This is a dangerous and misleading headline and article, and does not reflect what I am hearing from distributors or even from AMPAS. It assumes there will be festivals next year, of which there is no guarantee. indiewire.com/2020/05/filmma…
In fact, this position, as I am seeing in so many places fundamentally lacks courage and leadership needed to lead our way out of this. It encourages everyone to stick to the way things are, as if there is ever going to be a normal to return to.
I have to say, @IndieWire this headline hurts a lot more people than it helps. I have filmmakers LINING UP to participate in online festivals because they see this time as an opening to not let arbitrary and arcane distribution rules stop them anymore.
This position DEEPLY reinforces the absolutely losing proposition of "wait to be picked" for filmmakers, while also dealing a potentially fatal blow to the vital cultural curators that are local and regional festivals. Brian is talking to 11 filmmakers, I'm talking to hundreds.
This opinion piece (and it's just one man's opinion) represents the position of the gatekeepers perfectly, and those are exactly the people a crisis time presents creators the opportunity to circumvent. WE GET TO WRITE THE NEW RULES. If we let go of old ways of thinking.
If filmmakers collectively decide we can go online (and make no mistake, every top-selling festival is currently working on their own online festival platforms RIGHT NOW - that's an actual fact), then all the product in the market that distributors could buy will be online.
Then what can distributors do? Acquire nothing? No. This is the time now when creators have an opportunity to set the rules. If there is a door open for innovation, distributors stand to gain TREMENDOUSLY from the energy of filmmakers as collaborators.
If this is going to be used as a time to reinfornce gatekeeping, or hold on to old rules as a punitive measure for anyone who doesn't abide them, everyone will lose. We may lose our industry.
I stand with creators to make their own decisions. To not wait and be picked when most won't get a fair deal anyway. To supercharge the energy behind the innovation our industry needs. Independent film doesn't have a reliable business model anyway. That's also a fact.
So why don't we spend this time working together to innovate, rather than stonewalling some of the people (local and regional fests and creators) who MOST want this entire industry to succeed in the spirit in which it was made: independence. Interdependence. Not co-dependence. ✌️
(Inviting creators to the table to ask questions on behalf of platforms and distributors, as this Op-ed suggests - that's doesn't count.)
Just a quick reminder that the system that is advocated for in this Op-ed is the one that has been SO GOOD at keeping women, people of color, queer folx and anyone who doesn't fall in line OUT.
