Where is everybody?

Nate North said:
The phenomenon I'm trying to illustrate is that once one person is greedy, or shallow, or stupid, and starts grabbing up attention or money or subscribers or whatever currency you're after, you're only left with the option to start acting like they do and claim your share, or sit back and watch the worst people cannabalize the best as a function of their sociopathy. We've built a flawed world I think.
Click to expand...
The flaws in the world mean that you're not left with that option alone - there are other worlds accessible to you, even on this same planet.

My anecdote to prove the point dates back almost twenty years, when I was running my own business in rented premises. To really fulfil my professional ambitions, I needed to buy the building, but year after year the bank refused to give me a mortgage because my "cautious, sustainable growth" didn't look great when matched with aggressive behaviour of the Big Players in the sector. One day, after reviewing the figures, a business advisor told me that I should subcontract myself for a large fee to one of the Big Players and employ someone on minimum wage to do my work in my own office for my own customers. :eek:

Shortly afterwards, I shut down the business, sold the family home and moved to a different country where I've since been living debt-free on the back of a few months' work per year. The bank, on the other hand, was irreparably burnt in the Lehman Bros fire and had to be demolished. :evil:
 
I was really talking about Youtube in particular. I probably should have specified. The problem with youtube is that in terms of something accessable on a budget, it basically has an entrenched global monopoly. You don't really have options that are the same. Of course you don't have to give in and I'm not going to, but honestly I'm far from sure that I can succeed in this somewhat hostile and opportunistic environment (still talking about youtube). I think I can succeed at making something great and memorable, but I'm not sure my entire team combined will ever make as much as logan paul.

On the flipside, If I can ever stage up enough to get a solid seed investment, with the right crew I can go to neflix and have a fair shot I think. Just need to hit quality spec and produce the pilot branches.

As far as your bank and financial advisors, that sounds exactly like the thinking of a machine to me. (line from the Matrix)

I occasionally think about quitting the rat race and doing exactly what you did. You'll have to tell me about it some day, what it's like moving to rural France, the first years. I've always been concerned that I'd go crazy if things got too quiet, lol.
 
I was a regular at Indieclub. For a while it was quite a place. So much energy you could feel it coming out from everywhere. 5 or 6 people making feature films, plenty making shorts. Conversation out the ass.. Then Facebook and the others sprung up and Indieclub died. I thought for sure I would find the hardcore members here, but alas, only 1 or 2 that I recognize...... This board is pretty good, but I'm always puzzled why there are so many lurkers (guests) but usually less than 10 members at any time and usually the same few members. .... I miss the old days. The indie world has drifted away. Probably part of the reason is that film is kind of dead, not just for the pros but especially for indie film makers. I'm not an expert and I'm not in the know, but from what I can see, there are no more DVD (blu-ray) distro deals being made for micro-budget films. It's streaming or nothing,, and streaming seems to pay nothing even if you're good enough and lucky enough to get you film out there... I know, I'm ranting.. It's hard when something that's been such an important part of your life, my life, is so quickly transformed into something almost unrecognizable. Movies. They're now a dime a dozen. Watch whatever you want whenever you want. Turn it off. Put it on pause. Have it on while you're in the kitchen making a sandwich... Movies use to mean something. From the beginning of film history up until sometime around 2010. That seems to be when the plug was finally pulled on the life support system the film industry has been on since around 1995. Yeah, we still have movies but almost all of them completely suck, so we convince ourselves that they are good even though inside we know we are simply settling for the best of the worst... I'm ranting again..

Well, time to put on a movie and go make a sandwich..
 
Last edited:
I honestly think that there are as many good movies being made now as ever - the challenge (in my opinion) is that there are SO many ways to watch them that it's very hard to find the things that any of us as individuals will like. And dvd's are dead, or 98% dead. That's reality and I see no reason for it to change.

I can personally vouch for the fact that streaming revenue sucks :)
But I also LOVE seeing that my movies continue to be watched world-wide on an amazing array of streaming services, and that makes me VERY happy.

I'm currently collaborating with a good friend & colleague on a feature screenplay that we're hoping to produce on a very low budget. This is a story that we both want to tell and that deals with family issues that many people can relate to but in no universe would it ever be a block-buster. We'll see if we can get it off the ground - I've got my fingers and toes crossed.

Anyway....that's my semi-rant for the morning. If we get anywhere with this project, you guys will certainly be hearing about it for years to come. :yes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top