A New Era in Film?

Brent J. Craig/“Anvil! The Story of Anvil”; Alluvial Film Company

“Anvil! The Story of Anvil,” left, and “Ballast” are two movies not distributed by a major studio.

In this NY Times article entitled, "Declaration of Indies: Just Sell it Yourself!" could quite possibly revolutionize the film industry forever. Each year hundreds of filmmakers write script after script hoping that Warner or Paramount will think their script is funny, or scary, or sexy enough to become the next big hit.

Well, Mr. Peter Broderick, a film consultant, attempted to sell his pitch to a conference room full of filmmakers. What was Mr. Broderick's pitch? Just what was he trying to revolutionize? Imagine instead of these filmmakers spending what little money they had to big corporations only to have their script turned down; these same filmmakers independently would distribute their films. Mr. Broderick has done something that has never been thought of. He alone is empowering these individuals who for so many years have been nothing but pawns in a bigger world market.

In this article, we take a look at the 'old world' versus the 'new world' of distribution and marketing as a filmmaker. In the 'old world' "filmmakers hand over all the rights to their work, ceding control to companies that might soon lose interest in their new purchase for various reasons." Whether it is a bad opening week or a better opportunity has arisen, filmmakers have no say in the development of their own precious work. These major corporations take and posses the power to do what they please when they desire. In contrast to this old world view, the 'new world' approach takes a much more empowering stance. "Filmmakers maintain full control over their work from beginning to end: they hold on to their rights and, as important, find people who are interested in their projects and can become patrons, even mentors." Having the ability to maintain total control over ones work is so important.

As we learned through our discussions throughout the last 2 weeks, power is something not to be taken for granted. Unfortunately all too well have we learned what can happen when power is abused. And in this situation if filmmakers continue to give their souls to the greater film industry and continue to let a massive corporation rule cinema, the diversity that has made film so important and special worldwide will cease to exist. Soon we will be stuck with a monopoly and very little culture left in the film world. With technology as advanced as it is in this time period, and having the tools to broadcast and have viewers worldwide thanks to the internet there is a great hope of breaking free of this monopolized industry of film.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/movies/17dargis.html?ref=arts

Jordana Weinberg