Follow the money
In defence of independent film makers who make straight drama, I'd just like to say that as main stream film making is turning out CGI driven epics and formula action pictures on an almost daily basis, making a piece of dialogue driven drama IS being independent.
However, economics pays a big part in these decisions. If you've only got enough to money to put petrol in vehicles, feed the crew and pay for tape stock, then you are unlikey to do any car chases, or gun fights, both of which need expensive, professional help. On the other hand, straight drama allows you to use the resources and locations that you have to hand. Ironically, I would say that for a writer/director straight drama represents a more difficult product to create than almost any other, because without all the adrenaline producing tricks of action films (constant camera movement, guns and driving soundtrack etc) you have to concentrate on the getting the most from your actors abilities to create emotional resonances for your audience. It just requires more directorial skill to create a good product.
One of the factors that drive the indie horror is also an ecomonic one. Horror is one of the few genres you can shoot with an unknown cast, with poor equipment, a foul script and still sell into the global direct to DVD market for reasonable money. In fact, you may even make a cult classic and get proper cinema distribution (almost regardless of production values).
On the other hand I think every film maker should make what interests them most. I'm mainly interested in telling stories and working with actors to tell them. I'm also interested in photography, in particular landscapes. This tends to be a dominant theme in my films, stories about people, acting driven pieces set in interesting landscapes.
I think with indie films, it doesn't really matter what we make as long as we carry on making it. Hope your action serial works out. It sounds like a project that really inspires you and I admire that in a film maker almost more than anything else.