The dream is dead. 
But long live the dream ...? 
Four years ago I joined this forum with the hope of eventually turning A Good Idea into a A Good Thing. Four years later, a lot has happened ... but not The Thing, and I'm not sure now that it can work - not least because of the insights gained as a result of hanging around these cyber corridors.
The Idea, in its simplest version, was to try to mimic the (successful) collective creativity that comes out of a music festival to which I've made reference from time to time, but centred on a cinematic adventure. The ulterior motive in this would be to develop an enthusiastic kernel of writers, actors and all the technical departments, who'd meet up for a week or a fortnight (say) four times a year to work together, intensely and intensively, on different projects - documentaries, dramas, art-for-art's-sake ... - not for early-retirement-megabucks, but with a view to attracting interest from third parties who'd commission more of the same and maybe an IMDB credit or two to be proud of. As a starting point, I've identified a few influential YouTubers who could probably be persuaded to hand over the production and direction of twenty minutes of their weekly output for mutual benefit.
I'm fortunate to have a sizeable rural property with various spaces that could be configured and re-configured to suit different needs; I have an immense collection of "stuff" that's been kept as potential set decoration and/or props; and I have a productive garden that could feed a small army (okay, a very very small army, but well-fed all the same). Unfortunately, I'm not ever likely to get as far as finishing the twenty-bed accommodation still on the To Do list ... although previous occupants lived 10-to-a-room year round, so surely that's not a problem?
No, the problem is this: there doesn't seem to be any realistic way to start small and build up. The camera guys want more pixels, the sound guys want less noise, the post-production guys want more terrabytes, and Nate wants more sleep. Above all, though, it seems like a few of you have tried this kind of exercise before and it's never really taken off - possibly (admittedly this is my own speculation) because too much of the creative process is a solitary activity, and too many of us - myself included - are handicapped by repeated conflicts of interest with Real Life. On scraps of paper, I have two minimal-resource "demo reels" laid out that would showcase The Idea, but even those have proved damn near impossible to turn into viewable footage for ... reasons. So if I can't manage two relatively simple productions, what hope is there to "go large" - especially if my professional and social circle doesn't actually include any "movie industry" types?
Not sure if this post is a question or a statement. Interpret at will!
But long live the dream ...? Four years ago I joined this forum with the hope of eventually turning A Good Idea into a A Good Thing. Four years later, a lot has happened ... but not The Thing, and I'm not sure now that it can work - not least because of the insights gained as a result of hanging around these cyber corridors.
The Idea, in its simplest version, was to try to mimic the (successful) collective creativity that comes out of a music festival to which I've made reference from time to time, but centred on a cinematic adventure. The ulterior motive in this would be to develop an enthusiastic kernel of writers, actors and all the technical departments, who'd meet up for a week or a fortnight (say) four times a year to work together, intensely and intensively, on different projects - documentaries, dramas, art-for-art's-sake ... - not for early-retirement-megabucks, but with a view to attracting interest from third parties who'd commission more of the same and maybe an IMDB credit or two to be proud of. As a starting point, I've identified a few influential YouTubers who could probably be persuaded to hand over the production and direction of twenty minutes of their weekly output for mutual benefit.
I'm fortunate to have a sizeable rural property with various spaces that could be configured and re-configured to suit different needs; I have an immense collection of "stuff" that's been kept as potential set decoration and/or props; and I have a productive garden that could feed a small army (okay, a very very small army, but well-fed all the same). Unfortunately, I'm not ever likely to get as far as finishing the twenty-bed accommodation still on the To Do list ... although previous occupants lived 10-to-a-room year round, so surely that's not a problem?
No, the problem is this: there doesn't seem to be any realistic way to start small and build up. The camera guys want more pixels, the sound guys want less noise, the post-production guys want more terrabytes, and Nate wants more sleep. Above all, though, it seems like a few of you have tried this kind of exercise before and it's never really taken off - possibly (admittedly this is my own speculation) because too much of the creative process is a solitary activity, and too many of us - myself included - are handicapped by repeated conflicts of interest with Real Life. On scraps of paper, I have two minimal-resource "demo reels" laid out that would showcase The Idea, but even those have proved damn near impossible to turn into viewable footage for ... reasons. So if I can't manage two relatively simple productions, what hope is there to "go large" - especially if my professional and social circle doesn't actually include any "movie industry" types?
Not sure if this post is a question or a statement. Interpret at will!
(Please tell me you came up with that yourself and didn't outsource it to ChatGPT ... 
Of course whoever buys it isn't just buying a table; they're buying the story that goes with it, including the making-of video, which includes buying a part of the YouTuber's personality. When the market is swamped by influencers who've already built up a following, how does a newcomer break into it - especially if their "vision" isn't actually that "visual" ?