I recently had the pleasure of attending the American Film Convention in Downtown Los Angeles that took place between October 15-17 at The Reef a creative shared arts and exhibition space. I wasn’t sure what to expect since this was the first year for the convention and was surprised by the turnout....
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I recently had the pleasure of attending the American Film Convention in Downtown Los Angeles that took place between October 15-17 at The Reef a creative shared arts and exhibition space. I wasn’t sure what to expect since this was the first year for the convention and was surprised by the turnout. A lot of the same faces I knew from around the indie film scene made appearances, and they had a few workshops that were very insightful. The phrase I heard at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year was “Survive till ‘25” referring to the dismal state of the film industry back in May. Then later it became “Exist till ‘26” suggesting that industry insiders believe 2025 will be a year of more struggle and miscalculation by the studios. They aren’t saying either of those things now, it is heavily believed that we are in the wake of a tsunami of change in the film industry and it will not be good for the independent filmmakers and at the AFC it was a tale of two cities. In the actor’s workshop area, the message was “just wait and everything is going to return to normal eventually.”, and for actors perhaps they are correct. On the filmmakers side it was all apocalyptic doom, “The studios are in mid-collapse” one filmmaker said at a panel. Every week one giant movie after another that is being released is under-performing or flat bombing, and the studios seem helpless to course correct. One theory that was pushed is that the studios want to have the films fail at the box office, so that they can continue to push audiences into being subscribers to their streaming services, for them it’s a win because no more P&A costs for a release and the quality of the film doesn’t matter it’s just all content to them. A film doesn’t turn out, just shelve it and write it off or you need a write off, just shelve a film; nothing matters but the bottom line. Warner Brothers is currently in the process of moving operations to Nevada, having realized that the only reason to stay in California is tradition, and the real estate the studio sits on in Burbank is worth more than keeping up appearances at the Beverly Hills Country Club. Most production has moved overseas to avoid labor unions in the US and to take advantage of large tax incentives countries like Hungary and South Africa are offering. With all the media companies merging it's no surprise we are here, it was only a matter of time before Disney emerged the winner because they hold the most valuable IP in the business after they bought up 20th Century Fox. Disney’s competitors instead of innovating and setting themselves apart are simply doubling down on their own IP that is showing diminishing returns, case in point Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One barely breaking even. For the indies well, it means one thing… More of the same. Distribution for the indie world has been a joke for about 98% of the indie world since I went to my first AFM in 2007 with my feature film “Farewell Darkness” and had to deal with sales agents and distributors telling me that I should just give my movie to them with zero money exchanging hands because I should just be grateful to have it be seen at all. Not to my surprise nothing has changed in the 17 years since, except now it’s about distributors collecting your IP so they can then turn around and sell it to another company or to a studio, and your film never sees the light of day, and everyone else gets paid. So, what’s the good news? At the AFC there was a panel on self-distribution that felt like lightning had struck me when it was over. The filmmakers on the panel had cracked the code on getting their movies out, seen by an audience, and made money. They figured out that if you go directly to the theater chains, by bypassing the distributors, theaters are willing to take your movie with an equitable split of the box office. I’m not talking about “four walling” a theater, I mean they give you the space, and it’s up to you to fill it, and when it’s over you split the ticket sales. Several of the filmmakers had done it and yes, they had to do it a few theaters at a time in a small region. But it allowed them to take advantage of grass roots marketing on local level and were able to lure audiences with the promise of the filmmaker being present after the screening. Basically, it’s an old-fashioned road show. I don’t see this working for everyone, all the filmmakers on the panel had made genre films (horror, sci-fi, or fantasy) so for them they didn’t need to promise a star in the movie just a great premise, made well, delivering on the expectations of the genre. The takeaway combined with the state of the industry from the convention is film industry is decentralizing. Los Angeles will still be the hub for a lot of things, there’s a lot of money invested in it and the governor finally has signed a large tax incentive for production. But, for the indies it’s too expensive to film anything in Los Angeles, the price of a shooting permit is nearly now a quarter of a small indie budget. The indie world is going to go where there are audiences for our films, that we can freely access, and environments that support our productions. Throw a dart at a map in the US minus a few states nearly every territory has a tax incentive, or a film fund. With a sustainable self-distribution system in place, we can make small movies and live our lives. It’s going to take a few more years to see if distributors push back on this, but theater chains are feeling burned right now from the studios and are more open to experimenting with what will bring the audiences back. I say it be we who are ones to benefit from the greed of the studios. This isn't a new thing, just ask Taylor Swift about her Eras Tour film, this was what she did when Disney tried to swindle her.
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Thanks for sharing this, Daniel J. Pico. Glad to hear indie filmmakers can go directly to the theater chains to get their movies out, seen by an audience, and make money!
"A film doesn’t turn out, just...
Expand commentThanks for sharing this, Daniel J. Pico. Glad to hear indie filmmakers can go directly to the theater chains to get their movies out, seen by an audience, and make money!
"A film doesn’t turn out, just shelve it and write it off or you need a write off, just shelve a film." That reminds me of the Coyote vs. Acme situation. I think the government needs to step in and pass a law that prevents studios and companies from doing those things.
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The mergers should have never been allowed in the first place. I'm tired of getting screwed over from dollar one by a distributor. It's time we take the power back and start getting money for our work...
Expand commentThe mergers should have never been allowed in the first place. I'm tired of getting screwed over from dollar one by a distributor. It's time we take the power back and start getting money for our work and for our investors so we can build wealth for ourselves. Not every movie is going to be successful and some of it will come down to the individual marketing prowess of producers, but all we have been asking for is a fair shot, and since the corruption and greed in the industry has made it clear they intend to keep it all, it's time we pick up the money they are leaving on the table.