Invest In Indie Film

We messed up. The industry stopped investing in indie film. But they shouldn’t have.

Remember that feeling of discovering a new independent voice at a festival or on your TV? That moment when you connect with a story that wouldn't—couldn't—have been told any other way?

Indie film was about creating something that lasts. Something singular. A film, captured on celluloid, handled with care by every steward who came in contact with it.

It was about quality over quantity, art over commerce, telling a story only you could tell, rather than trying to calculate the future desires of a fickle marketplace.

But things changed.

The studios and streamers started over-supplying the market with big, bloated, unoriginal films. New voices were drowned out. Original stories were buried.

The avalanche of AI-generated content is just at its starting point, ready to break free and cover everything in its track.

The studios and streamers not only let it happen, they’re going to profit from it.

Now indie film is treated like an outcast, a burden with too high a cost. Something to avoid, not protect. The industry tells filmmakers to stop being so entitled rather than investing in their vision.

And yet, indie film continues to amaze us. “Barbenheimer” doesn’t happen without indie filmmakers Greta Gerwig first doing Nights and Weekends and Lady Bird, and Christopher Nolan doing Following and Memento.

It works. It’s simple. It’s the starter that allows the industry to thrive, and filmmakers to hone their craft and grow into creators that can impact the entire world with a story.

The magic is still there, they just stopped investing in it.

It's not just about money. True investment in indie film takes many forms: Filmmakers invest their time and creative energy, spending years bringing stories to life. Audiences invest their attention and emotional engagement. Distributors invest their resources and reach.

Each form of investment - whether it's capital, time, attention, or energy - is essential to building a thriving independent film ecosystem. We need all of these investments working together.

Indie film deserves a new model. A renaissance. Modernized for the way we watch films today.

It’s time for a new ecosystem, one that’s Truly Independent.

Indie film isn’t content filler for digital library shelves. The studios and streamers aren’t going to fix it for us. We have to do it ourselves.

Forget the gatekeepers. Leave the queue. Stop abdicating the responsibility. If we try and force their hand to give us more opportunities, they’ll just leave. They’ll choose profit margin and shareholder value every time, even at the expense of the art they already paid for.

We must start making our own decisions instead of seeking their permission. Creating profitable films that put that permission in our own hands. Voting with our dollars for the type of content we want to watch with our families and friends.

The studios and streamers don’t have a monopoly on stories that resonate with audiences. So we start there, and we build the new independent film ecosystem.

Small is mighty. Small stories. Small budgets. Small timelines. These are unique to indie film. It’s what we can do that they can’t.

If we want amazing movies in the future – the kind of movies that we’ll show our kids in 30 years – then we must invest in indie film today.

But how to do it...profitably? Keep reading...