Is Hollywood really BROKEN? Help Spark some change…
If Spielberg and Lucas are to be believed – Hollywood is indeed imploding! Or perhaps you might want a contrarian opinion to assuage your fears of another Guy Ducker original post here and the ripples of panic that are hitting the industry as the fake sky above the film set is indeed falling…
This is something I think about, breathe, and discuss just about every waking moment of every day. I dare say that anybody who is in the film/indie/tv/commercial industry hasn’t paused at some point in the past year to question the long term viability of the current business, distribution and advertising models… that part is definitely… well… kinda really broken for sure.
But there are solutions… and people ARE doing really great things! The universal truth though is: most of those efforts won’t succeed unless you as a fellow filmmaker, or film lover don’t actively engage in helping establish the future business models of filmmaking.
I’d like to expound on some of my thoughts in a longer post soon, but right now I have a more pressing deadline: I’d like you to consider supporting a company that I think is onto something… One of the big lessons in life is that it’s not always the "Big" solutions that solve "Big" problems… sometimes it’s a very bright idea that comes from a small group people at just the right time.
One such idea that I think is pretty dead on, is Seed&Spark, a start up company that aims to TRULY embrace the idea of community in very pertinent ways. Crowd funding, distribution, and new ways of distribution are going to be key unless you really want to go see Iron Man XIX a decade from now… I think that Emily Best the founder of the company did a bang up job of communicating just how they plan to help pave the way for independent filmmaker in this in the video below… And if you’re interested there’s a chance for you to support them in the next 48 hours to help them expand their horizons… Especially if you’re a small or independent film maker (read: most of us!)
The Future of Filmmaking from Seed&Spark on Vimeo.
If you like what you hear – I do – please consider supporting Seed&Spark by going to the following site here and helping fund their project and allow them to spread their wings even further. They’ve already funded SEVENTEEN films since DECEMBER and you have to admit that’s pretty darn impressive.
You’d be surprised at how quickly a few people (you) and (them) can make a big difference in the future of filmmaking. I meet a lot of people in Hollywood and Silicon Valley these days and I have to tell you: these folks at Seed&Spark are pretty darn smart. More importantly perhaps – they’re incredibly passionate and their heart is in the right place. Excuse the obvious pun, but they’ve gone ahead and planted the seed, it’s your turn to help them spark some change for us all… and perhaps set the old model on fire.
Well put Vincent!
I had the chance to crowdfund on Kickstarter as a Sundance alum. (This comes with benefits which some very nice benefits which include being on the Sundance Kickstarter page.)
Because of the team at Seed&Spark, I decided to crowdfund on their platform and am so glad I did, getting the third season of my webseries greenlighted to shoot this Fall. 65% of the Seed&Spark crowdfunding projects are getting greenlighted. On Kickstarter I’ve heard the rate is around 30%.
As you so clearly explained, Emily Best and her team at Seed&Spark are A) very smart and B) throwing themselves over the wall with passion for their platform and with support for the filmmakers on Seed&Spark. Oh and as you also mentioned, they’re changing the paradigm. Fresh, transparent and utterly without cynicism, the team at Seed&Spark is about empowering filmmakers, about getting our work distributed and making money…for US. I agree with you that it’s an idea whose time has come.
Very good. Great start up and i wish them well.
@VincentLaforet this looks really great. If the model really is broken, what do you see as the biggest single broken cog?
They’ve already funded SEVENTEEN films since DECEMBER and you have to admit that’s pretty darn impressive.
The simple reason Hollywood is “broken” is by the current outrageous costs of Marketing (P&D) for ANY film, them never being lower than $60M per film (USA+EU Marketing). Add to that the overall $20-40M in production costs and you have to recoup $100M (box office around $180M!!) just to BREAK EVEN, and later make profits only on DVD and TV distribution.
If an independent $2M film opens with no Marketing on just 5-10 theaters, it will never recoup the costs. Therefore you invest say $30M (for USA-wide marketing), and you only have to recoup $32M, much easier, right?
No. That’s box office numbers of $50-60M to break even, and no $2M film makes those.
This is how Theater distribution works, and it’s no different for indie (under $1M) films. Nobody watches indie films, as those are “free on Vimeo”. The average citizen only pays for the (actor) names and VFX and such. Indie moviegoers aren’t enough for the indie film to make a profit. The sooner you accept this, the better for the director.
I recommend everybody to forget about movies and get into TV commercials and TV production, where profits still happen.
For instance, a $2M 60-90min film/drama for TV (what “Sherlock” or “Downtown Abbey” costs per episode) is almost/entirely paid by the first broadcaster, and then it can be sold to other foreign broadcasters over and over. There’s no Marketing costs involved (the broadcaster itself takes care of those).
As for (broadcast) TV commercials, they all have healthy budgets and thousands are shot every year.
When you enter an industry, you should always do some research and BizPlans. If you aim for a product that will never be profitable, just because it’s “your dream”, you’re the solely responsible. So don’t complain.
This is a crazy good idea !
I’m gonna share it, use it, enjoy it.
Like you, I’ve been thinking a lot about Filmmaking future, distribution… The nightmare of just getting some help from studios, televisions or governments. A very “Brazil” kind of nightmare, where you fill a lot of paper, you send a lot of DVDs (yeah DVDs in 2013, I was recently asked for VCR demo, commooooon!!!), and no one ever seems to be interested in you, because you’re not in the pattern, you’re not famous, you’re nothing. Then they look at your work, and they want you to change the heart of it, to make it more profitable.
THAT was really depressing… But THAT was the past. And i kept thinking about solutions to make movies, without being forced to go along the classic pattern studio>distribution>theaters.
And boy the answer is so obvious : Internet is the absolute SOLUTION. Crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, social medias, THIS ROCKS.
Studio never liked internet, they never even tried to embrace it. Worse they treated it as an enemy. Big mistake.
Seed&Spark is inspiring, i love this initiative. And thank you for the sharing.
I had a very similar idea to this recently, but clearly I’ve been beaten to the punch. Really, I’m just glad to see this sort of thing being made 🙂