profit on it. That's the key question that has plagued entrepreneurs of every sort. It doesn't matter if your making films or making napkin holders. It's simple economics, and it's hit the independent film community hard.

Go on over and read Curtis's article. He has some good points, and yes maybe it's a bit pessimistic, but he raises some GOOD points. I do like some of the comments he is getting too. Some people also see a silver lining in all this. After all just because you can make a film doesn't mean you should. But I'd like to be on the opinion that from every change there comes innovation. With innovation comes new ideas that may propel "indie" film making to new heights. That is my hope, and my dream. So the storm is here, but with every storm there is a clearing. I'll see you on the other side.