“A Rebuilding Phase for Independent Film”

With Nate Winslow introducing a weekly guest column on the trials and tribulations of a 22 year-old attempting to produce his first full-length feature independent film, this NY Times article seems particularly relevant: A Rebuilding Phase for Independent Filmmakers:

Only five years ago, the center of the still thriving independent film universe lay behind the green doors of a converted TriBeCa warehouse from which the Weinstein brothers, Bob and Harvey, ran Miramax Films.

But as I’ve noted here on GITS many, many, times in the last 2 years, not anymore!

With their possible deal — negotiations continued through last week — to join investors in reacquiring Miramax, which they left in 2005, the Weinsteins are again in the middle of something.

But it is not the business they once ruled.

For more than a decade, the indie film movement centered in New York flourished, at times almost eclipsing the output of the mainstream Hollywood studios in terms of impact and accolades. But the financial collapse and the credit crisis had a deep impact on all of the movie world, which has responded with fewer expensive releases and safer bets.

And that new austerity has decimated the indie film business, ending with the collapse or downsizing of distributors like New Line Cinema, Picturehouse, Warner Independent Pictures, ThinkFilm and Miramax, all in the last few years.

Indie filmmaking haunted by the ghosts of shuttered specialty divisions.

There are, however, signs of life. The struggling indie scene is getting a boost from fleet-footed, penny-pinching guerrilla operations that are trying to resuscitate the business by spending less on production, much less on marketing and embracing all forms of distribution, including the local art house and the laptop.

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At Tribeca Enterprises, a sponsor of its namesake festival, the chief creative officer, Geoffrey Gilmore, in March joined the company’s co-founder Jane Rosenthal and others to announce a new distribution unit focused on video-on-demand — where the dollars are small, but the potential audience is vast.

Already, Rainbow Media, which operates IFC Entertainment, is feeding about 120 films a year to cable television systems, while perhaps 50 of those movies are shown in one or more theaters. The company, led by Joshua Sapan, also operates an independent theater complex.

Producers cannot recoup their investment from the marginal payout from on-demand showings, but a run on IFC’s channels or those of other services brings recognition that helps increasingly entrepreneurial filmmakers make money on DVDs — from foreign release, sales to airlines and, often, at screenings for political, religious or other groups, often with appearances by the writer, director and cast.

Just yesterday, I had a lengthy conversation with the co-founder of a new company that has an exciting business model for low-budget movies. More on that as soon as they finalize details and go public.

So things are happening. With digital technology, it’s easier than ever to make a movie. But the financing, marketing, and distribution is still a challenge. 

However it’s hard not to be hopeful that the next five-ten years will mark a renaissance in indie filmmaking.

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