An Open Letter To The Film Industry

Dear Movie Moguls,

The end of one year and the start of a new one is when many people look back at the past and make new plans for the future. This year, I suggest, warrants more thought than usual for anyone working in the mainstream film industry… because, there is a very good chance 2008 will be the first where the industry really starts to feel pressure from the digital revolution and micro-budget film makers.

Up to this point the indie film scene has been viewed by the industry as more of a joke than a serious threat… after all, why should the big players worry about a load of guys running around the woods with domestic camcorders? Absolutely no reason at all. After all you’ve got the big money for production; the big stars; the distribution networks; and, the advertising budgets which allow you to own the world.

Let’s face it… as long as the “indies” were shooting films on mini-dv; with bad scripts; worst actors; and, no marketing strategy, there was no reason for the industry to pay any attention to a bunch of wannabees.

However, this year is going to be different… it’s going to be different for two reasons:

Firstly, those guys who have been making bad, micro-budget movies, have been doing it for a while now… and they’re learning. Not just about production techniques… in the last year I’ve seen film makers really getting to grips with the idea that great screen writing is the key to great film making. These geeks have REALLY figured out that their biggest advantage in the market place is a killer script. And, they’re figuring out how how to write them.

In the last year I’ve seen more great articles written about screen writing by indie film makers, than ever before. Not only that… I’ve also witnessed a real down turn in gimmicky marketing “get rich quick” strategies, in favour of developing film sales by writing and making a great film.

What I’m saying is this… there are a lot of experienced indies out there now, who are working on very high quality concepts, with enough knowledge to write and develop their scripts… and years of micro-budget film production experience to back up these films.

In my opinion, the skill base is reaching critical mass… the point where indies have the skills and the focus to create very serious product. And, because the scene has been developing for a while, I’d expect not one or two great indie films to emerge this year… but instead, a deluge. I fully expect to see seven or eight great break-out movies to hit the screens this year… all developed on sub $200,000 budgets… all of which shock the industry to its core.

The second factor is the technology shift to HD.

As long as these guys were working on camcorders they were only ever going to turn out niche and DVD Premiere movies. However, Final Cut Studio editing software and Premiere have both stepped up their capabilities in the last two years, to the point where working on full HD is available to almost anyone… regardless of budget.

Now, the point is… if you’ve spent seven years figuring out how to make DV look good, when someone hands you a HD camcorder and a fully professional post production suite… then you are going to be in a position to create images as good as anything anyone can create on film.

The bottom line is, this year is the year that both the technology and the experience of indie film makers finally converges… this year anything is possible.

So, all you Moguls enjoy the holidays… because this year the digital revolution isn’t going to be out there in the boondocks, it’s going to be sitting on your doorstep demanding to be invited in for mince pies and sherry.