{"id":9882,"date":"2014-02-25T09:21:21","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T15:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=9882"},"modified":"2014-02-25T09:21:21","modified_gmt":"2014-02-25T15:21:21","slug":"the-bursting-of-a-movie-bubble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=9882","title":{"rendered":"The Bursting Of A Movie Bubble"},"content":{"rendered":"

The indie film industry is cannibalizing itself.\u00a0Manohla Dargis is right<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 there are too many films in the ecosystem. And this oversupply didn\u2019t just happen.\u00a0John Sloss warned<\/a>\u00a0back in 2007 that the industry\u2019s problem was not a shortage of films, but a shortage of eyeballs (Mark Gill issued<\/a>\u00a0a related warning in 2008). But the industry\u2019s response to this warning has been to make more films. This is creating an economically valueless cycle where unprecedented \u201ccheap\u201d money is flowing into the industry and films are being made at their highest rate ever. Meanwhile the percentage of indie films (let\u2019s say films made for less than $5 million outside of the studio system) that are financially successful has not increased, and the amount of money people make from these films has actually decreased.<\/p>\n

Many in the industry still refuse to acknowledge that film is subject to the economic laws of supply and demand. The hard truth is that it is, and ignoring that fact won\u2019t make it go away. All industries have to adapt to stay relevant and viable, and film is no exception. That is especially true in the U.S. where, unlike\u00a0some other countries<\/a>, the government doesn\u2019t fund production as a cultural initiative. And if the challenges in the industry are not addressed, everyone in it stands to lose.<\/p>\n

While money has continued to flow into production these days, the majority of it goes to feeding crews, renting equipment, securing locations, color-correcting, etc. The sad reality is that (as\u00a0Ted Hope<\/a>\u00a0recently pointed out) money isn\u2019t flowing to the back end of indie films anymore, and the people who work on indie films are\u00a0almost always underpaid<\/a>, if they are even paid at all. But diminishing pay is only one component of a much larger overall problem.<\/p>\n

Filmmakers, hoping to retain creative freedom while freeing themselves from the obligation to pay investors back, are increasingly relying on \u201ccrowdfunding\u201d to finance their films, via platforms like Kickstarter. Once the money is raised, producers then try to qualify for tax credits, which (more often than not) they will either sell to third parties (at a discount) to raise additional funds or use to help subsidize a likely overall loss on the film. And, when production finally starts, producers will stretch every dollar they can, which means crews will be asked to do a lot for very little \u2014 creating a norm where people are paid about $100 a day for 12+ hours of work. After a few weeks of work, these newly unemployed crewmembers (if they cannot find new work) can end up in a\u00a0cycle of going on and off unemployment<\/a>. And when the film is finally finished, the vast majority of filmmakers will not attract \u201cviable\u201d distribution for their films, as distributors\u00a0with the money to support indies continue to\u00a0check out of the indie business<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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This\u00a0is the current state of independent film. And anyone who says we need\u00a0more\u00a0of this, without offering any solution to make it better, is part of the problem.<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s an old indie adage that there can never be too much art. I can\u2019t count the number of times I\u2019ve heard,\u00a0\u201cNo one says that there are too many paintings.\u201d This is true \u2014 because paintings aren\u2019t films. They don\u2019t cost millions (or hundreds of thousands) of dollars to produce, nor do they rely on the labor of others to get made. So comparing film and paintings is a false equivalence \u2014 and it really is time to have an honest conversation about film.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At a time when studios are\u00a0reducing the number of films