Let’s be honest. The last few years have been rough in the screen trade. For those who make stuff, and those who consume it. We had that plague thing followed by two strikes, a whole new business model imported from Silicon Valley fuck jobs, drank their toxic Kool-aid and now everything is failing. But I don’t see it that way. I see opportunity.
Which is probably why I’m directing my first feature on an iPhone. With a crew of four (including me).
It all started with the itch to make stuff. I did what anybody else does when they want to do something far out - call my accountant. After I pitched my dreams with enthusiasm, I heard it. “Matt, I love you, but you cannot do this.” I wanted to start an LLC for a film and raise funds in CA. But evidently the economics are so bad for small business, that literally after asking exhausting all options, she said I could either move to Nevada or pretend to be like a bunch of teenagers making a home movie.
So I took her at her word. I spent my teenage years pretending to be an adult, why not flip it around and be a teenager.
Our mission was to have fun. Not get into film festivals, or cross our fingers we trend on Amazon, but make movies. Not shorts, or web series, or all the other things, but a real deal 85 minute comedy. Our mission was to do the thing and let the thing be the thing. But when you embark onto such an adventure it is hard not to dream about what the thing means.
The cycles that occur every thirty years in independent cinema historically coincide with the convergence of two things:
1. Easier access to the tools of movie making (the hand held in French New Wave in the Sixties, or the iPhone 13 or 14 of today, for example).
And 2. Need. The needs of today’s artists are easily apparent. No one is working, everything is getting squeezed, and people just want to make stuff. Those two forces, (need and access) when combined, usually catch fire. Groundswells occur in multiple places at once as the creative energy that drives all of this inside the hearts of us tends to erupt and create change. Because eventually, one of the things pops through to the mainstream.
For some reason, it always seems to move in 30 year cycles within the film trade. The last great turn was in the 90s when Sodeberg and Tarantino, Anderson, Fincher and the Austin scene did what studio pictures were afraid to do. And before that, the under-employed of the late sixties learned from the French and applied the same perspective here. In both cases, a few forward-thinking maniacs in suits who ran studios saw that the counter culture held dollar signs and took a risk on the long hairs and freaks.
We are in the same moment again, but I feel that instead of an auteur BS single dude running shit - this moment will be about the collective. A small anarchy of like-minded people agreeing to pull resources and work together, in a mutually supported, almost crowd-sourced way. Of course, this threatens established norms, union regulations, and so forth - and there will continue to be push back against disruption. But eventually a new balance will emerge.
So what are some of my impressions as I dip my toe back in to making stuff?
I said to Fiona, our sound mixer and overall awesome human, on our most recent shooting day that, “directors of vision were over rated.” And then we talked about how special it was that we had actors who were willing to come in on their off days and be camera assistants and oversee craft service. It is both grounding and inspiring.
We’re about 1/3 of the way into finishing principle photography. We shoot on off days, and keep the days short. I bring coffee in a thermos and we have a blast. Everyone’s ideas matter. And everyone has to hold the camera at least once. The end goal? Host the film on our own little web site and sell 4 dollar tickets then share the money together. Why try and reach millions of people and get a tiny fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the windfall of revenue when you can target trying to find 5000 people to pay four dollars and play a small part in creating a sustainable community.
It’s not a novel idea for artists to try and kick out the middleman. It’s what Taylor Swift is doing, so why the hell can’t the middle class creatives do the same? Isn’t that what Susbtack is after all? And it is the need and the access that can propel us through the unknown and power the change needed. Right? And the need is so needed. Because movies are dying.
Like many industries, the economic divide in entertainment has caused such a chasm that many of us are doing one of two things - moving to Ohio or Arizona or saying fuck it and doing shit. We need to risk failing, and fail again and again, to try and find a better way. And I hope the unions will grant us leeway and grace as we experiment with new revenue models that don’t involve us selling everything for teh chance to trenc=d and get likes/ Like? How about dollars. I look at this time as the chance for movie making to shift to farm-to-table. To help create a farmer’s market of cinematic content. Proprietary. Once that mindset is shifted in enough people at the same time, it is not a far stretch to see how one could have audience be involved and engaged from the get go. Could audiences even be producers? Think of a redefined relationship without the studio? And again, isn’t that what Substack is?
There’s nothing more punk rock than that, right? To keep the suits out. Eventually they will want it, when someone finally manages to discover a successful business model. And they will milk it for a while, copy the model, and milk it some more, till it dries up and becomes a charade of its original intent. It’s always been that way. I mean, this is California, after all? The Gold Rush never ends. It just changes names.
So who is with me? We don’t need Amazon, we don’t need permits, or permission, or a bond, we don’t even need a film festival. All we need is each other. And a small audience to reach who are willing to invest a couple dollars. The systems work. Or heck, we wouldn’t all be on Substack. If anyone is wants to hop on board the train, you could produce my next day of shooting, all you have to do is email me and I can share more about the film as coop model we are using. Our goal? To make an entire movie for less than 20 K.
As my accountant said, it was the only path open to us: to act like a bunch of teenagers playing with film equipment. Well, if that’s what is left? That’s enough. The truth is, it’s always been enough. It’s like busking on the street with a band. On the mean streets. With a whole new generation of people who are shut out from access and can’t take it anymore. And plus, you get to direct in rollerblades with clown make up. If it is true, what the unions are saying “survive till 25” as a rally cry to help our members get through hard times, I say, why not thrive?
Donating a few bucks a month as a PAID SUBSCRIBER helps me pay the crew, and keep filming, so maybe you’d like to hop on board. I’ll keep sharing dispatches from the front lines.
Was wondering what mystical thing you were up to. Sounds like a lot of fun! Can’t wait to see this new collaborative work. Is this the new Monte Python?